Hollywood queen Jane Russell dies aged 89

JANE Russell, the busty brunette who shot to fame as the star of Howard Hughes' 1941 Western The Outlaw, has died of respiratory failure, her family said today.

Although Russell, 89, who died at her home in Santa Maria, California, made only a handful of films after the 1960s, she had remained active in her church, with charitable organisations and with a local singing group until her health began to decline within recent weeks, said her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield.

"She always said I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman," Ms Waterfield said. "And that's exactly what she did, she died in the saddle."

Eccentric billionaire Hughes put her on to the path to stardom when he cast her in The Outlaw.

With her sultry look and glowing sexuality, Russell became a star before she was ever seen by a wide movie audience. The Hughes publicity mill ground out photos of the beauty in low-cut costumes and swimsuits, and she became famous, especially as a pin-up for Second World War soldiers.

By that time she had become a box-office star by starring with Bob Hope in the 1948 hit comedy-Western The Paleface.

Although her look and her hourglass figure made her the subject of numerous nightclub jokes, unlike Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and other pin-up queens of the era, Russell was untouched by scandal in her personal life. During her Hollywood career she was married to American football quarterback Bob Waterfield.

The Outlaw, although it established her reputation, was beset with trouble from the beginning. Director Howard Hawks rankled under producer Hughes' constant suggestions and finally walked out.

The film's rambling, fictional plot featured Russell as a friend of Billy the Kid.

It had scattered brief runs in the 1940s, earning scathing reviews. The Los Angeles Times called it "one of the weirdest Western pictures that ever unreeled before the public".

But Hughes bought the ailing RKO studio in 1948 and he devoted special care to his number one star, using his engineering skills to design Russell a special bra - she said she never wore it. That year she made her most successful film, a loan to Paramount for The Paleface.

At RKO she was cast in pot-boilers such as His Kind of Woman (with Robert Mitchum) and Double Dynamite (Frank Sinatra, Groucho Marx).

Hughes had rewarded her with a unique 20-year contract paying 1000 dollars a week, then he sold RKO and stopped making movies. Russell continued receiving the weekly fee, but never made another film for Hughes.

Her only other notable film was Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a 1953 musical based on the novel by Anita Loos. She and Monroe teamed up to sing Two Little Girls From Little Rock and seek romance in Paris.

Over the years Russell also battled alcoholism but said she had always been able to rebound from troubles by relying on the religious lessons she learned from her mother.

She is survived by her children, Thomas Waterfield, Tracy Foundas and Robert "Buck" Waterfield, six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.