Jane Powell (born Suzanne Lorraine Burce; April 1, 1929)
is an American singer, dancer and actress who rose to fame in the mid-1940s
with roles in various Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals.
Jane Powell enjoyed a successful career in movie musicals
primarily throughout the '40s and '50s -- usually typecast as an innocent,
"girl next door" teenager. Born Suzanne Bruce in Portland, Oregon,
the youngster began going by the name of Jane Powell at an early age as her
parents signed her up for singing and dance lessons in hopes of her becoming
another Shirley Temple. Powell eventually landed jobs performing at nightclubs
during World War II, which led to her own local radio show.
After her family relocated to Los Angeles during the
'40s, Powell's career truly took off, as she appeared on further radio
programs, eventually leading to a contract with MGM. Powell's movie career
began in 1944, as she appeared for the next ten years or so mostly in musicals
and comedies. In the late '40s, Powell launched a recording career, issuing
several albums on both the Columbia and MGM labels (including such titles as A
Date with Jane Powell, Alice in Wonderland, Two Weeks with Love, and Can't We
Be Friends?, among others).
Powell's movie career didn't truly take off until 1951,
when she appeared in Royal Wedding with dance legend Fred Astaire. But Powell
continued to be typecast as the innocent teenager, until she landed a more
mature role in what is probably her best-known movie, Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers, in which she starred alongside Howard Keel. By the late '50s,
however, it appeared as though Powell's movie career had come to a halt, which
led to appearances on television, stage work, and a nightclub act choreographed
by Gower Champion.
Powell starred in a Broadway revival of Irene in 1973
(replacing Debbie Reynolds), which led to more work in summer stock and road
shows, including The Jane Powell Show, My Fair Lady, Peter Pan, The Unsinkable
Molly Brown, Carousel, The Boy Friend,
Brigadoon, and The Sound of Music, in addition to South Pacific and I Do! I Do! -- both of which featured her previous Seven Brides co-star, Howard Keel.
Brigadoon, and The Sound of Music, in addition to South Pacific and I Do! I Do! -- both of which featured her previous Seven Brides co-star, Howard Keel.
During the '80s,
Powell landed regular work on TV shows, including Murder She Wrote, Growing
Pains (playing Alan Thicke's mother), Marie, and a long running part on the
daytime soap opera, Loving. Additionally, Powell also appeared in the musical
documentary That's Dancing!, made a fitness video for arthritis sufferers, and
was one of many '50s musical stars to appear in a special performance at the
1986 Academy Awards show.
In 1988, Powell
penned a revealing autobiography, The Girl Next Door and How She Grew, and during
the '90s, appeared in a few documentaries -- including 1992's Nelson and
Jeanette and The Making of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and in 1999,
appeared in the movie Picture This.
In 2000, she appeared in two television movies in
supporting roles in The Sandy Bottom Orchestra and Perfect Murder, Perfect
Town. Her last major television appearance was a guest star in
"Vulnerable" on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2002. In
2003, 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 and retired from acting. She
then started singing on NCL cruise ships.
For one evening, she returned to Portland, her hometown,
narrating Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with Pink Martini on December
31, 2007. She also appeared on March 9, 2008, with Martini at Avery Fisher Hall
in New York City; she sang a duet of "Aba Daba Honeymoon" with lead
singer China Forbes. In March 2009, she appeared and sang "Love Is Where
You Find It" in a show in which Michael Feinstein celebrated movie
musicals and MGM musicals in particular. She performed again with Pink Martini
at the Hollywood Bowl on September 10, 2010.
Jane was married five times married Geary Anthony
Steffen, Jr., November 5, 1949 (divorced August 6, 1953); married Patrick
Nerney, November 8, 1954 (divorced, 1963); married JamesFitzgerald, June 27,
1965 (marriage ended); married David Parlour, October 21, 1978 (divorced,
1981); married Dick Moore (a public relations executive and former child
actor), May 21, 1988 (died 2915).
Powell told The Connecticut Post in 2017 that she was
learning to live alone and was enjoying her life, gardening and finding
companionship with her pets (a toy poodle and cat). In June 2019 she was honoured
as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month.
(Edited from Greg Prato @ AllMusic, Wikipedia,
50plusworld & IMDb)
2 comments:
For “JANE POWELL - CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS? (1957)” go here:
https://www.upload.ee/files/11385044/Jane_Powell.rar.html
1. My Baby Just Cares For Me
2. For Every Man There's A Woman
3. Imagination
4. Hooray For Love
5. I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
6. Ev'ry Time
7. Comes Love
8. Let's Face The Music
9. In Love In Vain
10. How Come You Love Me Like You Do
11. Can't We Be Friends
12. Things We Did Last Summer
By 1956, the "Golden Age" of movie musicals was all but over, and Jane Powell's screen career was at a standstill. On her 1956 solo album, CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS?, the bubbly blonde songbird swapped her sunny, operatic repertoire for a more mature nightclub sound; strongly-supported by Buddy Bregman's intimate arrangements. The results were nothing short of magic. With selections like "Ev'ry Time", "Imagination", "My Baby Just Cares for Me" and "Comes Love", we know for certain that the pert ingenue of such beloved movies as A DATE WITH JUDY and ROYAL WEDDING is well and truly all grown up. Powell really warms to the lush yet simple cabaret-style atmosphere of the album.
==========================================================================
A big thank you to Buster @ big10inchrecord.blog
for the selected discography listed below and active links.
(except for ** supplied by Tunesmith @ Loadsamusics)
Jane Powell – Romance (1949)**
https://pixeldrain.com/u/MtGEenuC
Jane Powell – A Date With….(1949)
https://mega.nz/#!qUt0UAKA!ctQvz_81kvRRvp4JBG6_eeh_VEpWBReQWpzwFESJ_ss
Jane Powell , Carlton Carpenter, Debbie Reynolds – Two Week With Love (1950)
https://mega.nz/#!zBNUDAZK!8weIH8J8kKBUmHZduqDPs6kjVy6tSrsTPVMiyID1WB0
Jane Powell, Danielle Darrieux and Fernando Lamas – Rich Young & Pretty (1952)
https://mega.nz/#!7cND2ZBS!fZLWn3qa3BdyacCe3n8tF0-Hl-V19h4LWtuQp9AMzhg
Jane Powell & Gordon MacRae – 3 Sailors and a Girl (1954)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/qxs3054bhx50qtb/3_Sailors_and_a_Girl.zip/file
Jane Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Vic Damone - Athena (1954)
http://www.mediafire.com/file/28sw42cd6fog805/Athena_%2528OST%2529.zip/file
heard, sadly, Jane Powell just passed
BB, can you re-up the albums of just her alone;
Jane Powell – Romance (1949)
Jane Powell – A Date With…(1949)
thanks, may she rest in peace
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