We would like to commemorate a wonderful actress and pinup girl: Jane Russell.
In this year, 28th of February the legendary died. It’s a quite big loss for us but she can live along in he fans, enthusiasts hearts. Her legend lives along for us and for the next generations to give inspirations from a better age with her films and pictures.

She was born in June 21, 1921 in the name Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell in Bemidji, Minnesota.
She was the eldest child and only daughter of the five children of Roy William Russell (January 5, 1890 – July 18, 1937) and Geraldine Jacobi (January 2, 1891 – December 26, 1986).
Her father had been a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and her mother was a former actress with a road troupe.
Russell’s mother arranged for her to take piano lessons. In addition to music, she was interested in drama and participated in stage productions at Van Nuys High School. Her early ambition was to be a designer of some kind, until the death of her father at forty-six, when she decided to work as a receptionist after graduation. She also modeled for photographers and, at the urging of her mother, studied drama and acting with Max Reinhardt’s Theatrical Workshop.

Jane moved from the Midwest to California, where she had her first film role in 1943 with The Outlaw.
In 1940, she was signed to a seven-year contract by film mogul Howard Hughes and made her motion picture debut in The Outlaw (1943), a story about Billy the Kid that went to great lengths to showcase her voluptuous figure.

Curiosity: Although the movie was completed in 1941, it was released for a limited showing two years later. There were problems with the censorship of the production code over the way her ample cleavage was displayed.
With measurements of 38D-24-36 and standing 5’7″ (97-61-91 cm and 1.7 meters), Russell was more statuesque than most of her contemporaries. Aside from thousands of quips from radio comedians, including Bob Hope, who once introduced her as “the two and only Jane Russell” and “Culture is the ability to describe Jane Russell without moving your hands”, the photo of her on a haystack was a popular pin-up with servicemen during World War II.

She was not in another movie until 1946, when she played Joan Kenwood in Young Widow for RKO.
In 1947, Russell attempted to launch a musical career. She sang with the Kay Kyser Orchestra on radio and recorded two singles with his band, “As Long As I Live” and “Boin-n-n-ng!”

Jane performed in an assortment of movie roles. She played Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface (1948) on loan out to Paramount, and Mike “the Torch” Delroy opposite Hope in another western comedy, Son of Paleface (1952), again at Paramount. Russell played Dorothy Shaw in the hit film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) opposite Marilyn Monroe for 20th Century Fox.

Did you see the picture, where Marilyn putting her signature, hand and footprints at Grauman’s Chinese Theater? So the other lady with her was Jane Russell. She had also that honour to put signature, hand and footprints there in 1953. She has also a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6850 Hollywood Boulevard.

In the 1950′s she played a lot of famous movies like the Macao, the Double Dynamite, The Las Vegas story or the Gentlemen marry brunettes.
She played about 20 films through her carreer.

Back to music

On the musical front, Russell formed the Hollywood Christian Group, a gospel quartet, with Connie Haines, Beryl Davis, and Della Russell and they were made great success with it.
In October 1957, she debuted in a successful solo nightclub act at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.
She also fulfilled later engagements in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America and Europe. A self-titled solo LP was issued on MGM Records in 1959. It was reissued on CD in 2009 under the title Fine and Dandy.

Later in the 1970′s she had played mainly in theatres or showed up in television commercials, she was the spokeswoman of Playtex.

Personal life

Jane married three times and adopted three children and, in 1955, founded the World Adoption International Fund. Her children:Thomas Waterfield, Tracy Foundas and Robert Waterfield.
She spent her elder years in the Santa Maria Valley along the Central Coast of California.
She died at her home in Santa Maria of a respiratory related illness on February 28, 2011.

Remember her with love. View her pictures with delectation and respect, her timeless beauty, talent and her work what she leave behind in this world. Bequests of a legend, a real pin-up girl should be inspire you, give inspiration to us, and courage, and faith. A fandom for millions, an ideal for us and the next generations.
Rest in peace Jane Russell!

Ghoulina Von Royal

This entry was posted by Ghoulina on Wednesday, March 9th, 2011 at 4:16 pm and is filed under BigWorld, News, Pin-up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.