Jane Powell
Biography
Jane Powell was an American actress, singer, and dancer known for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s and 1950s. Born in Portland, Oregon, in 1929, she began dance lessons as a small child and sang on Portland radio before winning a Hollywood talent show in 1943, which led to a contract with MGM at age 14. Her first film was Song of the Open Road (1944), and she went on to appear in Delightfully Dangerous (1945), A Date with Judy (1948), Nancy Goes to Rio (1950), and Royal Wedding (1951) with Fred Astaire. She starred in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), which the American Film Institute later named one of the greatest American musicals, and in Deep in My Heart (1954). Powell also worked in television and theater, starring onstage in My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, and Irene, and in 1960 received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star. She died in 2021.
92years old at death
- Born Portland
- Died Wilton
- Star sign: AriesThe sign runs March 21 to April 19
- Suzanne Lorraine Burce (birth name)Also credited as Suzanne Burce
Movie Career
- Films
- 6
- Career span
- 9 years1945 to 1954
Share
Did you know?!
Big break
Powell was 14 when she won a Hollywood talent show while on vacation in California in 1943, and she signed an MGM contract the next day.
About the name
Powell's first film came after she signed with MGM, which lent her to United Artists for Song of the Open Road in 1944. She played a character named Jane Powell and adopted that as her professional name.
A first
In 1964, Powell played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady at the Valley West Theatre in Los Angeles. That production set a record gross for West Coast stagings of the play.
A first
Powell's recording of "True Love" reached number 15 on the Billboard charts in 1956, and it was her only single ever to chart.
First role
Powell's first summer stock role came in 1958 in a Dallas production of Oklahoma!, after her MGM contract expired and film offers slowed.
Jane Powell movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Stanley Donen directed three of these films. Three actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Bess Flowers's page
Scotty Beckett's page
Carmen Miranda's page
All films by Stanley Donen
Awards
Two awards and honors.
| Year | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other honors | |||
| 1974 | Amateur Cartoonist Extraordinary Award | Won | |
| Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame | Honored | ||
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.