Mary Jane Russell, 77; Fashion Model Appeared on Covers
Mary Jane Russell, 77, a fashion model in the 1940s and ‘50s who was a frequent subject of photographers Louise Dahl-Wolfe and Irving Penn, died of pulmonary fibrosis Nov. 20 in Charleston, S.C., her husband, Edward T. Russell, told the New York Times.
Born Mary Jane Walton in Teaneck, N.J., Russell studied art and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. She began modeling in New York City in 1948 and worked for the Ford Agency for 13 years, appearing frequently on the covers of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
Dahl-Wolfe, a close friend of Russell’s, frequently asked for her on her photo shoots.
“Louise was a benevolent dictator, except with Mary Jane,” Edward Russell told the Chicago Tribune some years ago.
“She’d let Mary Jane say, ‘I think the dress would show better this way,’ ” he recalled.
After retiring from modeling, Russell became active in environmental issues in Pound Ridge, N.Y., the Times reported.
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