Jane Russell Biography

Fast Facts

• Adopted three children out of poverty with then-husband Bob Waterfield and would eventually go on to establish the World Adoption International Fund
• Memorialized along with friend and co-star Marilyn Monroe in 1953 at the Grauman's Chinese Theater after placing her hands and footprints in the theater's iconic cement plot
• After insistence from her mother, she began studying drama at Max Reinhardt's Theatrical Workshop
• Quote: "Sometimes the photographers would pose me in a low-necked nightgown and tell me to bend down and pick up pails․ They were not shooting the pails․"
• Quote: "Publicity can be terrible․ But only if you don't have any․"
• One of Hollywood's first sex symbols, she made her film debut in "The Outlaw" that purposely displayed her voluptuous figure, however, the studio had to fight censorship battles due to showcase her ever-present cleavage in the film
• After her film debut, she planned to launch a career in music n 1947 where she recorded under Columbia Records alongside greats such as Kay Kyser and Frank Sinatra
• Helped champion the Federal Orphan Adoption Amendment in 1953
• Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly visited her several times before filming 2004's "Aviator" to authenticate his performance as Howard Hughes, one of her longtime friends
• Honored with the Women's International Center's Living Legacy Award in 1989