Buxom actress Jane Russell dead at 89

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" movie star Jane Russell, who became a controversial Hollywood sex symbol, died on Monday at the age of 89, her family said.

Russell, best known as the buxom star of 1940s and 1950s movie, died of respiratory failure at her home in Santa Maria, central California, her family said.

"Jane Russell passed away peacefully today at home surrounded by her children at her bedside," Russell's son Buck Waterfield said in a statement.

Russell, who later in life was the "full-figured girl" in television bra ads, was at her best in comedies that, subtly or not, spoofed her sexpot image and focused on her figure.

Multimillionaire producer-industrialist Howard Hughes discovered Russell and put her in her first movie, "The Outlaw," which stuck her with the sexpot image based on her bosom, the bra for which reportedly was size 38-D.

In the photos, the sultry Russell languished on a bed of straw, looking petulant as her tight-fitting peasant blouse slipped off one shoulder. Censors held up "The Outlaw" for almost three years before a limited release in 1943.

Kate's see-through dress goes up for auction

Kate Middleton's Fashion choices are in the spotlight since her engagement to Prince William. Now a famous dress from the University Middleton's years are the hottest item at an auction - a few weeks before the royal wedding.

The transparent dress modeled Middleton in 2002 at a charity fashion show at St. Andrews University, Scotland will go up for sale at Kerry Taylor Auctions in March. The knitted mesh slip was designed in 2000 by Charlotte Todd, who was a fashion and textile design student at the University of the West of England.

The piece was part of the Todd project entitled "The Art of Seduction."

"I like to call myself a royal matchmaker, Todd, 31, told The Associated Press. "It's definitely a show stopping dress. I would like to think I played my role in history and the history of fashion."

William reportedly 200 pounds (U.S. $ 317) paid for a front-row seat at the Charity Show, which was one of the first times he saw Middleton - then 20 years old.

The dress, which Todd said will cost about 30 pounds (U.S. $ 48) to make, was originally designed as a skirt. Middleton instead modeled as a strapless dress which revealed her black lacy lingerie.

Since 2002, Todd, who now works in an aquarium, the dress is kept hidden in a cupboard, not anticipating its importance.

"I would like to know what Kate thinks now and what the royal family thinks it, whether she was seeing those pictures," she said.