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JANE RUSSELL 1921-2011: Noted primarily for her statuesque figure and her wit expressed through sarcasm, Russell starred with friend Robert Mitchum in two well-liked films, and made a blockbuster musical with Marilyn Monroe. She got her start in Hollywood with a seven year contract with Howard Hughes who was obsessed with her physical appearance.
Jane Russell
[Above:Jane Russell publicity photo]
Jane Russell
Born June 21, 1921 – Died February 28, 2011Jane Russell was born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell on June 21, 1921, in Bemidji, Minnesota. She died at her home at Santa Maria, California, of respiratory failure on February 28, 2011.
The daughter of a US Army lieutenant who took his family to Canada after leaving the service. Russell's mother was an experienced actress who had worked in a traveling actor troupe. The family moved to California to find employment. Russell had four brothers and was considered a "tomboy" when young.
Pregnant and unmarried at 18 years old, Russell had "a botched abortion" which left her unable to have children. She later became a vehement pro-life advocate, and was instrumental in changes in federal law which made it easier for the adoption of children from foreign countries.
Originally intending to pursue a career in design, Russell took a job as a receptionist to help her family finances after the death of her father. She worked part-time as an artists model and attended the Maria Ouspenskaya's Drama School and the Max Reinhardt Theatrical Workshop.
Howard Hughes came to know her as she was working at a dental office, and ultimately she was signed in 1941 to appear in his western production of The Outlaw. Hughe's aggressive publicity for the film and some controversy about Russell's voluptuous figure kept Russell in the entertainment news for years. It took until 1946 for Hughes' movie to finally clear censorship boards and go into general release.
With a seven year contract keeping her tied to Hughes, she made a series of films that mostly featured her unique physical appearance and her sardonic attitude, such as His Kind of Woman (1951) and The Las Vegas Story (1952.
Her 1953 film teamed with Marilyn Monroe for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes allowed her to demonstrate a broader range of natural comedy. Combining music, dancing and full color from 20th Century Fox, the film was directed by Howard Hawks and is usually listed as her best and most popular film.
She soon teamed with husband Bob Waterfield for four films produced through their own production company. When the last two performed poorly at the box office, Russell suspended most of her efforts in Hollywood, appearing a few times on television, and then only in four films throughout the 1960s. Her last major film was Darker Than Amber in 1970. She appeared in a handful of television programs during the 1970s and 80s, and in a 1971 theatre production of "Company".
She had an autobiography published in 1985 titled Jane Russell:My Paths and Detours.
[Below: Portrait image at the web site Tory Mirrormind ]
[Below: UK Mail online with their Jane Russell obituary.]
UK Daily Mail online web site Jane Russell Obituary
[Below: Screenshot of the New York Times Obituary on Jane Russell.]
[Below: Screenshot of the Los Angeles Times Obit on jane Russell from February 28, 2011.]
The Los Angeles Times Jane Russell obit is here
[Below: Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe, 1953 at Grauman's Chinese Theater.]
[Below: Jane Russell publicity image for The Outlaw, 1941-1943.]
[Jane Russell Promo photo.]
New Jean Harlow book
I've not seen a copy of the book yet, but simply put, the Vieira Hollywood picture-books are the best albums on Hollywood, bar none, for well over a decade now. No one puts as much attention to the production aspects, design, picture choices, and then ladles the whole affair with affection and admiration in the text. Classic Hollywood has not had a modern explainer and admirer like Vieira for decades now, and the taste and skill brought to bear on his books make them both readable-fun and collectible (some of his past books are out of print and instead of dropping down to the remainder pricing so many used Hollywood books seem to end up at, his instead get harder to find and buy).
Book is by Darrell Rooney and Mark Vieira, 240 pages, Angel City Press. Available from amazon.com
New Book: Broken Silence: Conversations with 23 Silent Film Stars
This is a collection of 23 original interviews with stars of the silent screen, with biographical information and a filmography included for each.
Interviewed are Lew Ayres, William Bakewell, Lina Basquette, Madge Bellamy, Eleanor Boardman, Ethlyne Clair, Junior Coghlan, Joyce Compton, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Dorothy Gulliver, Maxine Elliott Hicks, Dorothy Janis, George Lewis, Marion Mack, Patsy Ruth Miller, Lois Moran, Baby Marie Osborne, Muriel Ostriche, Eddie Quillan, Esther Ralston, Dorothy Revier, David Rollins and Gladys Walton.
About the Author Michael G. Ankerich is a writer whose work focuses on the silent film era of Hollywood. A former newspaper reporter, he has written extensively for Classic Images, Films of the Golden Age, and Hollywood Studio Magazine, which featured his interview with Butterfly McQueen (Prissy) on the 50th anniversary of the release of Gone With The Wind.
Book is 319 pages, McFarland. Available from amazon.com
New Busby Berkeley book
Maybe the most revered of musical directors was the extreme-stylist of the golden era of Hollywood movies, Busby Berkeley, a man who changed what a stage-production meant on film by taking the camera and making it move like a winged-eye that could see the motion of actors from every angle. Whether they were underwater, behind glass, or below a skyward lense, Berkeley made synchronized motion more than a filmed reproduction of a Broadway play.
Book is by Jeffrey Spivak, 408 pages, University Press of Kentucky. Available from amazon.com