Actress Jane Russell from the movie “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” died at the age of 89 at her home on Monday, her family said.

Russell, who turned out to be a Hollywood sex symbol in the 1940s as well as 1950s, died because of a respiratory failure in Santa Maria, central California.

Buck Waterfield, Russell’s son said in a statement that Russell passed away peacefully with her children at the bedside.

Later in her life, Russell became a “full-figured girl” with TV bra ads. She did best in comedies, which faintly joked about her sexpot image and concentrated on her full-body figure.

Howard Hughes, a multimillionaire producer and industrialist, discovered Russell. He placed her in her first film, “The Outlaw,” which brought her the sexpot image because of her reportedly 38-D breast size.

In some photos, the young Russell slumbered on a bed made of straw. She was looking snappy in a peasant blouse, tightly fitted over her body with one shoulder slipping off. The movie was held up for about three years by censors. After that, it had a limited release in the year 1943.

In Russell’s biography, she said she has been unhappy with the pictures she has been in. She went nowhere in the acting sector, expect for comedy.

Russell made it into the newspaper headlines in 1978. She was detained for four days because of drunken driving. She then started her fight against alcoholism. At 60, her figure was back, gaining a lot of attention through her television ad on a particular brand of bra.

Russell was born in Bemidji, Minnesota on June 21, 1921. However, she grew up in San Fernando Valley, Southern California.