- Although weighing only about 100 pounds, she was a talented archer and used a 48-pound draw bow. She could hit a two-foot target at 100 yards.
- A talented artist, she started sketching at the age of five and later grew into a respectable oil painter.
- In 7 Men from Now (1956), her character Annie Greer was attempting to extricate a covered wagon mired axle-deep in mud and the director said that Annie should look like she had just fallen into the mud, not like it had been patted on by makeup assistants. She motioned the crew aside and calmly took a nosedive face down into the slush. The director was delighted with her impromptu mud bath and the cameras rolled.
- Suffered from paralyzing stage fright during the filming of The Uninvited (1944) and had a nervous breakdown following its completion.
- Her death was similar to that of Jimi Hendrix nine years later: intoxication, regurgitation and aspiration. They both drowned in stomach contents; having been too intoxicated to be able to awaken and react to the inhalation.
- Her funeral was held at Valhalla Memorial Park, where she was buried next to her father. Old Hollywood friends in attendance for her services included Alan Ladd, Mona Freeman, Diana Lynn, & Jimmy Lydon.
- Jane Fonda studied up on Russell's life in order to play an alcoholic, once promising actress in The Morning After (1986).
- Her blue-eyed, dark beauty was frequently compared to Hedy Lamarr throughout much of her career.
- Attended Van Nuys High School and was in some of the same classes as Jane Russell.
- Her death certificate and the California State Death Record shows her date of death as 8/27/61. Many sources give her date of death as August 26, possibly because her body, found on August 27, had been dead for at least a day.
- She was signed to co-star with George Raft in Loan Shark (1952), but had to withdraw due to "illness", according to studio press releases. She was replaced by Dorothy Hart.
- In 1960 she was signed to co-star opposite George Raft in a film to be called "Cause of Death", directed by (and co-starring) Mark Stevens, but production was halted just prior to the start of filming.
- In 1930 she lived with her parents George and Gladys Russell at 5306 S. Blackstone Avenue, Chicago, IL.
- Her brother, George Russell, who was five years older than Gail, became a musician.
- Portrayed Cornelia Otis Skinner in Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (1944) and Our Hearts Were Growing Up (1946). In between these film she co-starred with Skinner in The Uninvited (1944).
- She was a lifelong Democrat.
- Ex-sister-in-law of Wayne Mallory.
- In Italy most of her films were dubbed by Lydia Simoneschi and Renata Marini. She was also dubbed once by Dhia Cristiani in Wake of the Red Witch (1948).
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