In the early 1950s, made a television commercial for Lustre Creme's shampoo campaign.
In the late 1930s, she was a member of Max Reinhardt's Theatrical Workshop and attended Maria Ouspenskaya's Drama School for six months.
Is portrayed by Marla Carlis in The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) (TV), by Renee Henderson in "Blonde" (2001), and by Erika Nann in Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996) (TV).
Married John Calvin Peoples in a "kaftan" ceremony in Santa Barbara, California.
Measurements: 38D-25-36 (definitive for majority of her career), 36D-26-36 (during The Outlaw (1943)), 38D-25-39 (on set of The Paleface (1948) in 1948), 38 1/2D-25 1/2-38 1/2 (for "Photoplay" pin-up in 1953), 39D-26 1/2-37 1/2 (at her bustiest in mid-1950s), 37-27-37 (self-described in 1990), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).
Member of America's Future.
On 2 February 1967, Russell filed for divorce from Bob Waterfield; it was granted in July 1968.
Profiled in "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" bu Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner (McFarland, 2004).
Received the Women's International Center (WIC) Living Legacy Award in 1989.
Retired to Santa Maria, California after the death of her third husband in 1999 to be close to her youngest son.
She and husband Bob Waterfield adopted a 15-month-old British boy, Tommy Kavanaugh, in December 1952.
She and husband Bob Waterfield adopted a baby girl, Tracy, on 2/15/52.
The troops in Korea named two embattled hills in her honor.
Through her organization, World Adoption International Fund (WAIF), Russell has placed 51,000 children with adoptive families.
Unable to bear children, Russell championed the passage of the Federal Orphan Adoption Amendment of 1953, which allowed children of American servicemen born overseas to be placed for adoption in the United States.
Went to high school with James Dougherty, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) co-star Marilyn Monroe's first husband.
Went to Van Nuys High School (Los Angeles).