Jane Powell (92)

LOS ANGELES: Jane Powell was the brighteyed, operaticvoiced star of Hollywood’s goldenage musicals who sang with Howard Keel in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and danced with Fred Astaire in

Royal Wedding.

Powell died of natural causes at her Wilton, Connecticut, home last month, longtime friend Susan Grander said.

Powell performed virtually her whole life, starting about age 5 as a singing prodigy on radio in Portland, Oregon. She made her first movie at 16 and

graduated from teenage roles to costarring in the lavish musical productions that were a 20thcentury Hollywood staple.

Her 1950 casting in Royal Wedding came by default. June Allyson was first announced as Astaire’s costar but withdrew when she became pregnant. Judy Garland was cast, but was withdrawn because of personal problems. Jane Powell was next in line.

‘‘They had to give it to me,’’ she quipped at the time.

‘‘Everybody else is pregnant.’’ Powell had just turned 21 when she got the role; Astaire was 50. She was nervous because she lacked dancing experience, but she found him ‘‘very patient and understanding. We got along fine from the start.’’

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers proved to be a 1954 ‘‘sleeper’’ hit.

Audiences were overwhelmed by the lusty singing of Keel and Powell and especially by the gymnastic choreography of Michael Kidd. Seven Brides achieved classic status and resulted in a television series and a Broadway musical.

‘‘Blonde and small and pretty, Jane Powell had the required amount of grit and spunk that was needed to play the woman who could tame seven backwoodsmen,’’ John Kobal wrote in his book