Jane Russell: 1921 - 2011   
   11 hours ago | IMDb News   
       
       
   Jane Russell, the voluptuous actress known for her roles in Gentlemen Prefer   
   Blondes and The Outlaw along with her lifelong work as an advocate for   
   adoption, passed away today in Santa Maria, CA. She was 89.   
       
   She was born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji,   
   Minnesota, the eldest of five children and the only daughter of Roy, an Army   
   lieutenant and Geraldine, an actress. After her father's retirement from the   
   Army and acceptance of a job in California, the family relocated to   
   California's San Fernando Valley and eventually Burbank. She spent her teen   
   years taking piano lessons (at her mother's insistence) and grew interested in   
   theater, joining the drama club at Van Nuys High School and taking part in   
   productions there. Her plan to become a designer after graduation was dashed   
   after the death of her father, when she instead found a job as a secretary and   
   receptionist in order to help support her family. At her mother's urging, she   
   continued to hone her skills with training at stage director Max Reinhart's   
   School of the Theatre, and made additional money working as model.     
   Her dramatic studies, combined with good fortune -- she was reportedly   
   discovered while working at her receptionist job -- brought Jane to the   
   attention of Howard Hughes, who signed her to a seven-year contract in 1940   
   after a protracted search for a woman to star in his next project, The Outlaw.   
   The movie, which completed filming in February of 1941, was denied release   
   because it violated the Hayes Office production codes for decency (they were   
   unhappy with the display of Russell's cleavage). While Hughes and the Hayes   
   Office negotiated cuts to the film, Russell was sent on an extensive tour to   
   promote the unreleased picture; her tour, combined with provocative ads and   
   photos promoting the film, put her on the national radar, and a limited   
   release of the trimmed down film in 1943 (along with a wider release in 1946)   
   made her a star. Also in 1943, Jane married Bob Waterfield, her high school   
   sweetheart, who was the UCLA quarterback at the time and who would go on to   
   become a Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback for the Cleveland Rams/Los   
   Angeles Rams.   
       
   Jane's next film appearance was five years later, in 1946 with RKO's The Young   
   Widow, which was the first time that she would be seen by most filmgoers,   
   since The Outlaw was still tied up in Hayes Code violations. Her following   
   films found her cast with some of the most popular leading men of the time --   
   Bob Hope in 1948's The Paleface; two incendiary pairings with Robert Mitchum   
   (His Kind of Woman, Macao); co-starring with Victor Mature and Vincent Price   
   in The Las Vegas Story, with Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx in 1951's Double   
   Dynamite, and with Clark Gable and Robert Ryan in The Tall Men (1955).   
       
   However, it would be her co-starring role with another popular leading lady of   
   time for which she would be most commonly remembered: as Dorothy Shaw in   
   Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with rising star Marilyn Monroe. The pair, cast as   
   two showgirl best friends sailing to Paris to find husbands, redefined the   
   musical with their comedic, overtly sensual stylings and became real-life   
   friends in the process.   
       
   As Jane continued to expand her film resume through the mid 1950s, she and her   
   husband Bob continued to build their life together. Unable to have children of   
   their own, they chose to adopt, bringing Tracy and Thomas in 1952, and Robert   
   in 1956, into their family. The adoption struggles the couple faced inspired   
   Jane to found the World Adoption International Fund, which assisted in   
   simplifying the adoption process for over 50,000 families as well as lobbying   
   for the passage of 1953's Federal Orphan Adoption Bill and 1980's Adoption   
   Assistance and Child Welfare Act.   
       
   Jane's already-busy offscreen life included time spent building her musical   
   career; beside her albums 'Let's Put Out the Lights' and 'Jane Russell' and   
   singles recorded with the likes of Frank Sinatra, she would also appear in her   
   own solo nightclub act that toured around the world, and later formed a gospel   
   group with Connie Haines and Beryl Davis that released a single that reached   
   number 27 on the Billboard chart.   
       
   As her film roles became less notable - her last being in 1970's Darker Than   
   Amber - Jane returned to the stage, where she appeared in both Broadway and   
   regional productions, and also appeared in TV series The Yellow Rose and   
   Hunter. Her marriage to Bob Waterfield ended in divorce in 1968; she was   
   married twice more, to Roger Barrett (August-November 1968) and to John Calvin   
   Peoples (from 1974 until his death in 1999).   
       
   She is survived by her children Tracy, Thomas and Robert.   
       
       
       
   - Heather Campbell   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.59   
    * Origin: NCS BBS -Houma, LA- (1:3828/7)