Jane Russell Dead at 89

Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood‘s leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. She became a star with the 1943 release of “The Outlaw,” Howard Hughes’ challenge to the Hollywood production code. At age 89, she has died.

Russell played Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in “The Paleface” (1948), and she starred with Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 musical “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” She appeared in two movies opposite Robert Mitchum, His Kind of Woman (1951) and Macao (1952). Other co-stars include Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx in the comedy Double Dynamite (1951); Victor Mature, Vincent Price and Hoagy Carmichael in The Las Vegas Story (1952); Jeff Chandler in Foxfire (1955); and Clark Gable and Robert Ryan in The Tall Men (1955).

Daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said that Russell was a “pillar of health” but caught a bad cold and died of respiratory difficulties.

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