Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (novel) first film version, which is now lost, was released in 1928 and starred Ruth Taylor and Alice White. Better known is the 1953 film version of the musical, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. The novel's characters were licensed for use in a daily newspaper comic strip series that ran from April to September 1926. The comic strip was not an adaptation of the novel, but used the novel's characters in new gag situations. Although the writing was credited to Loos, it was presumably ghosted by the artists, Virginia Huget and Phil Cook. The original series was
Bombshell (sex symbol) Taylor, Ann-Margret, Veronica Lake, Raquel Welch, Ursula Andress, and Gina Lollobrigida The epithet rose sharply in popularity after the death of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, and declined in popularity in the late 1960s due to emerging ideological conflicts. Bombshells are identified with hypersexuality, their curves, including hourglass figures and large breasts, sex appeal, larger than life personas, as well as stereotypes associated with blonde women and supermodels. Bombshell (sex symbol) The term bombshell is a forerunner to the term "sex symbol" and originally used to describe popular female sex icons. In modern usage, bombshell refers to a very attractive woman.