“Actress Jane Russell, a veteran of five decades of films including "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," in which she co-starred with Marilyn Monroe, died Monday morning, her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said. Russell was 89.
Russell was "a pillar of health" but caught a bad cold and died of respiratory difficulties, Waterfield said.” CNN
“…Russell has had three husbands: Bob Waterfield, a UCLA All American, Cleveland Rams and Los Angeles Ramsquarterback, Los Angeles Rams head coach, and Pro Football Hall of Fame member (married on April 24, 1943, then divorced in July 1968); the actor Roger Barrett, (married on August 25, 1968 through his death on November 18, 1968); and the real-estate broker John Calvin Peoples (married January 31, 1974 through his death on April 9, 1999). Russell and Peoples lived in Sedona, Arizona for a few years, but spent the majority of their married life residing in Montecito, California. In February 1952, she and Waterfield adopted a baby girl, Tracy. In December 1952, they adopted a fifteen-month-old boy, Thomas, and in 1956 she and Waterfield adopted a nine-month-old boy, Robert John. Russell herself was unable to have children and, in 1955, she founded World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), an organization to place children with adoptive families that pioneered adoptions from foreign countries by Americans.[citation needed]
At the height of her career, Russell started the "Hollywood Christian Group", a weekly Bible study at her home which was arranged for Christians in the film industry.[4] Russell appeared occasionally on the Praise The Lord program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a Christian television channel based in Costa Mesa, California.[5] Russell was at times a prominentRepublican Party member who attended Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration along with other notables from Hollywood such as Lou Costello, Dick Powell, June Allyson, Anita Louise and Louella Parsons.
Russell resides in Santa Maria Valley along the Central Coast of California…”
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