Jane Russell

A curvaceous actress of the 1940s and '50s who was better known for her décolletage than for her singing and dancing, Jane Russell was born June 21, 1921, in Bemidji, Minn., and grew up in Southern California. At 19, she was discovered while working in a doctor's office by millionaire turned movie mogul Howard Hughes, who cast her in her first feature, The Outlaw (1943).

Russell's then-racy promotional posters for the film, in which she posed seductively on a pile of straw, cemented her image as a sex symbol and sparked censorship, delaying the movie's release for several years. But it also made her a star. She went on to appear opposite some of Hollywood's most desirable leading men and to play the physical foil to Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953).

In the 1970s, Russell put her famous figure back to work as a spokesperson for Playtex bras. She died Feb. 28, 2011, at age 89.

Filmography