Rosalind Russell (4 June 1907 – 28 November 1976) was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as originating the role of Auntie Mame on Broadway and in film. She won all 5 Golden Globes for which she was nominated, and was tied with Meryl Streep for wins until the 2007 awards when Streep was awarded a sixth. Russell won a Tony Award in 1953 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show Wonderful Town.Rosalind Russell was one of seven siblings born in Waterbury, Connecticut to Clara and James Edward Russell,[1] an Irish-American Catholic family. She was not named after the character from Shakespeare's As You Like It, but rather after the ship on which her parents had travelled. She attended Catholic schools, namely Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York, before attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.Evelyn Prentice (1934)
The President Vanishes (1934)
Forsaking All Others (1934)
The Night Is Young (1935)
The Casino Murder Case (1935)
West Point of the Air (1935)
Reckless (1935)
China Seas (1935)
Rendezvous (1935)
It Had to Happen (1936)
Under Two Flags (1936)
Screen Snapshots Series 16, No. 1 (1936)
Trouble for Two (1936)
Craig's Wife (1936)
The Candid Camera Story (Very Candid) of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures 1937 Convention (1937)
Night Must Fall (1937)
Live, Love and Learn (1937)
Man-Proof (1938)
Breakdowns of 1938 (1938)
Four's a Crowd (1938)
The Citadel (1938)
Fast and Loose (1939)
The Women (1939)
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 10 (1939)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Hired Wife (1940)
Screen Snapshots: Sports in Hollywood (1940)
Meet the Stars #1: Chinese Garden Festival (1940)
No Time for Comedy (1940)
This Thing Called Love (1940)
Breakdowns of 1941 (1941)
They Met in Bombay (1941)
You Can't Fool a Camera (1941)
The Feminine Touch (1941)
Design for Scandal (1941)
Take a Letter, Darling (1942)
My Sister Eileen (1942)
Flight for Freedom (1943)
What a Woman! (1943)
Roughly Speaking (1945)
She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945)
Screen Snapshots: 25th Anniversary (1945)
Sister Kenny (1946)
The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947)
Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)
Screen Snapshots: Famous Hollywood Mothers (1947)*The Velvet Touch (1948)
Tell It to the Judge (1949)
A Woman of Distinction (1950)
Never Wave at a WAC (1952)
The Girl Rush (1955)
Picnic (1955)
Auntie Mame (1958)
A Majority of One (1961)
Five Finger Exercise (1962)
Gypsy (1962)
The Trouble with Angels (1966)
Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad (1967)
Rosie! (1967)
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968)
Mrs. Pollifax - Spy (1971)
Probably her most memorable performance was in the title role of the long-running stage hit Auntie Mame and the subsequent movie version, in which she played an eccentric aunt whose orphan nephew comes to live with her. When asked which role she was most closely identified with, she replied that strangers who spotted her still called out, "Hey, Auntie Mame!" She received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play in 1957 for her iconic role.Russell was the logical choice for reprising her role as Auntie Mame when its Broadway musical adaptation Mame was set for production in 1966. She claimed to have turned it down since she preferred to move on to different roles. In reality, she did not want to burden the public with her growing health problems, which included rheumatoid arthritis.

Rosalind Russell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1708 Vine Street.
She married Danish-American producer Frederick Brisson on October 25, 1941. Fred was often referred to in Hollywood as "The Lizard of Roz". They had one child in 1943, a son named Lance. Her father-in-law was the successful Danish actor Carl Brisson.

Russell 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 was survived by her husband and son. She is buried in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Her autobiography, written with Chris Chase, entitled Life is a Banquet, was published a year after her death. In the foreword (written by her husband), he states that Russell had a breakdown sometime in the early 1940s. Details are scant (perhaps in 1944, the year she made no films), but it indicates that her health problems can be traced back to the 1940s.

She was a classic talent.If you ever get a chance to view her work it is worth it for sure!!