Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Jane Russell
Jane Russell Facts
| Sign | Cancer |
| Born |
Jun 21, 1921 Bemidji, MN |
| Died |
Feb 28, 2011 Santa Maria, CA |
| Age | Died at 89 |
| Total Facts | 37 |
Howard Hughes is reported to have said of her stardom, "There are two good reasons why men go to see her. Those are enough." (Source: quoted in the book "The Humour of Sex" by Robert Hale.)
Howard Hughes, in addition to designing airplanes, is said to have designed a "cantilever bra" to take care of her physical endowments.
Bob Hope once introduced her as "the two and only Jane Russell".
Leonardo DiCaprio visited Jane while filming The Aviator (2004) in order to find up close and personal what Howard Hughes was really like.
A born-again Christian decades before the term was coined, she held weekly Bible study at her home which was attended by some of the industry's biggest names.
A longtime pro-life activist, she opposes the use of abortion in any circumstance including rape or incest.
A political conservative, she sided publicly with an industry panel that urged the removal of certain provocative scenes in one of her films.
Although rumors circulated that she was buried at Santa Barbara Cemetery, she was in fact cremated at Santa Barbara Cemetery and her ashes were scattered at sea.
As a little girl Jane was a tomboy. She had four brothers: Tom, Kenny, Jamie and Wally.
Attended the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953.
First husband Bob Waterfield was her high school sweetheart.
Has a street named after her in Iowa City, Iowa.
Has been a vocal supporter of the Iraq war since its beginning in March 2003.
Has macular degeneration and wears hearing aids in both ears.
Her breasts are the namesake for 'The Jane Russell Peaks' in Alaska.
Her favorite book is the Bible. She reads a passage from it every day.
Her three adopted children are Tracy Waterfield, Thomas Waterfield and Buck Waterfield.
In 1942, Jane had an affair with actor John Payne. The affair is detailed in her 1986 autobiography, "My Path and My Detours". The affair ended when Jane realized that she was still in love with her high school sweetheart, football player Bob Waterfield, whom she married in April 1943 (they divorced in 1967).
In 1955, she and husband Bob Waterfield formed Russ-Field Productions. Under this banner, they made Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), The King and Four Queens (1956), Run for the Sun (1956), and The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957).
In 2006 (at age 84), Jane put together a musical show entitled "The Swinging Forties" that plays twice a month at the Radisson Hotel. The show features herself and about a dozen local Santa Maria residents, including a choir director, lay preacher and retired police officer. She formed the show out of boredom and because there was nothing much going on in town for the older folks to do.
In the early 1950s, made a television commercial for Lustre Creme's shampoo campaign.
In the late 1930s, she was a member of Max Reinhardt's Theatrical Workshop and attended Maria Ouspenskaya's Drama School for six months.
Is portrayed by Marla Carlis in The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV), by Renee Henderson in "Blonde" (2001), and by Erika Nann in Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996) (TV).
Married John Calvin Peoples in a "kaftan" ceremony in Santa Barbara, California.
Measurements: 38D-25-36 (definitive for majority of her career), 36D-26-36 (during The Outlaw (1943)), 38D-25-39 (on set of The Paleface (1948) in 1948), 38 1/2D-25 1/2-38 1/2 (for "Photoplay" pin-up in 1953), 39D-26 1/2-37 1/2 (at her bustiest in mid-1950s), 37-27-37 (self-described in 1990), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).
Member of America's Future.
On 2 February 1967, Russell filed for divorce from Bob Waterfield; it was granted in July 1968.
Profiled in "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" bu Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner (McFarland, 2004).
Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1989.
Retired to Santa Maria, California after the death of her third husband in 1999 to be close to her youngest son.
She and husband Bob Waterfield adopted a 15-month-old British boy, Tommy Kavanaugh, in December 1952.
She and husband Bob Waterfield adopted a baby girl, Tracy, on 2/15/52.
The troops in Korea named two embattled hills in her honor.
Through her organization, World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), Russell has placed 51,000 children with adoptive families.
Unable to bear children, Russell championed the passage of the Federal Orphan Adoption Amendment of 1953, which allowed children of American servicemen born overseas to be placed for adoption in the United States.
Went to high school with James Dougherty, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) co-star Marilyn Monroe's first husband.
Went to Van Nuys High School (Los Angeles).