Jane Russell, one of the most popular screen actresses of the 1940s and '50s, has died at the age of 89.
She died at her home in Santa Maria, California of a respiratory-related illness.
In a statement, her son, Buck Waterfield, said: "Jane Russell passed away peacefully today at home surrounded by her children at her bedside."
Multimillionaire producer Howard Hughes discovered her and put her in her first movie, ‘The Outlaw’. In publicity photos for the film she languished on a bed of straw, looking petulant as her tight-fitting peasant blouse slipped off one shoulder. Censors delayed the release of the film for almost three years until 1943.
Check out Jane Russell in a scene from 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'
And with her co-star Marilyn Monroe singing 'Little Rock'
Michael Doherty looks back on the career of Jane Russell
She acted with Marilyn Monroe in 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' in 1953 and was teamed up with Bob Hope in 1948 for the comedy ‘The Paleface’. She also had a hit movie with Clarke Gable in 1955 with ‘The Tall Men’.
Speaking about her career in her autobiography she said "Except for comedy, I went nowhere in the acting department. The truth is that, more often than not, I've been unhappy about the pictures I've been in."
Russell was married three times to footballer Bob Waterfield, actor Roger Barrett and finally to retired Air Force colonel John Peoples who died in 1999. The actress successfully battled alcholism in the late 1970s.
