Born
Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell in
Bemidji, Minnesota, she was the only daughter of Roy William Russell (
January 5,
1890 –
July 18,
1937) and Geraldine Jacobi (
January 2,
1891 –
December 26,
1986). Her four younger brothers are Thomas Ferris Russell (born
April 16,
1924), Kenneth Steven Russell (born
September 2,
1925), James Hyatt Russell (born
February 9,
1927) and Wallace Jay Russell (born
January 31,
1929).
Her parents were both born in
North Dakota. Three of her grandparents were born in
Canada, while her paternal grandmother was born in
Germany. Her parents married in
1917. Her father was a former commissioned
First Lieutenant in the
U.S. Army and her mother was a former actress with a road troupe. When Jane was a child they moved temporarily to Canada, then moved to the
San Fernando Valley of
Southern California. They lived in
Burbank in
1930 and her father worked as an office manager at a soap manufacturing plant.
Jane'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 and with famed
Russian actress
Maria Ouspenskaya.
In
1940, Russell was signed to a seven year
contract by millionaire
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. 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. When the movie was finally passed, it had a general release in
1946. During that time, Russell was kept busy doing publicity and became famous. Contrary to countless incorrect reports in the media since the release of
The Outlaw, Jane Russell did not wear the specially designed underwire
bra (the first of its kind) that Howard Hughes constructed for the film. According to Jane's 1988 autobiography, she was given the bra, decided it had a mediocre fit, and wore her own bra on the film set with the straps pulled down.
Together with
Lana Turner and
Rita Hayworth, Russell personified the sensuously contoured
sweater girl look, though Jane Russell's measurements of 38D-24-36 and height of 5'7 were more statuesque than her contemporaries. Besides the thousands of quips from
radio comedians, including
Bob Hope once introducing her as "the two and only Jane Russell," the photo of her on a haystack glowering with sulking beauty and youthful sensuality as her breasts push forcefully against her bodice was a popular
pin-up with
Service men during
World War II.
Though
The Outlaw was not a spectacular
Western, it did well at the box-office. It appeared that Hughes was only interested in her being cast in movies that showcased her sensational figure, however, reportedly refusing an offer from
Darryl Zanuck for her to play Doña Sol in
Blood and Sand. She was not in another movie until
1946, when she played Joan Kenwood in
Young Widow for
RKO. Though her early movies did little to show her true acting abilities, they helped parlay her into a career portraying smart, often cynical, tough "broads," with a wisecracking attitude.
In 1947, Russell attempted to launch a musical career, recording a single with the
Kay Kyser Orchestra, "As Long As I Live".
She went on to perform with proficiency in an assortment of roles, which includes playing
Calamity Jane opposite
Bob Hope in
The Paleface (
1948) on loan out to
Paramount; and Mike Delroy opposite Hope in
Son of Paleface (
1952), again at Paramount.
Russell was at the height of her wry comedic talents with her performance as Dorothy Shaw in
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (
1953) opposite
Marilyn Monroe at
20th Century Fox, which is one of her most memorable roles. The film was well received and showed her as a talented actress.
She appeared in two movies opposite
Robert Mitchum,
His Kind of Woman (
1951) and
Macao (
1952). Other co-stars include
Frank Sinatra and
Groucho Marx in the comedy
Double Dynamite (
1951);
Victor Mature,
Vincent Price and
Hoagy Carmichael in
The Las Vegas Story (
1952);
Jeff Chandler in
Foxfire (
1955); and
Clark Gable and
Robert Ryan in
The Tall Men (
1955).
In Howard Hughes' RKO production "
The French Line" (
1954), the movie's penultimate moment showed Russell in a form-fitting one-piece bathing suit with strategic cut outs, performing a then-provocative musical number titled "Lookin' for Trouble." In her autobiography, Russell said that the revealing outfit was an alternative to Hughes' original suggestion of a bikini, a very racy choice for a movie costume in 1954. Russell said that she initially wore the bikini in front of her "horrified" movie crew while "feeling very naked."
Russell and her first husband, former
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Bob Waterfield, formed Russ-Field Productions in
1955. They produced
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (
1955),
The King and Four Queens (
1956) starring
Clark Gable and
Eleanor Parker,
Run for the Sun (
1956) and
The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (
1957).
Her performances in
Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, opposite
Jeanne Crain, and in the drama
The Revolt of Mamie Stover (
1956) displayed her fine acting ability. But after making
The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (
1957), which failed at the box-office, she did not appear on the silver screen again for seven years.
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.
In the Summer of
1961, she debuted with a tour of
Janus in
New England. In the fall of
1961, she performed in
Skylark at the
Drury Lane Theatre,
Chicago. And in November
1962, she performed in
Bells Are Ringing at the Westchester Town House in
Yonkers, New York.
Her next movie appearance was in
Fate Is the Hunter (
1964), in which she was Jane Russell performing for the
USO in a flashback sequence. Unfortunately, she made only four more movies after that, playing character parts in the final two.
In
1971, she starred in the musical drama
Company on
Broadway, replacing
Elaine Stritch. Russell performed the role of Joanne in the play for six months. Also in the
1970s, she started appearing in
television commercials as a spokeswoman for
Playtex "cross your heart bras for us full-figured gals."
She wrote an autobiography in
1985,
Jane Russell: My Path and My Detours. In
1989, she received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award.
Jane Russell's hand and foot prints are immortalized in the forecourt of
Grauman's Chinese Theater and she has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6850
Hollywood Boulevard in
Hollywood.
Russell was portrayed by Renee Henderson in the
2001 CBS mini-series Blonde, based on the novel by
Joyce Carol Oates.
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