Hollywood Loses a Sex Symbol: Jane Russell Passes Away

Curvy Hollywood sex symbol Jane Russell died today at the age of 89.

Russell starred in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "His Kind of Woman," "Double Dynamite," "The Paleface," and "Macao," though she is known best for the Howard Huges film that launched her career, "The Outlaw."

"The Outlaw" didn’t launch her career because it was such a great role, but because of controversy over what Entertainment Weekly called her "death defying curves."

It took seven years for the film to actually be released, and it finally made it to the silver screen in 1950.

Russell was discovered by Howard Hughes, who was always rumored to have an eye for a beautiful woman. And she was certainly beautiful.

“Yes, Howard Hughes invented a bra for me. Or, he tried to. And one of the seamless ones like they have now. He was way ahead of his time. But I never wore it in 'The Outlaw'. And he never knew. He wasn't going to take my clothes off to check if I had it on. I just told him I did,” said Russell.

Her last movie was filmed in 1970 and was called "Darker Than Amber." Russell then went in to retirement and quietly lived in the Hollywood area until her death this week.

In her later life, Russell was a vocal Repubiblican who said of herself “these days (2003) I am a teetotal, mean-spirited, right-wing, narrow-minded, conservative Christian bigot, but not a racist.”