RIP Jane Russell: A Life In Photos, Playtex And Bullet Bras

RIP Jane Russell. You were the screen siren who seduced The Outlaw in 1943. It was banned for two years. You could watch newsreels of death and destruction in Europe and the Far East. But if you woman to see a voluptuous woman in a tight top, it was forbidden.

She said of her career in 1999:

“Why did I quit movies? Because I was getting too old! You couldn’t go on acting in those years if you were an actress over 30.”

She came to early for the cougar to be fashionable. But in her youth, her looks did her fine. She added to her film oeuvre with advert for the 18-hour bra for Playtex. Howard Hughes, the minted germ phobic who funded The Outlaw, invented a Bullet Bra for Russell. She never wore it.

This was her life in pictures – uncensored:

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Jane Russell, the girl whose curves and low-cut blouses have caused censorship trouble throughout the United States, costing producer Howard Hughes £250,000 in publicity and £50,000 in legal battles against the Hay's Office ban on the film "The Outlaw", a western starring Jane.

Anorak

Posted: 1st, March 2011 | In: Film Comment | TrackBack | Permalink