Jane Powell

Powell lives in Connecticut, USA, with her fifth husband, Dick Moore, and still performs today. She was recently in The Notebook, which was directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes. Her stage roles include "South Pacific", "The Sound of Music", "Oklahoma!", "My Fair Lady", "Carousel", "The Girl Next Door and How She Grew", and "Irene". In recent years she has appeared in Paulie and in Mira Nair's HBO movie, Hysterical Blindness. Since then Powell has continued to work in television, radio, and live performances. She starred in The Neon Bible. By the end of the 1950s, Hollywood musicals began to lose popularity, and her film career ended. Teaming with her husband, writer and director John Cassavetes, Rowlands starred in many productions, including Staccato, A Child Is Waiting, Faces, Gloria (nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress), Love Streams, Minnie and Moskowitz, She's So Lovely, Two Minute Warning and A Woman Under the Influence (Academy Award nomination).

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 1961 she starred in the well-received television series 87th Precinct, and in 1964 in Peyton Place. Her best know film is probably Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), which gave her the opportunity to play a more mature character than previous films. She starred in several anthology television series, including Robert Montgomery Presents, Kraft Television Theatre and Studio One, among many others. 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. Rowlands appeared in Broadway in the late 1950s, and made her film debut in The High Cost of Loving in 1958. 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). Her father was a state Assemblyman.

She appeared in her first film, Song of the Open Road (1944), at age 15. Born Virginia Cathryn Rowlands in Cambria, Wisconsin, she attended the University of Wisconsin. Born Suzanne Burce in Portland, Oregon, USA, she sang on the radio as a child, and performed in theater before her film career began in 1944. Gena Rowlands (born June 19, circa 1930) is an American actress. She was the petite blonde with an operatic singing voice in many MGM musicals in the 1940s and 1950s. Jane Powell (born April 1, 1928) is an American actress.