Jane Russell, the sensual and exciting Hollywood film star of the 1950s, renowned for her cleavage, died last Monday from respiratory illness, in Santa Maria Valley,California. She was 89.
Russell is, perhaps, the only film star whose popularity was achieved long before her image was ever projected on the screen.
Her first film, The Outlaw (1943), had run into censorship trouble and was withdrawn from circulation for three years.
In the meantime, Howard Hughes, the millionaire aviation designer and the film’s producer and director, embarked on a continuous publicity campaign to make sure that the film andRussell’s physical attributes would be familiar with the public when the film was eventually released.
Beautiful, dark-haired, big-boned actress Russell was endowed with a direct personality and a 38-inch bust. She was Hughes’s greatest asset and she made 17 films in 10 years for him.
She managed to shift men’s attention from Betty Grable’s legs to her ample bosom. Female audiences, on the other hand, loved her ability to use sexuality without sacrificing dignity.
In real life, Russell differed greatly from her screen persona. She was a simple, religious girl and a devout and practising Christian all her life. Russell was a champion for homeless children and devoted much energy to the World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), an organisation she co-founded.
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell was born on June 21, 1921, in Bemidji, Minnesota. Her father, Roy William Russell, was a US Army lieutenant and her mother, Geraldine Jacobi, was an actress with a travelling troupe. When her father finished his army service, he took the family to Canada but, finding it hard to live there, they moved to California, where he entered the real estate business.
Russell learned to play the piano and participated in several high school stage productions. When her father died, she found a job as a receptionist at a chiropodist’s clinic and also did some modelling.
Russell then enrolled in the Max Reinhardt Theatrical Workshop. At that time, Hughes was searching for an unknown female lead for his next picture and when he came across one of Russell’s modelling photographs he was instantly impressed by her curvy figure and signed her up for The Outlaw.
When the film was completed and ready for release, it was refused a seal of approval by the censors. Hughes refused to alter any scenes and preferred not to release the film at all. He turned this adverse decision in his favour and took the opportunity to conduct a massive advertisement campaign with a series of publicity photographs showing Russell in tight-fitting garments.
This publicity campaign seemed to have paid off. Not only did Russell become a sex symbol long before she was seen on the screen, but it raised the public’s expectations. When the film was finally released, in 1946, it became a great box-office success even though it turned out to be very mediocre and slow-moving.
While The Outlaw was on hold, Russell did not make another film until she appeared in Young Widow (1946). She then appeared with Bob Hope in The Paleface (1948) and in the sequel, Son of Paleface (1952), they were joined by Roy Rogers.
Russell was painstakingly learning her craft in a number of mostly mediocre but successful films like, Double Dynamite (1950), Macao, Montana Belle and The Las Vegas Story (all 1952).
Hughes only put Russell in films that displayed her figure in a flattering light but in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), she delivered a wry comic performance that demonstrated her true acting abilities as a comedienne. For once she was noted for her acting, not for her body.
The press tried to build a rift between Russell and her co-star, Marilyn Monroe, but the truth was that both actresses got on very well together. After all, their respective careers were moving in parallel patterns – both were misused and underrated actresses. Monroe was constantly appearing as a dumb blonde in smart films, while Russell was a smart girl in dumb films.
The film was a great success and there was a sequel, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), with Jeanne Crain replacing Monroe. Underwater (1955) was Russell’s last film for Hughes and among her co-stars was the Maltese actor Joseph Calleia.
In 1955 she formed her own production company, but being aproducer did not substantially improve her box-office appeal. The blockbuster treatment of The Tall Men (1956) and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1957) made them looked much better than they actually were. Other films like Foxfire, Hot Blood (both1955), again with Calleia, and The Fuzzy PinkNightgown (1957) fared much worse. After this, Russell only appeared in films sporadically in small and cameo parts.
In 1943 Russell married Bob Waterfield, but they divorced in 1967 after adopting three children – Tracy, Thomas and Robert. In 1968 she married Roger Barrett, who died three months later. Death again deprived her of her third husband, John Calvin Peoples in 1999, after she married him in 1974.