Jane Russell Jane Russell Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell (June 21, 1921 – February 28, 2011) was an American film actress and one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s. Russell moved from the Midwestern United States to California, where she had her first film role in 1943 in "The Outlaw". In 1947, Russell delved into music before returning to films. After starring in multiple films in the 1950s, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953, Russell again returned to music while completing several other films in the 1960s. She starred in more than 20 films throughout her career. Russell married
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