" Mean…Moody…Magnificent! Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend is a fascinating study of a complex Hollywood icon. As the movies' first full-figured sex symbol, Jane Russell starred in classic comedies, film noirs, musicals and Westerns opposite Bob Hope, Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, and Clark Gable, but author Christina Rice reveals that her life off screen is even more interesting. Russell was a woman of deep Christian faith who struggled with alcoholism. After a back alley abortion left her unable to bear children, she led the fight to overturn restrictive laws that resulted in thousands of overseas orphans being adopted into American families. Rice adroitly navigates through these contradictions and more, including the creation and marketing of a screen bombshell by executives, artisans, publicists, and the press, and the tension between that image and the real woman behind the façade. This is a magnificent biography of the occasionally mean and moody, but always magnificent Jane Russell." — Andrew A. Erish, author of Vitagraph: America's First Great Motion Picture Studio
"In the 1980s I was in the RKO Radio Pictures archives when Jane Russell was being interviewed for an RKO documentary. In 2010, I had the privilege is sitting with her for an entire day as she was interviewed for a documentary on photographer George Hurrell. Because Jane Russell's story is unique, she has often been misrepresented. I'm happy that she has been accurately portrayed in Christina Rice's biography." — Mark A. Vieira, author of George Hurrell's Hollywood
"Christina Rice has written an exceptional and thoroughly-researched biography that presents Jane Russell as a fully-formed human being and actress. As a Marilyn Monroe fan and biographer, I was enthralled by the chapters on their working relationship and friendship. It truly is a magnificent book, and one I'll refer to time and time again." — Michelle Morgan, author of The Girl: Marilyn Monroe, The Seven Year Itch and the Birth of an Unlikely Feminist
"Just when I thought I couldn't enjoy a classic movie star bio more than Christina Rice's book on Ann Dvorak, along she comes with this first-rate tome on Jane Russell. Impeccably researched and engagingly written, Rice's latest is one of the better biographies I've read in some time. Her storytelling style grabs you from the opening chapter and never lets loose." — Karen Burroughs Hannsberry, author of Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir and Femme Noir: The Bad Girls of Film
"The tumultuous life and career of Jane Russell is captured by author Christina Rice in an insightful biography of the legendary star who ultimately resisted her caricature as a buxom Tinseltown sex object. No detail is spared from Russell's rustic San Fernando Valley childhood, discovery by the eccentric Howard Hughes and her subsequent stardom while enduring an abusive marriage and intermittent battles with the bottle. Through Rice's detailed research and sure prose, the resolute Russell emerges as an empathetic woman of substance who ended up selling bras rather than burning them. An important chapter of Hollywood history, Mean...Moody...Magnificent! is the definitive Jane Russell story." — Alan K. Rode, author of Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film
03/01/2021
Though actress Jane Russell is probably best-remembered for costarring alongside Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Rice (Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel), a librarian at Los Angeles Public Library, aims to rectify that with this intricately researched biography that offers a far fuller portrait. Russell was born in Minnesota, and her parents moved to Los Angeles when she was a baby. Russell didn't plan on becoming an actress, but a brief modeling career led to her discovery by Howard Hughes, who was looking for an unknown to star in his movie The Outlaw. The film was a breakout hit for Russell, though it was arguably more famous for the photo in which she posed provocatively on a haystack, and the resulting censorship assaults, than for her performance. Writing in a folksy, readable style, Rice shares the contradictions of Russell's career and personal life: She was a sex symbol who studied the Bible, and while she was a staunch conservative, she advocated for social programs for orphaned children. Rice also explores Russell's association with Hughes, which lasted for more than 30 years and was both a blessing and a curse. VERDICT Whether readers are intimately familiar with the golden age of Hollywood, or are newcomers to the topic, they'll come away having learned something about one of its stars.—Rosellen Brewer, Sno-Isle Libs., Marysville, WA
