Jane Russell, star of '40s and '50s films, dies

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Breitbart:

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Jane Russell, the busty brunette who shot to fame as the sexy star of Howard Hughes' 1941 Western "The Outlaw," died Monday of respiratory failure, her family said. She was 89.

Although Russell made only a handful of films after the 1960s, she had remained active in her church, with charitable organizations and with a local singing group until her health began to decline just a couple weeks ago, said her daughter-in-law, Etta Waterfield. She died at her home in Santa Maria.

"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 told The Associated Press. "And that's exactly what she did, she died in the saddle."

Hughes, the eccentric billionaire, put her onto the path to stardom when he cast her in "The Outlaw," a film he fought with censors for nearly a decade to get into wide release.

With her sultry look and glowing sexuality, Russell became a star before she was ever seen by a wide movie audience. The Hughes publicity mill ground out photos of the beauty in low-cut costumes and swim suits, and she became famous, especially as a pinup for World War II GIs.

By that time she had become a box-office star by starring with Bob Hope in the 1948 hit comedy-Western "The Paleface."

Although her look and her hourglass figure made her the subject of numerous nightclub jokes, unlike Monroe, Rita Hayworth and other pinup queens of the era, Russell was untouched by scandal in her personal life. During her Hollywood career she was married to star UCLA and pro football quarterback Bob Waterfield.
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RIP to one of the last of the pinup girls.

[Rheo]

From the link I posted on the Coffee Shop...

 

Ms. Russell was such a huge advocate for children that the family has requested these two organizations. During her film careen she founded Women's Adoption International Fund known around the world as WAIF. She is responsible for placing over 40,000 hard to place children in permanent homes.

 

 

RIP and thank you.

[NCJim]

From the movie "The Outlaw"

 

[pollyannaish]

She was such a beauty. I LOVE that she died, living.

 

May she rest in peace and God bless her family.

[nickydog]

Isn't that great? Married to the same man, untouched by scandal, active in her church, and helped 40,000 hard to place children find homes. Now there is a woman who made a difference.

[Geee]

Screen Legend, Outspoken Republican Jane Russell Passes Away at 89

 

We lost a another irreplaceable legend yesterday and one of our own, an outspoken Republican — an independent-thinking feminist in the best sense of the word. Here are some of my favorite Jane Russell quotes:

 

–”I have always been a Republican, and when I was in Hollywood long ago, most of the people there were Republican. The studio heads were all Republican, my boss Howard Hughes was a raving Republican, and we had a motion picture code in those days so they couldn`t do all this naughty stuff. We had John Wayne, we had Charlton Heston, we had man named Ronald Reagan, we had Robert Mitchum, James Stewart, Clark Gable.”

 

–”These days I am a teetotal, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded, conservative Christian bigot, but not a racist.”

–Asked what she thinks of Hollywood liberals George Clooney, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn: “I think they`re not well.”

 

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2011/03/01/screen-legend-outspoken-republican-jane-russell-passes-away-at-89/