Cary Grant introduced her to her future husband and was the best man at their wedding.
Died about three weeks after Patrick Dennis, the author of Auntie Mame (1958), one of her most famous roles.
Helped Van Johnson overcome his fear of live audiences after goading him into performing in nightclubs. He made his Las Vegas debut in the 1950s.
Her husband, son, and son's wife (actress Patricia Morrow), and a priest were at her bedside when she died.
Her performance as Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday (1940) is ranked #28 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
Her son married actress Patricia Morrow March 15, 1975. They later divorced in the 1980s.
In Gypsy (1962), Russell portrayed the mother of famed stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. In The Trouble with Angels (1966), Russell appeared with the real life Gypsy Rose Lee.
In 1970, she accepted the Oscar for "Best Actress in a Supporting Role" on behalf of Helen Hayes, who wasn't present at the awards ceremony.
In Italy, almost all her films were dubbed by either Tina Lattanzi or Lidia Simoneschi.
Interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA, in the center of section M at the statue and cross.
Profiled in book "Funny Ladies" by Stephen Silverman. [1999]
Shares the screen with actress and former vaudevillian June Havoc in My Sister Eileen (1942) and then portrays her mother (of baby June) in the musical Gypsy (1962).
She died after a long battle with breast cancer in 1976 at the age of 69, although initially her age was misreported because she had shaved a few years off her true age.
She refused to be placed in the "best supporting" category when Columbia Pictures wanted to promote her for an Academy Award nomination for her role in Picnic (1955). Many felt she would have won had she cooperated.
Sister-in-law of actress Elizabeth Russell.
Son, Lance Brisson, born May 7, 1943.
Won Broadway's 1953 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "Wonderful Town," a musical based on the same source as her film My Sister Eileen (1942), for which she received an Oscar nomination playing the same character. She also received a 1957 Tony Award nomination as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Auntie Mame," a part she recreated in an Oscar-nominated performance in the film version Auntie Mame (1958).