Old Hollywood Star Betty Grable Had The Perfect Zinger For Everyone Obsessed With Her Legs

Over the course of her storied career, actor, dancer, and singer Betty Grable appeared in dozens of films like "Mother Wore Tights" and "How to Marry a Millionaire," cementing her status as an icon of Old Hollywood. Known for her bright blond curls and toned legs, Grable was hailed as the quintessential pin-up girl, even starring in a movie by the same name. But the sassy performer didn't let the hype go to her head, cheekily pushing back against any narrative that reduced her to her good looks — including a widespread obsession with her glamorous gams.

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When Grable was profiled by LIFE in 1943, she was the number-one box-office star in Hollywood. But instead of focusing on her achievements, the coverage was suspiciously skewed toward her popular legs. In fact, 13 out of 14 of the accompanying photos didn't even bother to show Grable's face. But she got a little of her own back in the article itself, teasing readers with a memorable zinger that downplayed her legs: "They are fine for pushing the foot pedals in my car" (per TIME).

It's no secret that female stars are often objectified. It was true in the 1940s, and it's still true in the 2020s. So we love to see a queen like Grable gently remind the public that they have more to offer, from talent and ambition to wit and verve. But Grable's friendly clapbacks didn't dent her leg-centric legacy, which persists to this day.

Betty Grable rose to fame in the dazzling musicals of the 1930s and 1940s, which typically had extensive dance numbers that showed off her dancing chops — and her shapely legs. With each new film, the public fixation on her legs seemed to grow, and at the height of her popularity, Grable's svelte pins were even insured for a whopping one million dollars.

The 1940s also brought Grable's pin-up era, which furthered her leggy reputation. Her hourglass figure was immortalized in some of the most famous pin-up photos of World War II, including bathing suit shoots that bared her from thigh to ankle. Bathing suits have evolved a lot in the last 100 years of fashion, but as an early proponent of bikinis, Grable certainly caught the public's attention with her demure but alluring looks.

One of her most recognizable pin-up shots was taken from behind, placing all the more emphasis on her legs. During WWII, this picture was handed out in survival kits and carried by as many as one in 12 Allied servicemen. And though rumors circulated that the photo was angled this way because Grable was pregnant at the time, the reality was much simpler. "I asked Betty if she'd like to have a back shot, just to be different," photographer Frank Powolny said in a 1982 interview (via Los Angeles Times). "She said, 'Yes,' and began to clown around. 'You want it like this?' she asked, posing. And I said, 'Yeah.' ... I made only two shots of that pose. It was the second shot that became famous."

In the post-war 1950s, musicals fell out of fashion, and Betty Grable's Hollywood star began to wane — but the legend of her legs persisted, sometimes with surprising cultural impact. For instance, Hugh Hefner cited Grable as one of the inspirations that shaped his notorious Playboy empire. "The Busby Berkeley chorus girls — Jean Harlow, Alice Day, Betty Grable — those were the images of the silver screen that had a great influence on me when I was growing up. So what I think I did is simply return to the dreams of my childhood," he told Tank Magazine. And it was surely no coincidence that Playboy's first Playmate of the Month resembled the actor. As Hefner recalled, "Our very first girl-next-door [in July 1955] was a secretary working for the magazine. ... She looked a little like Betty Grable."

Historians haven't forgotten the wartime significance of Grable's glamor shots, either. In 2016, Grable's celebrated pin-up was included among TIME Magazine's "100 Most Influential Photographs of All Time," a collection of images chosen as "turning points in our human experience" (per Rare Historical Photos). And despite her occasional jokes, even Grable herself acknowledged the role her legs played in the trajectory of her career. As she purportedly said, "There are two reasons why I am successful in show business and I am standing on both of them" (per TV Guide).

Nowadays, we're not sure any modern performers can rival Grable for public leg obsession, or should even strive to. But there are a few noteworthy contenders — Jennifer Lopez loves outfits that flaunt her killer legs, and Taylor Swift's legs saved her look at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards.