Hollywood pinup girl Russell dies at 89
Source: Agencies |
March 2, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
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SHE was the voluptuous pinup girl who set a million male hearts to pounding during World War II, the favorite movie star of a generation of young men long before she'd made a movie more than a handful of them had ever seen.
Such was the stunning beauty of Jane Russell, and the marketing skills of the man who discovered her, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.
Russell, surrounded by family members, died on Monday at her home in Santa Maria. She was 89. Her death from respiratory failure came 70 years after Hughes put her on the path to stardom with "The Outlaw."
Although she had all but abandoned Hollywood after the 1960s for a quieter life, her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said Russell remained active until just a few weeks ago when her health began to fail. Until then she was active with her church, charities that were close to her heart and as a member of a singing group.
"She always said I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman," Waterfield said. "And that's exactly what she did, she died in the saddle."
It was an apt metaphor for a beautiful woman who first made her mark as the sexy and provocatively dressed (for the time) pal of Billy the Kid, in a Western that Hughes fought for years with censors to get into wide release.
To contain her ample bust the designer of the "Spruce Goose" airplane used his engineering skills to make Russell a special push-up bra (one she said she never wore). He also bought the ailing RKO film studio and signed her to a 20-year contract that paid her US$1,000 a week.
By the time she made her third film, the comedy-western "The Paleface" alongside Bob Hope, she was a star.
She went on to appear in a series of potboilers for RKO, including "His Kind of Woman," "Double Dynamite," and "The Las Vegas Story."
During her Hollywood career she was married to pro football quarterback Bob Waterfield.
As she related in "My Path and Detours," her 1985 autobiography, her life was marked by heartache. Her 24-year marriage to Waterfield ended in bitter divorce in 1968. They had adopted two boys and a girl.
That year she married actor Roger Barrett; three months later he died of a heart attack. In 1978 she married developer John Peoples. He died in 1999 of heart failure. Over the years Russell was also beset by alcoholism.
Survivors include her children, Thomas K. Waterfield, Tracy Foundas and Robert Waterfield, six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Such was the stunning beauty of Jane Russell, and the marketing skills of the man who discovered her, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.
Russell, surrounded by family members, died on Monday at her home in Santa Maria. She was 89. Her death from respiratory failure came 70 years after Hughes put her on the path to stardom with "The Outlaw."
Although she had all but abandoned Hollywood after the 1960s for a quieter life, her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said Russell remained active until just a few weeks ago when her health began to fail. Until then she was active with her church, charities that were close to her heart and as a member of a singing group.
"She always said I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman," Waterfield said. "And that's exactly what she did, she died in the saddle."
It was an apt metaphor for a beautiful woman who first made her mark as the sexy and provocatively dressed (for the time) pal of Billy the Kid, in a Western that Hughes fought for years with censors to get into wide release.
To contain her ample bust the designer of the "Spruce Goose" airplane used his engineering skills to make Russell a special push-up bra (one she said she never wore). He also bought the ailing RKO film studio and signed her to a 20-year contract that paid her US$1,000 a week.
By the time she made her third film, the comedy-western "The Paleface" alongside Bob Hope, she was a star.
She went on to appear in a series of potboilers for RKO, including "His Kind of Woman," "Double Dynamite," and "The Las Vegas Story."
During her Hollywood career she was married to pro football quarterback Bob Waterfield.
As she related in "My Path and Detours," her 1985 autobiography, her life was marked by heartache. Her 24-year marriage to Waterfield ended in bitter divorce in 1968. They had adopted two boys and a girl.
That year she married actor Roger Barrett; three months later he died of a heart attack. In 1978 she married developer John Peoples. He died in 1999 of heart failure. Over the years Russell was also beset by alcoholism.
Survivors include her children, Thomas K. Waterfield, Tracy Foundas and Robert Waterfield, six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
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