We lost a bona fide cinematic legend yesterday as Jane Russell, most famous for the likes of 1953’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, died at the age of 89.
Born with the somewhat unwieldy name Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell in Minnesota in 1921, she moved with her family to California when her father retired from the army and accepted a job in the state. Both her parents were influential on her future career, with her mother’s work as an actress as a guiding influence and the sudden death of her father curtailing her thoughts of becoming a designer. She took work as a secretary and receptionist to help support her father, but an underlying interest in drama, born of school clubs, still pulled at her.
She continued to study drama and it was while working as a receptionist that she was spotted by director Howard Hughes, who had been hunting for an actress to star in The Outlaw. He quickly snapped up the beautiful Russell and signed her to a seven-year contract. The film quickly became controversial when the Hayes Office refused to allow it to be released without judicious editing largely because of the way Russell’s cleavage was shown off on screen. As part of the campaign to get the film seen, the starlet was sent out on a promotional tour, which saw her quickly become a household name.
With the film finally seeing the light of projector bulbs in 1943, Russell was confirmed as a new star, though she didn’t appear on screen again until 1946's Young Widow. Her career took off, and she won numerous film roles, including some of her more famous work, such as G****entlemen Prefer Blondes, The Paleface and her smouldering partnership alongside Robert Mitchum in His Kind of Woman and Macao.
She wasn’t just known for her film work, however – she also cracked the music charts, recording alongside Frank Sinatra and enjoying a diverse career that included a nightclub solo tour and a gospel group.
In real life, she married high school sweetheart Bob Waterfield and, unable to have children of their own, the couple adopted three children and the experience inspired Russell to launch the World Adoption International Fund, which helped families looking to adopt children of their own. She and Waterfield were divorced in 1968 and she married twice more. Her last film appearance was in 1970’s Darker Than Amber.
Her three children, her six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren survive her. Our thoughts are with them.