Jane Russell just passed away at the age of 89 and was a huge part of my childhood. Most people close to me know that I rarely watch movies made past 1969. For all the passion I have for things such as music, tennis, baseball, humor, and politics, I’ve never had much of an interest in modern film. While my friends were all growing up with movies like Pretty Woman, Top Gun, and Edward Scissorhands, I was growing up with Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, All About Eve, and The Harvey Girls.
It was always a foregone conclusion that I was going to have a huge infatuation for acting in its most basic of forms. I’ve never been interested in special effects. Instead I’ve been a huge fan of storytelling and imagination, which is a perfect example of why I love to write so much. I love to daydream and modern movies leave little to the imagination.
Jane Russell occupied a rather large part of my childhood. As a child, I was OBsessed with movies such as The Outlaw, Macao, His Kind of Woman, and, of course, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Russell was always sexy as hell with her low voice and..umm..huge ‘brazier.’
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes remains one of my favorite movies of all-time and, in fact, I still pull out from time to time to escape the modern world and drench myself in memories. Marilyn Monroe was always considered the ‘star’ of the movie, but I really think that it was Jane Russell who stole the show. If you’ve seen any of her other movies you’ll know that a role in a musical was a definite stretch for her and I think she pulled it off flawlessly.
I’m very sad to hear of Russell’s passing, as it represents the loss of a huge talent and a true Hollywood star. RIP Jane Russell.
