The Girl With the Million Dollar Legs: 25 Beautiful Vintage Portraits of Betty Grable in the 1930s and 1940s

Betty Grable (1916-1973) was an American actress and dancer once known as the woman with the most beautiful legs in Hollywood. The No.1 pin-up girl of the World War II era, her photograph in a bathing suit pose went on to achieve iconic status and was included in the project "100 Photographs that Changed the World" by the LIFE magazine. The beauty of her legs was so famous that her studio got her legs insured for $1,000,000, giving her the nickname, ‘The girl with the million dollar legs’.

The daughter of a highly ambitious woman, Betty was groomed for stardom from a very young age. Her mother bleached her hair and gave her a makeover so that her daughter could make it big in Hollywood. Her first movie appearance was as a Goldwyn Girl in the musical comedy ‘Whoopee!’ Because of her youthful appearance she was soon typecast in movies playing the role of a college student. She became a very successful actress and soon became the highest paid female star in Hollywood.

After a string of super hit films like 'Moon over Miami', 'Springtime in the Rockies', and 'Coney Island', she posed for a photograph in her bathing suit showing off her shapely legs—this picture soon achieved iconic status.