JANE POWELL

'Jane Powell' (born April 1, 1929) is an American singer, entertainer and actor. She was the petite blonde with an operatic singing voice in many MGM musicals in the 1940s and 1950s.

Contents

Early Years

MGM Years

Life After films

Television

Current work

Personal life

Filmography

Television Work

External links

Early Years

Born 'Suzanne Lorraine Burce' in Portland, Oregon, she sang on the radio as a child, and performed in theater before her film career began in 1944. She appeared in her first film, ''Song of the Open Road'' (1944), at age 15.

MGM Years

Her first MGM musical was ''Holiday in Mexico'' (1946), which brought her to the public's attention, and she was later billed as the co-star in several films including ''A Date with Judy'' (1948), and ''Nancy Goes to Rio'' (1950).
Powell got the chance to sing and dance with Fred Astaire in ''Royal Wedding'' (1951), when she was brought in as a replacement for both June Allyson and Judy Garland. Her best known film is probably ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' (1954), which gave her the opportunity to play a more mature character than previous films. Her other films include: ''Rich, Young and Pretty'' (1951), ''Small Town Girl'' (1953), ''Three Sailors and a Girl'' (1953), ''Athena'' (1954), ''Deep in My Heart'' (1954), ''Hit the Deck'' (1955), and ''The Girl Most Likely'' (1957). In 1956 Powell recorded a song, "True Love", that rose to 107 on the pop charts, according to the Joel Whitburn compilation. This was her only single to make the charts.

Life After films

By the end of the 1950s, Hollywood musicals began to lose popularity, and her film career ended. Since then Powell has continued to work in television, radio, and live performances. Her stage roles include the touring productions of ''South Pacific'', ''The Sound of Music'', ''Oklahoma!'', ''My Fair Lady'', ''Carousel'', ''The Girl Next Door and How She Grew'', and ''Irene'', in which she made her Broadway debut, following Debbie Reynolds in the title role.

Television

During the 1960s and 1970s Powell appeared regularly on television. For example, she did a stint as one of the ''What's My Line?'' Mystery Guests on the popular Sunday Night CBS-TV program. Later, Powell appeared as a guest panelist on the same show.
She also played on ''As The World Turns'' as the temporary replacement for Eileen Fulton as Lisa Grimaldi in the years 1991, 1993, and 1994.

Current work

Powell lives in Connecticut and Manhattan, with her fifth husband, former child actor Dick Moore. She is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Actors Fund of America, and still acts and performs to the present day, most recently in a 2002 episode of ''.
In 2004, she made a return to the stage as Mama Mizner in the Stephen Sondheim musical ''Bounce''. Despite Powell's great reviews in the part, ''Bounce'' was not critically successful and did not move to Broadway.

Personal life

She has three children from her first two marriages.

Filmography

Features:

★ ''Song of the Open Road'' (1944)

★ ''Delightfully Dangerous'' (1945)

★ ''Holiday in Mexico'' (1946)

★ ''Three Daring Daughters'' (1948)

★ ''A Date with Judy'' (1948)

★ ''Luxury Liner'' (1948)

★ ''Nancy Goes to Rio'' (1950)

★ ''Two Weeks with Love'' (1950)

★ ''Royal Wedding'' (1951)

★ ''Rich, Young and Pretty'' (1951)

★ ''Small Town Girl'' (1953)

★ ''Three Sailors and a Girl'' (1953)

★ ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' (1954)

★ ''Athena'' (1954)

★ ''Deep in My Heart'' (1954)

★ ''Hit the Deck'' (1955)

★ ''The Girl Most Likely'' (1957)

★ ''The Female Animal'' (1958)

★ ''Enchanted Island'' (1958)

★ ''Tubby the Tuba'' (1975) (voice)

★ ''Picture This'' (1999)

★ '' (2003) (documentary)
Short Subjects:

★ ''Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc.'' (1949)

★ ''1955 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration'' (1955)

Television Work

★ ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' (1959)

★ ''Feathertop'' (1961)

★ ''The Letters'' (1973) (unsold pilot)

★ ''Wheeler and Murdoch'' (1973) (unsold pilot)

★ ''Mayday at 40,000 Feet!'' (1976)

★ ''Loving'' (cast member from 1985-1986)

★ ''Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder'' (2000)

★ ''The Sandy Bottom Orchestra'' (2000)

External links

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★ Photographs of Jane Powell

★ http://janepowell.blogspot.com/