By Joseph Martinez -

Actress Jane Russell, the voluptuous pin-up girl who set a million male hearts to pounding during World War II, died Monday at her home in the central coast city of Santa Maria, CA. She was 89 years old.

Her death from respiratory failure came 70 years after eccentric billionaire and film Mogul Howard Hughes set her course for stardom by signing her to a seven-year contract.  she made her motion picture debut in The Outlaw (1943), a story about Billy the Kid that went to great lengths to showcase her voluptuous figure. Although the movie was completed in 1941, it was released for a limited showing two years later. There were problems with the censorship of the production code over the way her ample cleavage was displayed. When the movie was finally passed, it had a general release in 1946. During that time, she was kept busy doing publicity and became known nationally. Contrary to countless incorrect reports in the media since the release of The Outlaw, Russell did not wear the specially designed "cantilever" under wire bra (the first of its kind) that Howard Hughes constructed for the film. According to Jane's 1988 autobiography, she was given the bra, decided it had a mediocre fit, and wore her own bra on the film set with the straps pulled down.

One of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s, she co-starred in the hit film 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' (1953) opposite Marilyn Monroe for 20th Century Fox.

She is survived by three children, six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Jane Russell Trivia Per IMDB:

• Discovered by Howard Hughes working as a receptionist for his dentist.
• Went to Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles
• Bob Hope once introduced her as "the two and only Jane Russell".
• Went to high school with James Dougherty, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) co-star Marilyn Monroe's first husband.
• Leonardo DiCaprio visited Jane while filming The Aviator (2004) in order to find up close and personal what Howard Hughes was really like.