Suzanne Ilene Steffen: Inside the Life of Daughter of Jane Powell

Suzanne Ilene Steffen is the daughter of Jane Powell. Suzanne Ilene Steffen’s mother was an American actress, singer, and dancer who first appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s. With her soprano voice and girl-next-door image, she appeared in films, television, and on the stage. Powell performed in the musicals A Date with Judy, Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Hit the Deck.

Suzanne Ilene Steffen: Bio Summary

Who is Jane Powell’s daughter?

Born on November 21, 1952, Suzanne Ilene Steffen is the daughter of Jane Powell and actor Geary Steffen. As of 2024, she is 71 years old. Suzanne Ilene Steffen is not the only child of her parents, she has two other siblings. They are  Gearhardt Anthony Steffen III and Lindsey Averill Nerney. She is the second eldest child of the actress.

Though she is the daughter of a famous Hollywood personality, Suzanne has been very private about her life. She has been living far away from the cameras of Hollywood. Unlike most celebrities’ kids, she didn’t capitalize on her mother’s fame to also gain a spot in the limelight.

According to Express.co.uk, Suzanne’s mother Jane Powell, once admitted that she never felt like she “belonged” in the world of Hollywood. The actress admitted to the Geelong Advertiser, an Australian newspaper in 2005 that she never felt she really “belonged” in film. She said: “I was very shy. And very lonely. “I really never felt I belonged. I couldn’t believe it was all happening to me. And I still think that.“

How did her parents meet, fall in love, and get married? Suzanne’s parents have not opened up or made or public utterance about how they met and started their relationship. However, on November 5, 1949, at just 20 years old, Powell married former figure skater Gearhardt, a veteran of World War II, and two-time actor Anthony Steffen. The couple got married in a beautiful ceremony in the presence of their friends, family, and loved ones.

Though they started their marriage all loved up, Powell began an affair with actor, dancer, screenwriter, and director Gene Nelson, her co-star in Three Sailors and a Girl. Powell and Nelson divorced their spouses with plans to wed, but Nelson backed out after his divorce per Meaww. Powell and Steffen divorced in August 1953.

Suzanne Ilene Steffen’s mother moved on and married friend and automobile executive Patrick W. Nerney on November 8, 1954, in Ojai, California. She got pregnant and had Suzanne’s half-sister- Lindsey Averill Nerney, who was born on February 1, 1956  Powell and Nerney divorced In May 1963.

Powell married and divorced twice more before meeting and falling in love with former child-star Dickie Moore in 1982 and marrying him six years later. They stayed together till his death in 1015. Following the death of Moore in 2015, Suzanne Ilene Steffen’s mother Powell sold their Manhattan apartment and relocated permanently to their second home in Wilton, Connecticut. Powell died of natural causes in Wilton on September 16, 2021, at the age of 92.

She was referred to as one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She secured her place in history with her performance in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

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Despite bouts with severe depression and insecurity, Powell retained a public image of the all-American girl-next-door and was a symbol of simpler times. Powell’s role in Song of the Open Road in 1944, a film that presented Powell as a wholesome girl next door, was suspected to have pigeon-holed her in future musicals. In 1960, Suzanne Ilene Steffen’s mother, Powell was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.