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The film and TV world lost another one of its beloved greats today, in a year where the deaths of iconic stars seem more commonplace than ever. Alan Young, who played Wilbur Post on Mr. Ed and voiced the iconic Scrooge McDuck for three decades, passed away this morning at the age of 96. The actor had been living at the Motion Picture and Television Fund facility in Woodland Hills, California at the time of his passing.

Alan Young was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England in 1919, before relocating to Edinburgh and later to Vancouver, British Columbia as a small child. He suffered from asthma as a young boy, which caused him to be bedridden for much of his childhood, when he took up a strong interest in radio. He had already become an accomplished radio performer by the age of 13, and at 17 years of age, he started writing and performing...

Comedic actor Alan Young, who for six seasons starred opposite a talking horse in the classic ’60s sitcom Mister Ed, died Tuesday of natural causes. He was 96.

On Mister Ed, which ran on CBS from 1961-1966, Young portrayed architect Wilbur Post. Prior to that he was best known for headlining CBS’ The Alan Young Show, which netted him a Best Actor Emmy.

His other TV credits included guest appearances on The Love Boat, Murder She Wrote, St. Elsewhere, Party of Five and ER. On the big screen, he co-starred in such films as Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, Tom Thumb, The Time Machine...

Celebrity Death! Rip Jane Russell (Brunette from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) -- [Mar. 1] Actress and model Jane Russell, a famous WWII pin-up girl and star of the 1953 classic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes alongside Marilyn Monroe, died yesterday at age 89. Russell also was known for her starring role in Howard Hughes' 1941 The Outlaw. The the legendary actress made the sequel Gentlemen Marry Brunettes in 1955 (without Monroe). And she joined Clark Gable and Jeff Chandler for two Western movies: The Tall Men and FoxFire, respectively. Her career began to falter in the 1960s. "Why did I quit movies?" Jane Russell remarked in 1999. "Because I was getting too old! You couldn't go on acting in those years if you were an actress over 30." "She always said I'm going to die in the saddle, I'm not going to sit at home and become an old woman," Russell's daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield told the Associated Press. "And that's exactly what she did,...

Voluptuous star of The Outlaw and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

The actor Jane Russell, who has died aged 89, was among the most desired women of the 20th century. She had great erotic force and great likability. Russell made just over 20 films, but only a handful of those are remembered: her first film, The Outlaw (1943); the comedy western The Paleface (1948), with Bob Hope; and the musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), co-starring Marilyn Monroe.

The Outlaw, produced by Howard Hughes, was famously promoted with a series of publicity stills showing Russell lying in the hay, and bending down to pick up bales. The experience made her savvy about the vulgarity of the film industry. Her breasts were less covered and more fetishised, lit, photographed, designed and dreamed about than any woman's in the cinema had been until that time. Hughes even designed a special bra for her to wear in the film (although she...

Hollywood heartthrob Jane Russell died at an age of 89 on Monday at her California residence, media reports said. According to reports, the Hollywood sex symbol of 1940's and 1950's died due to respiratory-related illness.Russell was launched by billionaire Howard Hughes in the 1943 film The Outlaw. She acted in blockbusters like Young Widow, MacAo, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, The Paleface and The Tall Men.

We look back at Jane Russell's movie career, from The Outlaw through Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to her late-60s cameos

As a 20-year-old and the object of Howard Hughes's attentions, Jane Russell was force-fed into a series of low-cut dresses for The Outlaw (1943).

She plays Doc Holliday's girl Rio, who falls in love with a wounded Billy the Kid when he hides out with her, on the run from Pat Garrett. Not remotely historically accurate, this blood-heat western is best remembered for the censorship squabbles over exactly how far Russell was allowed to lean over while tenderly ministering to the Kid. Hughes's legendary underwired cantilevered brassiere was designed during the shooting of the film, but Russell denied she ever wore it.

The Paleface (1948) was a real change of pace: a comedy western with Bob Hope as the useless dentist Peter Potter, who plays husband to Russell's deep-cover Calamity Jane.

It may have been her curvaceous looks that brought Jane Russell to the attention of audiences but it was her devilish charm that kept her in their minds. A siren of the screen in the 1940s and 50s, the dark brunette Russell captivated mens' minds and commanded their eyes as she pushed the envelope for what was considered going too far with on-screen sexuality. And while her curves and come-hither eyes certainly helped play a substantial part in presenting that temptress image, it was also in the way that Russell chose to use her good looks in her acting that made her a lasting presence on the screen.

Her first role was in 1943's The Outlaw, and the fact that it's her languid reclining pose against a mound of hay, pistol in hand, that serves as the poster artwork for the movie shows clearly that the film's producers knew exactly...

Los Angeles — She was the voluptuous pin-up girl who set a million male hearts to pounding during World War II, the favorite movie star of a generation of young men long before she'd made a movie more than a handful of them had ever seen.

Such was the stunning beauty of Jane Russell, and the marketing skills of the man who discovered her, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes.

Russell, surrounded by family members, died Monday at her home in the central coast city of Santa Maria. Her death from respiratory failure came 70 years after Hughes had put her on the path to stardom with his controversial Western "The Outlaw." She was 89.

Although she had all but abandoned Hollywood after the 1960s for a quieter life, her daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield said Russell remained active until just a few weeks ago when her health began to fail. Until then she was active with her church,...

The sex symbol of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the follow-up Gentlemen Marry Brunettes, Jane Russell, has passed away at the age of 89. She first appeared in The Outlaw, after Howard Hughes discovered her and the two body parts that become both a signature of her style and of the controversy she would help create. Her most iconic role, of course, is alongside Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes where she crooned “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” in a court room (complete with a bejeweled costume and dance moves). Although the actress went on the record saying she wasn’t happy with her film output (most likely because she never got anything beyond bubbly comedic roles that played off her hair color and chestly endowments), she left beyond a lot of solid films from the 40s, 50s, and 60s for audiences to continue to enjoy. You can watch Gentlemen Prefer Blondes instantly, and...