Hollywood Pinup Jane Russell Has Died

In the obituaries that have been written about Jane Russell since her passing yesterday at the age of 89, the one thing you won't read about is what an astounding actress she was. There's a reason for that: By all accounts, she simply wasn't. As film critic David Thomson put it a few years ago, "Russell was no actress, but she was dryly skeptical and physically gorgeous." In other words, she was a babe first and foremost.

Though she was born in Minnesota, Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell moved with her family to the Valley in Southern California when she was very young. Discovered by Howard Hughes while she was working in a doctor's office, she began her film career in a Western called "The Outlaw," which was about a fictional romantic triangle between Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid and Russell's voluptuous Rio.

Censors at the time held up the film's release for several years, objecting to her ample cleavage, which the filmmakers (of course) did their best to accentuate. When the film finally got released in 1943, Hughes did his best to play up Russell's controversial sultriness, giving the movie the tagline "The Picture That Couldn't Be Stopped!" As for the poster, even 68 years later Russell's provocative pose and skimpy outfit are incredibly ravishing.

She was an instant sexpot and pinup, a favorite of American troops during the war. And as the Los Angeles Times mentioned in their obit, that's what Hughes was selling: "In one publicity stunt, a skywriter wrote 'The Outlaw' in the sky and then carefully drew two circles with a dot in the center of each." The fact that she was a devout Christian since childhood never seemed to cause her much inner conflict for her racy onscreen portrayals. "I knew there was absolutely nothing wrong with the picture," she once said about "The Outlaw," adding "all it was about was some cleavage! Today they're doing cleavage in the back."

Soon she figured out that playing the seductress in comedies was the way to go, and her greatest was 1953's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," in which she was teamed with newcomer Marilyn Monroe for a film version of the popular Broadway musical. History tends to remember the movie as a Monroe star vehicle (mostly because of the iconic "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" sequence), but at the time Russell received top-billing. When the cameras weren't rolling, the two were fast friends, perhaps sensing in each other a fellow beautiful woman whose acting talent would always be placed second to her unstoppable figure.

As far as a film career, Russell doesn't have a lot of credits: She was in movies with Bob Hope and Groucho Marx and Frank Sinatra and Robert Mitchum, generally playing the alluring eye candy who very much enjoyed all the male attention she was getting. She never was nominated for an Oscar: She never went through a "serious phase" where she played alcoholics or people who had to overcome horrible disfigurements. "Except for comedy, I went nowhere in the acting department," she once said. "I was definitely a victim of Hollywood typecasting."

Perhaps, but she (as well as Monroe) helped create a template for future generations of beautiful women in Hollywood. Growing up as a bit of a tomboy, she could be one of the guys when the part called for it, but when she needed it, she could also look absolutely breathtaking. And while their physical features may not much resemble one another, an actress like Cameron Diaz or (going down the talent ladder several rungs) Carmen Electra has taken from Russell's example, starring in comedies that play off their self-mocking persona. But all modern-day Jane Russells should keep in mind that even looks aren't enough. In a 1973 interview, Robert Mitchum (her co-star in the 1952 film "Macco") talked a little about Russell. The film's director, Josef von Sternberg, had told Mitchum, "You and I know she has as much talent as this cigarette case." Mitchum responded, "Mr. von Sternberg, Miss Russell survives, so she must have something. Lots of ladies have big [breasts]."

Jane Russell, 1921 - 2011 [MUBI]
Jane Russell obituary [The Guardian]
Jane Russell dies at 89; screen siren had sensational debut in 'The Outlaw' [Los Angeles Times]