Jane Russell dies at 89; screen siren had sensational debut in ‘The Outlaw’

Her provocative performance in the 1943 Howard Hughes film — and the publicity shots posing her in a low-cut blouse while reclined on a stack of hay bales — marked a turning point in moviedom sexuality. She became a bona fide star and a favorite pinup girl of soldiers during World War II

Deeply religious throughout her life, she looked back with regret at the unrelenting attention devoted to her bounteous figure, calling it “Hollywood gook.”

Although she grew to despise the provocative pictures that had made her a star at 19, she succumbed to her publisher’s pressure to use one of the sultriest on the cover of her autobiography.

In her personal life, counter to her rather rowdy public image, Russell was a political conservative and a born-again Christian years before the phrase became popular. She once promoted the use of the Bible in public schools.