Discovered working in a dentist's office when she was 19, Jane Russell landed her first role as Sheriff Pat Garrett's girlfriend in a Howard Hughes western 'The Outlaw' (1943) that was advertised with a provocative poster featuring the young star in a revealing blouse, reclining in a haystack and holding a gun. The image caused such an uproar that the release of the movie was delayed, at first showing only in San Francisco and then in New York. It did not gain national distribution until 1950, seven years after it was made.
In the second photograph Russell poses for artist Zoe Mozert, who makes a chalk drawing for the infamous publicity poster for The Outlaw. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis.
