According to sources the pin up girl who set a million male hearts to pounding during WWII, the favorite movie star of a generation of young men long before she had 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 herm the billionaire Howard Hughes.
Jane Russell was surrounded by family members when she died Monday at her home in Santa Maria. Her death from respiratory failure came 70 years after she was on her path to stardom with the controversial western The Outlaw. She died at the age of 89.
Although she had all but abandoned Hollywood after the 1960’s for a quiter life sources say she did remain 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 that made occasional appearances around Santa Maria.
Although her sultry, sensual look and her hourglass figure made her the subject of numerous night club jokes, until Marilyn Monroe and others of the era, she was untouched by scandal in her personal life. Despite her mother’s christian teachings she had a wild side. She wrote her 1985 autobiography,My Paths and Detours. Her early ambition was to design clothes and houses, but that was postponed until years later. While working as a receptionist, she was spotted by a movie agent who submitted her photos to Hughes. She claimed that in her lifetime without faith she never would have made it. Her life was a full and exciting one. She had several fans, friends, and family and will be greatly missed.