Karen Akers
Akers in 1985
Born	Karen Orth-Pallavicini ( 1945-10-13 ) October 13, 1945 (age 78) New York City , U.S.
Alma mater	Manhattanville College Hunter College
Years active	1982?present
Spouses	Jim Akers (m. 1968 ? mid-1980s) Kevin Power ​ ​ ( m.  1993) ​
Children	2
Website	karenakers .com

Karen Akers (born October 13, 1945) is an American actress and singer, who has appeared on Broadway , and in cabaret and film .

Early life [ edit ]

Akers was born Karen Orth-Pallavicini in New York City on October 13, 1945. Her immigrant father, Heinnick Christian Orth-Pallavicini, was of Austrian and Swiss-Italian heritage. He was reportedly a member of the European nobility family Pallavicini who dropped his title when he came to America. Her American-born mother, Mary Louise (nee Adams), was a chaplain. ^[1] Akers graduated from Manhattanville College .

Career [ edit ]

Akers honed her acting skills as an amateur performer, starting in The Arlington Players (www.thearlingtonplayers.org) production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris . Akers first appeared on Broadway in the original production of Nine , a musical directed by Tommy Tune and based on the Federico Fellini film 8½ , as Luisa Contini, the wife of promiscuous film director Guido Contini (played by Raul Julia ). The show opened May 9, 1982, and had a successful run of 732 performances, closing February 4, 1984. Akers won a Theatre World Award for her performance. She was one of three actresses in the show nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical , with the award eventually going to fellow cast member Liliane Montevecchi .

Beginning in 1985, Akers appeared in such feature films as Woody Allen 's The Purple Rose of Cairo (as a celluloid chanteuse ), and in Heartburn (as the mistress of Jack Nicholson 's character).

She appeared on Broadway in Grand Hotel , a musical adaptation of the novel and film, scored by Robert Wright , George Forrest , and Maury Yeston . In Grand Hotel Akers was reunited with Nine director Tommy Tune and Nine cast members Liliane Motevecchi and Kathi Moss. The show opened November 12, 1989, for a run of 1,018 performances, through April 19, 1992.

Akers covered " Sooner or Later " in her 1991 album Unchained Melodies , a song written for Madonna by Stephen Sondheim the year before. ^[2]

Personal life [ edit ]

On September 19, 1993, Akers married Kevin Patrick Power, vice president of the satellite communications company Orion Network Systems, in a Roman Catholic ceremony at St. Paul's Chapel of Columbia University in New York. ^[3]

It was her second marriage. She has two sons from her first marriage to Jim Akers in 1968, ^[4] which ended in divorce.

Filmography [ edit ]

Film [ edit ]

Television [ edit ]

DVD Concert Films [ edit ]

• 2005: Karen Akers: On Stage at Wolf Trap ^[5]

Partial discography [ edit ]

• 1981: Presenting Karen Akers - Blackwood Records BLWD 001
• 1982: Karen Akers - Rizzoli/Blackwood Records 1001
• 1987: In A Very Unusual Way - Rizzoli Records 1004/71004
• reissue 1999 In A Very Unusual Way - Cabaret 5002
• 1994: Just Imagine - DRG 5231
• 1996: Under Paris Skies - Cabaret Records 5019
• 1997: Live from Rainbow and Stars - DRG 1450
• 2001: Feels Like Home - DRG 1465
• 2004: If We Only Have Love - DRG 1383
• 2006: Like It Was - DRG CD 91498
• 2008: Simply Styne - DRG 1506

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Karen Akers .

• Karen Akers at IMDb