Jane Powell, Who Dazzled in Movie Musicals and on Broadway, Dies at 92

MGM movie musical icon Jane Powell died on September 16, 2021 of natural causes at her home in Wilton, CT. She was 92.

After making her Hollywood debut in Song of the Open Road in 1944, Powell became best known for starring more than a dozen film musicals including the 1950s hits Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Hit the Deck. On TV, she appeared in a remake of the musical Meet Me in St. Louis in 1962.

Powell turned to theater for much of her career after her run in Hollywood. Among her stage credits were lead roles in the classic musicals Oklahoma! in 1958, My Fair Lady in 1964, The Unsinkable Molly Brown in 1966, Carousel, The Boy Friend and Brigadoon in 1967 and The Sound of Music in 1968. She also paired up with fellow screen star Howard Keel in the musicals Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, I Do! I Do! and South Pacific.

In 1974, this run of regional turns led to her Broadway debut in Irene at the Minskoff Theatre in 1974, replacing Debbie Reynolds in the leading role. Powell enjoyed a seven-month run in the musical, which was a box office hit.

Powell balanced notable 1980s and 1990s TV turns in shows like The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Loving, Murder, She Wrote, Growig Pains and As the World Turns with stage turns in off-Broadway’s After-Play and Avow, Cinderella at New York City Opera and the 2003 and 2004 out-of-town runs of the Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical Bounce (later known as Road Show).

Powell was married five times and was mother to three children. She died in the home she shared with her late husband Dick Moore, who died in 2015.