Pert, petite musical film star of the late 1940s and 50s who, after hosting her own radio show from the age of 11, began in films in 1944 and was soon at MGM as perky teens in "A Date With Judy" (1948) and "Nancy Goes to Rio" (1950). With her chirpy girl-next-door charm and operatic singing voice, Powell was in some ways a successor to the more serene Deanna Durbin, who retired in 1948. Although many of her films are routine, she hit her stride in the early 1950s in such musical classics as Stanley Donen's "Royal Wedding" (1951) (replacing the ailing Judy Garland) and as the lead in Donen's
