American film Actress and one of Hollywood’s leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s, Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell was born on this day June 21, 1921.

Russell’s first film role was in 1943 with The Outlaw. In 1947 she delved into music before returning to films. After starring in multiple films in the 1950s, Russell again returned to music while completing several other films in the 1960s. She starred in more than 20 films throughout her career.

She received several accolades for her achievements in films, including having her hand- and foot-prints immortalized in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Birthdays
1859 – Henry Tanner (artist: one of the first black artists to be exhibited in galleries throughout the U.S.: The Banjo Lesson; died May 25, 1937)

1921 – Judy Holliday (Tuvim) (actress: Adam’s Rib, Bells are Ringing, Born Yesterday, It Should Happen to You; died June 7, 1965)

1921 – Jane (Ernestine) Russell (actress: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, The Outlaw, Paleface, The Road to Bali; activist for homeless children; died Feb 28, 2011)

1925 – Maureen Stapleton (Academy Award-winning actress: Reds [1981]; A View from the Bridge, Bye, Bye Birdie, Cocoon: The Return; theatre at Hudson Valley Community College name for her; died Mar 13, 2006)

1933 – Bernie Kopell (actor: The Love Boat, Get Smart, Love American Style, When Things were Rotten, Combat High, Sunset Beach, Bug Buster)

1935 – Monte Markham (actor: The Second Hundred Years, Baywatch, Rituals, Dallas, Perry Mason, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, At First Sight, Judgment Day, Hotline, Guns of the Magnificent Seven)

1938 – Ron Ely (Ronald Pierce) (actor: Tarzan, Slavers, Doc Savage; host: Miss America Pageant)

1940 – Mariette Hartley (actress: Encino Man, Silence of the Heart, Improper Channels; TV hostess; commercials: Polaroid)

1941 – Joe Flaherty (Emmy Award-winning writer: SCTV Network 90 [1983]; actor: Second City TV, Maniac Mansion. Happy Gilmore, A Pig’s Tale, Who’s Harry Crumb, Back to the Future, Part 2, Speed Zone, Stripes, Used Cars, Tunnelvision)

1947 – Meredith Baxter (actress: Family Ties, Bridget Loves Bernie, Til Murder Do Us Part)

1947 – Michael Gross (actor: Family Ties, Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland, In the Heat of Passion 2: Unfaithful)

1954 – Robert Pastorelli (actor: I Married a Centerfold, Beverly Hills Cop II, Murphy Brown, Dances with Wolves, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, Striking Distance, Eraser, South Pacific [2001]; died Mar 8, 2004)

1958 – Eric Douglas (actor: The Flamingo Kid, Delta Force 3: The Killing Game; died July 6, 2004)

1964 – Sammi Davis-Voss (actress: The Lair of the White Worm, Hope and Glory, Homefront)

1964 – Doug Savant (actor: Melrose Place, Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence, Shaking the Tree, Red Surf, Masquerade, Godzilla [1998])

1973 – Juliette Lewis (actress: Cape Fear, Husbands and Wives, Natural Born Killers, Romeo is Bleeding, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, My Stepmother is an Alien, Too Young to Die, I Married Dora)