Betty's famous pin-up pose (in bathing suit, back to the camera, smiling over her right shoulder) was taken that way because she was pregnant and it showed. They felt that showing her from the front would not be in good taste.
Did Playtex 18-hour Shortie commercials in the 1960s using her famous pinup pose -- purportedly because she needed the money after her husband had spent her savings.
Ex-husband, Harry James died on what would have been their 40th anniversary.
Her stepson, Tim James, was an attorney working with the then Attorey General of Texas and became responsible for enticing TV personality Marvin Zindler of Houston to investigate the famous Chicken Ranch brothel in La Grange, Texas - eventually closing it down. The story became the basis of the Broadway and movie musical, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982).
In How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), her character makes a pointed reference to Harry James while listening to the radio at the lodge. (Grable was married to him at the time.) The song playing on the radio is "You'll Never Know," from Hello Frisco, Hello (1943), and was sung in the film by Alice Faye. It won the Oscar as Best Song in 1943. (Source: AMPAS).
In 1946-47, the Treasury Department noted that she was the highest paid woman in America, receiving $300,000 a year.
In Italy, her films were often dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta and Dhia Cristiani. She was occasionally dubbed by Lidia Simoneschi and Clelia Bernacchi.
In the late 1940s, Fox studio insured her legs with Lloyds of London for a quarter million dollars.
Inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in 2009.
Interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California, USA.
Measurments: 34 1/2-24-36 (self-described 1940), 36-24-35 (at tie of her famous WWII pin-up poster), 36-23-35 (at a fit 112# in 1958), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
Niece of actor Vinton Hayworth.
Portrayed by Jayne Mansfield in the biopic The George Raft Story (1961). However, at the time she wasn't public domain so the character's name was changed to Lisa.
She and Harry James had two daughters, Victoria Elizabeth James (b. March 3, 1944) and Jessica James (b. May 20, 1947).
She was a lifelong Republican and conservative.
Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka's song "Betty Grable" was totally dedicated to her memory
Suffered from "demophobia" (fear of crowds)
Voted Best Figure of 1941.
Was a somnambulist (sleep-walker)
Was one of the 20 original The Goldwyn Girls, among whom were Lucille Ball, Virginia Bruce, Ann Dvorak and Paulette Goddard.