| Jane Powell | |
|---|---|
 Jane Powell in Royal Wedding (1951). |
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| Birth name | Suzanne Lorraine Burce |
| Born | April 1 1929 Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
Jane Powell (born April 1, 1929) is an American singer, entertainer and actress. She was the petite blonde with an operatic singing voice in many MGM musicals in the 1940s and 1950s.
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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. Sang at the Inauguration Ball for Harry S. Truman, January 20, 1949.
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 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 special evening, Ms. Powell brought back her charm back to her hometown, Portland, Oregon, narrating Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with Pink Martini on December 31st, 2007.
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)
- Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (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
- Jane Powell at the Internet Movie Database
- Jane Powell at the TCM Movie Database
- Jane Powell at the Internet Broadway Database
- Photographs of Jane Powell
- http://janepowell.blogspot.com/
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Powell, Jane |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Burce, Suzanne Lorraine |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | singer, entertainer, actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 1, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
