Jane Rusell

Trivia of Jane Rusell

*Howard Hughes discovered Russell when she was participating in theatrical workshops in Hollywood. The billionaire quickly cast her in his 1943 film “The Outlaw,” the story of Old West outlaw Billy the Kid. For her debut, she was paid the princely sum of $50 per week.

*Russell became notorious even before “The Outlaw” was released due to her sexy pose in a low-cut blouse in promotional pictures for the movie. While the film was tame by contemporary standards, Hollywood and state censors held up its release for almost three years. The issue ended up in court, with one judge saying Russell’s breasts “hung over the picture like a thunderstorm over a landscape. They were everywhere.”

*Howard Hughes designed a infamous underwire bra just for Russell to further propel her cleavage onwards and upwards for the movie.In her autobiography, Russell said that she found Hughes' baffling bra invention to be incredibly uncomfortable, so she devised a way to get around wearing it. Russell hid the invention and wore her own bra, adjusting the straps and padding it out with tissue to fool the notorious director. Hughes’ infamous invented bra now lives in a Hollywood museum.

*Jane Russell was known for playing sultry femme fatale types onscreen, but behind the scenes, she could be a goody-two shoes. She was a devout Christian. Russell actually organized a weekly Bible study at her home which she named the “Hollywood Christian group.”

*While making His Kind of Woman (1951), her co-star Robert Mitchum came up with a cheeky nickname for Russell, calling her “Hard John” for her rigid Christian beliefs. Any other star might’ve taken offense, but Russell had a great sense of humor. When a reporter asked her about her reputation for being hard-nosed about her faith, she had a sassy retort: "Christians can have big breasts too."

*Russell got paid more than her co-star on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Marilyn Monroe. But despite this competition, Monroe spoke fondly of Russell in the final interview she gave before her tragic passing, saying that Russell was “quite wonderful to me.”

*In order to play Hughes in the 2004 film “The Aviator,” Leonardo DiCaprio spent a day talking with Russell about the mogul.