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1940s sex symbol Jane Russell dies at 89 - Entertainment - Movies
Voloptuous actress Jane Russell, one of the best-known sex symbols of the 1940s and 1950s, has died at age 89.
Russell's daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield says the actress died Monday at her home in Santa Maria, Calif. of a respiratory-related illness.
Lesley M. M. Blume: ICONS OF STYLE SERIES: Actress & Secondhand Tablecloth-Wearer Ali MacGraw (PHOTOS, POLL)
Today we'll revisit a more contemporary style icon and Let's Bring Back muse -- actress Ali MacGraw -- who is happily still with us.
MacGraw became a household name when she starred in Love Story (1970), still regarded as one of the most popular films of all time; she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for that role, in which she played a poor music student in a star-crossed relationship with a privileged Harvard golden boy (played by Ryan O'Neal).
Yet she originally began her career in fashion, working at one point as an assistant to legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland. Perhaps this influenced her wonderfully innovative approach to dressing. As MacGraw's ex-husband, producer Robert Evans, former head of Paramount, recalled in his famous memoir, The Kid Stays in the Picture:
"Her entire wardrobe consisted of scarves to use as turbans, embroidered tablecloths used for wraparound skirts, etc.--naturally, all second-, third-, and fourthhand. Yet ... each year she was on the best dressed list. Style, unlike fashion, cannot be bought nor taught. You either have it or you don't."
MacGraw's look launched a hundred trends and influenced millions of women who wanted to emulate her breezy, irreverent style. Not everyone adored the look, of course; like all individualists, she had her detractors too, and very occasionally made appearances on worst-dressed lists as well.
But the bottom line: her look was unique, bold, and unapologetic - all qualities to be admired then and now.
