Jane Powell

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Jane Powell

Jane Powell in Royal Wedding (1951).
Born Suzanne Lorraine Burce
April 1, 1929 (1929-04-01) (age 79)
Portland, Oregon

Jane Powell (born April 1, 1929) is an American singer, dancer, and actress. She was a star of MGM musicals as a teenager in the 1940s, and continued in the 1950s.

Contents

[edit] Early Years

Born as 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 the age of 15; her stage name "Jane Powell" was the name of the character she plays in the film, and prior to its release, MGM assigned this to her as her stage name.[1] She sang at the Inauguration Ball for President Harry S. Truman on January 20, 1949

[edit] 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 to replace Judy Garland. Her best-known film is probably Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), opposite Howard Keel, 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.

[edit] Life After films

By the end of the 1950s, Hollywood musicals began to lose popularity, and her film career effectively ended. In a 1995 interview with Robert Osborne, Powell indicated that MGM released her from her contract as part of a regime change that occurred at the studio following the ouster of MGM head Louis B. Mayer, which led to the studio moving away from musicals.[2] 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. She and Howard Keel also appeared on stage together in a revival of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

[edit] Television

During the 1960s and 1970s Powell appeared regularly on television. 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 was also in an episode of the The Love Boat. In addition she appeared in 1963 on an episode of The Judy Garland Show along side Ray Bolger.

She was a temporary replacement on As The World Turns for Eileen Fulton as Lisa Grimaldi in the years 1991, 1993, and 1994.

[edit] Currently

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 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

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.

For one evening, she returned to her hometown, Portland, Oregon, narrating Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with Pink Martini on December 31, 2007. She also appeared on March 9, 2008 with Pink Martini at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City; she sang a duet of "Aba Daba Honeymoon" with lead singer China Forbes.

[edit] Personal life

She has three children from her first two marriages.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Features

[edit] Short Subjects

  • Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. (1949)
  • 1955 Motion Picture Theatre Celebration (1955)

[edit] Television Work

[edit] References

  1. ^ Reel Memories: Jane Powell, Turner Classic Movies, 1995 (included with the DVD release Classic Musicals Double Feature: Nancy Goes to Rio/Two Weeks with Love (Warner Home Video, 2008))
  2. ^ Reel Memories: Jane Powell, Turner Classic Movies, 1995 (included with the DVD release Classic Musicals Double Feature: Nancy Goes to Rio/Two Weeks with Love (Warner Home Video, 2008))

[edit] External links

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Persondata
NAME Powell, Jane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burce, Suzanne Lorraine
SHORT DESCRIPTION Singer, dancer, actress
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Portland, Oregon
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages