Remembering Jane Russell: A Life Beyond Glamour

Let me tell you a story about Jane Russell, one of Hollywood's most iconic stars. Buck Waterfield, her son, fondly recalls a day when they went grocery shopping. "A lady came up to her and said, 'Are you Jane Russell?' and she replied, 'Not today, sweetheart!'" Buck told Closer Weekly with a laugh. Jane had a unique way of blending into the crowd. She would deliberately dress in unusual outfits just so people wouldn’t recognize her. It was her way of maintaining a private life away from the spotlight.

Separating the Public Persona from Private Life

Jane was one of the world’s most celebrated actresses, but she had a clear boundary between her public image and personal life. "She would say, 'You have to turn it on when you’re out and turn it off when you go home,'" Buck shares. Jane wasn’t interested in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood; she was a down-to-earth person who valued privacy. "She was actually real and not Hollywood," Buck emphasizes.

Rising to Fame in Hollywood

Jane was born in Minnesota, but her family relocated to Southern California, where she nurtured her passion for acting and music. Her career took off when director Howard Hughes cast her in the 1943 Western The Outlaw. This film catapulted her to worldwide fame as a pin-up icon, even though it faced delays in release due to its controversial nature.

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Family Life and Priorities

Despite her demanding career, Jane always kept her family as her top priority. She married Bob Waterfield in 1943, who later became an NFL quarterback. Due to complications from a previous abortion, Jane was unable to have biological children. So, she and Bob adopted three children: Buck, Tracy, and Thomas. Even while filming Underwater! in Hawaii, Jane refused to work through Christmas, insisting on spending the holidays with her family.