Jane Powell

Jane Powell built a thriving presence in Hollywood musicals across the 1940s and 1950s, most often cast as the wholesome adolescent living next door. Suzanne Bruce entered the world in Portland, Oregon, on April 1, 1929; while still a child she took the professional name Jane Powell after her parents arranged singing and dance instruction with the goal of shaping another Shirley Temple. Nightclub engagements during World War II followed, quickly yielding her own local radio program. Once the family moved to Los Angeles in the 1940s, additional radio work secured an MGM contract. Her screen debut arrived in 1944, after which she spent roughly a decade appearing chiefly in musicals and comedies. Late in that decade she also entered the recording studio, releasing multiple albums for Columbia and MGM that included A Date with Jane Powell, Alice in Wonderland, Two Weeks with Love, and Can't We Be Friends?, among others.

Her profile rose sharply in 1951 with the co-starring role opposite dance legend Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding, yet she remained identified with youthful innocence until taking a more adult part in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers alongside Howard Keel. By the close of the 1950s screen opportunities had largely vanished, prompting a shift to television, stage productions, and a nightclub revue staged by Gower Champion. In 1973 she assumed the title role in a Broadway revival of Irene from Debbie Reynolds; that engagement opened doors to summer-stock and touring productions such as The Jane Powell Show, My Fair Lady, Peter Pan, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Carousel, The Boy Friend, Brigadoon, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, and I Do! I Do!, the last two again pairing her with Howard Keel.

Regular television work marked the 1980s, encompassing Murder, She Wrote, Growing Pains (as Alan Thicke’s mother), Marie, and an extended run on the daytime serial Loving. She also joined the 1985 documentary That’s Dancing!, produced an exercise video aimed at arthritis patients, and joined fellow 1950s musical performers for a 1986 Academy Awards tribute. Powell published the candid memoir The Girl Next Door and How She Grew in 1988 and, during the 1990s, appeared in the documentaries Nelson and Jeanette and The Making of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. In 1999 she was seen in the feature Picture This. Early in the new century several compilations of her 1940s and 1950s recordings surfaced, among them A Song in the Air: Debut Recordings and A Heart That’s Free, together with the twofers Hansel & Gretel/Alice in Wonderland and Romance/A Date with Jane Powell.