Jane Russell, RIP

[dirac]

Jane Russell has died at age 89. This link has several clips.

Russell's best-known film, and the one she'll always be remembered

for, is one in which, even though she had top billing, she pretty much

played second fiddle to emergent superstar Marilyn Monroe. The "two

little girls from Little Rock" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) were perfect sweater-girl fantasy figures for the mid-1950s: Monroe blonde and ditsy, Russell dark and sassy.

She is indeed shown to best advantage in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in which she was able to show off her sense of humor and play warmhearted den mother to Marilyn's Lorelei. I know of very few movies that present such a warm and solid feminine friendship. RIP.

[Bonnette]

RIP, indeed. 2011 is already shaping up as another year of irreplaceable losses...not surprisingly, since so many of the greats are reaching a certain age. But my, it is sad. My favorites among Ms. Russell's films are Macao and His Kind of Woman.

[cubanmiamiboy]

How sad these Old Hollywood/Glamour ladies are leaving us without having had a proper recognition for all that beauty they gave us to admire. A great loss for sure. May you rest in peace, Miss Russell.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5WGPylykOXU/S86yQGPHowI/AAAAAAAABCQ/iYHGQKoY1vc/s640/Jane%2BRussell.jpg

[miliosr]

She is indeed shown to best advantage in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in which she was able to show off her sense of humor and play warmhearted den mother to Marilyn's Lorelei. I know of very few movies that present such a warm and solid feminine friendship. RIP.

Agreed. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of the all-time great "buddy" movies and, as you note, one of the all-time great depictions of mutually supportive, non-competitive female friendship. Russell's performance as the wisecracking Dorothy isn't the kind of performance that wins awards . . . but it should.

The clip list is deficient in the extreme for not including this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pthokb18V7U

Strange that the guys don't pay much attention to Jane . . .

[dirac]

Thanks. That number is so gay.

I really enjoy Russell's line readings in Blondes. "The chaperone's job is to see that nobody else has any fun. But nobody chaperones the chaperone. That's why I'm so right for this job."

Bonnette, Mitchum and Russell certainly made a handsome couple.