Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953 film) not much more is needed when patrons can look at Russell-Monroe lines as displayed in slick costumes and Technicolor." "Harrison's Reports" wrote: "Both Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe are nothing short of sensational in the leading roles. They not only act well, but the sexy manner in which they display their song, dance and pulchritude values just about sets the screen on fire and certainly is crowd-pleasing, judging by the thunderous applause at the preview after each of the well-staged musical numbers." John McCarten of "The New Yorker" wrote that the two leads "have a good deal of enthusiasm, and
Sex symbol screen lover Rudolph Valentino's death in 1926 caused mass hysteria among his female fans. In Hollywood, many film stars were seen as sex symbols, such as Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, and Clark Gable. The "bad boy" image of the 1950s was epitomized by sex symbols such as James Dean and Marlon Brando. In his Elvis Presley obituary, Lester Bangs credited him as "the man who brought overt blatant vulgar sexual frenzy to the popular arts in America," in the 1950s and 1960s, through his overtly suggestive dance moves. With regard to fiction, Rotten Tomatoes states that the 1930s cartoon character