Jane Russell's acting career was launched on one of the most notorious publicity campaigns in the history of cinema for The Outlaw, a film produced and ultimately directed by Howard Hughes. Russell should have quickly and quietly disappeared from public consciousness. Yet, she managed to use The Outlaw as a springboard for a noted entertainment career that found her starring opposite stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, Robert Mitchum, Vincent Price, Frank Sinatra, and Groucho Marx. Ultimately, Russell herself would be elevated to the status of "film legend" during her lifetime.  

 

The book Mean Moody…Magnificent: Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend explores Russell's life and career and examines how she used a constant stream of provocative publicity to her advantage while somehow managing to elevate her public persona above that publicity. The book also explores how the highly sexualized marketing of Jane Russell the Movie Star conflicted with the off-screen Russell, a woman of strong religious faith who spent much of her life devoted to advocating for international adoption. Serving as a companion to Russell's 1985 autobiography,  Mean…Moody…Magnificent! is the first volume to explore the life and filmography of Jane Russell.