'Brunette bombshell' Jane Russell dies at 89

HOLLYWOOD sex symbol Jane Russell, who shot to fame as the voluptuous movie siren of the 1940s and 1950s, has died at the age of 89. at 89

The star of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes died on Monday of respiratory failure at her home in Santa Maria, central California, her family said.

The "brunette bombshell" became a controversial sex symbol in the 1940s and was one of the most popular stars at the box office. At 19 years old, she met the director and producer Howard Hughes, who launched her career in a blaze of publicity.

Hughes cast her in The Outlaw in 1944 - a sultry debut performance that outraged censors, prompting them to ban the movie for two years.

One of her most popular performances was a comedy role in The Paleface in 1948 alongside Bob Hope, but her most famous film - and the one for which she will be best remebered - was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953, in which she starred with Marilyn Monroe.

Russell was a pin-up girl in the 1940s and 1950s, but her film career had faded by the 1960s.

When asked in an interview in 1999 why her career was cut short, she replied: "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."

A devout Christian in her later years, she organised Bible study groups in Hollywood. She also turned to conservative politics, saying: "These days I'm a teetotal, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded, conservative Christian bigot, but not a racist."

Russell married three times and adopted three children. After experiencing problems while trying to adopt a child, she founded the World Adoption International Agency, which has organised the adoptions in the United States of tens of thousands of children from overseas.