Jane Russell

Boobpedia - Encyclopedia of big boobs
Revision as of 04:17, 2 June 2014 by Athanatophobos (talk | contribs) (deleted vintage erotica link)
Jump to navigationJump to search

Jane Russell (1921-2011) was an American actress and sex symbol. She was born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell in Bemidji, Minnesota. Busty star of Hollywood films, TV, and nightclubs Russell's cleavage provided the most crucial issue in the controversy surrounding the public showing of Howard Hughes's The Outlaw in the 1940s.Hughes was rumored to have been obsessed with her breasts and spent countless hours designing her a special bra to be worn in The Outlaw.According to Jane Russell,in a tv interveiw,she never wore the bra,designed by Howard Hughes,because was uncomfortable.She threw that one under the bed and wore one of her own,pushed up and never told Mister Hughes.

Early life

Jane Russell was born in Bemidji, Minnesota, 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.

Did Jane Russell's breasts win World War II?

Entertainment career

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 bust. 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.

Together with Lana Turner, Russell personified the sensuously contoured sweater girl look. 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 38D breasts push forcefully against her bodice was a popular pin-up with Service men during World War II.


== The Outlaw ==




Russell in The Outlaw

In 1940 Russell was signed to a seven-year contract by film mogul, Howard Hughes,[7] 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 not released until 1943 in a limited release. It finally was released to a wide distribution in 1946. 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 she was kept busy doing publicity and became known nationally.[8] Contrary to countless incorrect reports in the media since the release of The Outlaw, Russell did not wear the specially designed underwire bra that Howard Hughes had designed and made for her to wear during filming. According to Jane's 1985 autobiography, she said the bra was so uncomfortable that she secretly discarded it and wore her own bra with the cups padded with tissue and the straps pulled up to elevate her breasts.[9][10] With measurements of 38D-24-36 and standing 5'7" (97-61-91 cm and 1.7 meters), Russell was more statuesque than most of her contemporaries. Her favorite co-star Bob Hope once introduced her as "the two and only Jane Russell." He also joked, "Culture is the ability to describe Jane Russell without moving your hands." Howard Hughes said, "There are two good reasons why men go to see her. Those are enough." A publicity still for the movie showed her lying on a pile of straw, her blouse wide open showing ample cleavage and stretched tight across her voluptuous breasts. Her right hand was behind her head of black hair and the left hand held a pistol.[8] The image was a popular pin-up photo with servicemen during World War II. She did not appear in another movie until 1946 when she played Joan Kenwood in Young Widow for RKO. Speaking about her sex appeal, Jane Russell said, "Sex appeal is good—but not in bad taste. Then it's ugly. I don't think a star has any business posing in a vulgar way. I've seen plenty of pin-up pictures that have sex appeal, interest,and allure, but they're not vulgar. They have a little art to them. Marilyn's calendar was artistic."[11][12]

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. It was an excellent movie 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).

Russell and her first husband, 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.

Her family life

Russell had three husbands, NFL quarterback and producer Bob Waterfield (married April 24, 1943-divorced July 1968), actor Roger Barrett (married August 25, 1968-his death November 18, 1968) and real-estate broker John Calvin Peoples (married January 31, 1974-his death April 9, 1999). She and Peoples lived in Sedona, Arizona.

In February 1952 she and Waterfield adopted a baby girl, Tracy. In December 1952 they adopted a fifteen-month-old boy, Thomas, and in 1956 she and Waterfield adopted a nine-month-old boy, Robert John.

Russell was unable to have children and, in 1955, she founded World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), an organization to place children with adoptive families that pioneered adoptions from foreign countries by Americans.

Though her screen image was that of a sex goddess, her private life lacked the sensation and scandal that followed other actresses of the time, such as Lana Turner. At the height of her career, Russell started the "Hollywood Christian Group," a weekly Bible study at her home for Christians in the movie business that was attended by some of the biggest names. Russell was a prominent Republican who attended the Eisenhower inauguration, along with Lou Costello, Dick Powell, June Allyson, Anita Louise, Louella Parsons, and other conservatives.

Filmography

  • The Outlaw (1943)
  • Young Widow (1946)
  • The Paleface (1948)
  • Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Rodeo (1949)
  • Hollywood Goes to Bat (1950)
  • His Kind of Woman (1951)
  • Double Dynamite (1951)
  • The Las Vegas Story (1952)
  • Macao (1952)
  • Son of Paleface (1952)
  • Montana Belle (1952)
  • Road to Bali (1952) (Cameo)
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
  • The French Line (1954)
  • Underwater! (1955)
  • Foxfire (1955)
  • The Tall Men (1955)
  • Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955)
  • Screen Snapshots: Playtime in Hollywood (1956)
  • Hot Blood (1956)
  • The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956)
  • The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957)
  • Fate Is the Hunter (1964)'
  • Johnny Reno (1966)
  • Waco (1966)
  • The Born Losers (1967)
  • Darker Than Amber (1970)
  • The Yellow Rose (1983-1984) (TV series)

Big tit movies / pictures of Jane Russell

In you like Jane Russell, you might also like

External Links



The text in this article is based on the Wikipedia article "Jane Russell" used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License or the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA license. See Boobpedia's copyright notice.