“Hollywood sex stars usually turn out to be far more interesting (and talented) than their publicity would lead you to expect. Jane Russell was publicised primarily for having big breasts (from the censors’ reaction one would have thought cleavage was about to destroy the moral fibre of the American nation), but she proved to have a nice line in scepticism and wry wit as well, making her an excellent comedienne.”
/ From The Illustrated Enclyclopedia of the World’s Great Movie Stars (1979) by Ken Wlaschin /
Born on this day 105 years ago: mean, moody and magnificent leading lady of the forties and fifties, Howard Hughes’ protégée, Bemidji, Minnesota’s finest export, former chiropodist’s assistant and Playtex cross-your-heart bra spokesmodel (“for us full-figured gals”), Big Bad Jane Russell (née Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell, 21 June 1921 - 28 February 2011)! I particularly treasure tough cookie Russell’s screen partnerships with film noir bad boy Robert Mitchum, who matched her for hardboiled wry humour and impudence. (They were buddies offscreen: Mitchum called her “an authentic original”). If you only know Russell as Marilyn Monroe’s wisecracking brunette pal in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), her filmography is studded with gems like His Kind of Woman (1951), Macao (1952) and her finest moment, The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956). But I even love her in lesser efforts like Hot Blood (1956) and The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957). Russell also sang with genuine style and verve (check out her rendition of “One for My Baby” in Macao in particular). Not that Russell herself was impressed. “I got little artistic satisfaction from my work,” she confessed in her 1985 autobiography. “I was definitely a victim of Hollywood typecasting.”
