William Powell

William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984)[1] was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the Thin Man series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters created by Dashiell Hammett. Powell was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times: for The Thin Man (1934), My Man Godfrey (1936), and Life with Father (1947).

William Powell
1936 portrait for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Born	William Horatio Powell July 29, 1892 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	March 5, 1984 (aged 91) Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting place	Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1911–1955
Spouse(s)	Eileen Wilson ​ ​ (m. 1915; div. 1930)​ Carole Lombard ​ ​ (m. 1931; div. 1933)​ Diana Lewis ​ ​ (m. 1940)​
Partner(s)	Jean Harlow (1934–1937)
Children	William David Powell

Early life

An only child, Powell was born in Pittsburgh to Nettie Manila (née Brady) and Horatio Warren Powell, on July 29, 1892.

In 1907, he moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated from Central High School in 1911. The Powells lived just a few blocks away from the Carpenters, whose daughter Harlean also went to Hollywood under the name Jean Harlow, although she and he did not meet until both were established actors.

Career

William Powell in When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922)

After high school, he left home for New York and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts at the age of 18.[2] In 1912, Powell graduated from the AADA, and worked in some vaudeville and stock companies.[3] After several successful experiences on the Broadway stage, he began his Hollywood career in 1922, playing a small role as an evil henchman of Professor Moriarty in a production of Sherlock Holmes with John Barrymore. He later performed as Francis I in When Knighthood Was in Flower with Marion Davies, which was considered the most expensive film ever produced at the time.[4]

Under contract to Paramount throughout most of the 1920s, Powell played heels and villains in the early part of his career. As he gained experience, he gradually shifted into leading-man roles paired with such leading ladies as Bebe Daniels, Evelyn Brent, and Kay Francis. When Powell left Paramount to sign with Warner Bros., Francis joined him. One of their most successful films together was One Way Passage. Between Paramount and Warner Bros., Powell and Francis made seven films together.

His most memorable role in silent movies was as a vengeful film director opposite Emil Jannings' Academy Award-winning performance as a fallen general in The Last Command (1928). This success, along with Powell's commandingly pleasant speaking voice, led to his first starring role as amateur detective Philo Vance in the "talkie" The Canary Murder Case (1929). He played Philo Vance at Paramount Pictures four more times, and once at Warner's in his final appearance in the role in The Kennel Murder Case.

Powell was loved by many people in Hollywood. Actress Marion Shilling worked with him in Shadow of the Law, and called him, "Self-effacing, deferential, exceedingly thoughtful of other people, he was one of the kindest human beings I have ever met. He sensed that I was in awe of him, so from the start, he did what he could to put me at ease."[5]

William Powell and his frequent co-star Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles in a promotional photo for The Thin Man from 1934, with Skippy as Asta

Powell's most famous role was that of Nick Charles in six Thin Man films, beginning with The Thin Man in 1934, based upon Dashiell Hammett's novel. The role provided a perfect opportunity for Powell, with his resonant speaking voice, to showcase his sophisticated charm and witty sense of humor, and he received his first Academy Award nomination for The Thin Man. Myrna Loy played his wife, Nora, in each of the Thin Man films. Their on-screen partnership, beginning alongside Clark Gable in 1934 with Manhattan Melodrama, was one of Hollywood's most prolific, and they appeared in 14 films together.

Loy and Powell starred in the Best Picture of 1936, The Great Ziegfeld, with Powell in the title role and Loy as Ziegfeld's wife Billie Burke. That same year, he also received his second Academy Award nomination, for the comedy My Man Godfrey.

In 1935, he starred with Jean Harlow in Reckless. A serious romance developed between them, and in 1936, they were reunited on screen and with Loy and Spencer Tracy in the screwball comedy Libeled Lady. Harlow became ill soon after, and died from uremia at the age of 26 in June 1937 before they could marry.[6] His distress over her death, as well as a cancer diagnosis of his own, caused him to accept fewer acting roles. Powell's career slowed considerably in the 1940s, although he received his third Academy Award nomination in 1947 for his role as the formidable Clarence Day, Sr., in Life with Father. His last film was 1955's Mister Roberts, playing "Doc" alongside Henry Fonda in the title role, James Cagney as the ship's perfectionist captain, and Jack Lemmon in his Oscar-winning performance as Ensign Pulver.

Personal life

Carole Lombard

Jean Harlow

Diana Lewis

In 1915, he married Eileen Wilson (1894–1942), who was born Julia Tierney, by whom he had his only child, William David Powell, before an amicable divorce in 1930. Powell's son became a television writer and producer before a period of ill health led to his suicide in 1968.[7]

On June 26, 1931, Powell married actress Carole Lombard. The marriage lasted just over two years. They were divorced in 1933, though they, too, remained on good terms, even starring together in the screwball comedy My Man Godfrey three years later. Powell was devastated by her death in an airplane crash in 1942.[8] He was engaged to marry Jean Harlow, his co-star in Reckless (1935), until her sudden death in 1937.[9][10] On January 6, 1940, three weeks after they met, Powell married his third wife, actress Diana Lewis, to whom he remained married until his death in 1984.[11]

Powell supported Thomas Dewey in the 1944 United States presidential election.[12]

Cancer

In 1937, Powell was diagnosed with rectal cancer.[2][13] He underwent surgery and experimental radium treatment, which put the disease in full remission within two years. Given his own health and sorrow over Jean Harlow's death, Powell did not undertake any film roles for over a year during this period.[14]

Death

Powell died in Palm Springs, California, on March 5, 1984, at the age of 91 from heart failure, nearly 30 years after his retirement. He is buried at the Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California, near his third wife Diana Lewis, and his only child, son William David Powell.[1][15]

Honors

Academy Awards nominations

• 1934 Best Actor – The Thin Man
• 1936 Best Actor – My Man Godfrey
• 1947 Best Actor – Life with Father

Other awards

New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in 1947 for Life with Father and The Senator Was Indiscreet.[16]

William Powell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1636 Vine Street.

In 1992, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.[17]

Radio appearances

Year	Program	Episode/source
1936	Lux Radio Theatre	The Thin Man
1938	Lux Radio Theatre	My Man Godfrey
1939	Lux Radio Theatre	One Way Passage
1939	Lux Radio Theatre	The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
1940	Lux Radio Theatre	Love Affair
1940	Lux Radio Theatre	After the Thin Man
1940	Lux Radio Theatre	Manhattan Melodrama[18]
1941	Lux Radio Theatre	Hired Wife
1942	Lux Radio Theatre	Love Crazy
1943	Lux Radio Theatre	The Lady Has Plans
1944	Lux Radio Theatre	Shadow of a Doubt
1944	Lux Radio Theatre	Suspicion
1946	Readers' Digest Radio Edition	He Fell in Love with a Picture[18]^:33
1948	Lux Radio Theatre	I Love You Again
1948	Lux Radio Theatre	Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
1949	Screen Directors Playhouse	Love Crazy[19]

Filmography

William Powell and John Barrymore in Sherlock Holmes (1922)

In After the Thin Man

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1922	Sherlock Holmes	Foreman Wells	(film debut)
1922	When Knighthood Was in Flower	Francis I
1922	Outcast	DeValle	lost film
1923	The Bright Shawl	Gaspar De Vaca
1923	Under the Red Robe	Duke of Orleans
1924	Dangerous Money	Prince Arnoldo da Pescia	lost film
1924	Romola	Tito Melema
1925	Too Many Kisses	Julio
1925	Faint Perfume	Barnaby Powers
1925	My Lady's Lips	Scott Seldon
1925	The Beautiful City	Nick Di Silva
1926	White Mice	Roddy Forrester
1926	Sea Horses	Lorenzo Salvia	lost film
1926	Desert Gold	Snake Landree
1926	The Runaway	Jack Harrison	lost film
1926	Aloma of the South Seas	Van Templeton	lost film
1926	Beau Geste	Boldini
1926	The Great Gatsby	George Wilson	lost film
1926	Tin Gods	Tony Santelli	lost film
1927	New York	Trent Regan	lost film
1927	Love's Greatest Mistake	Don Kendall	lost film
1927	Special Delivery	Harold Jones
1927	Senorita	Manuel Oliveros
1927	Time to Love	Prince Alado
1927	Paid to Love	Prince Eric
1927	Nevada	Clan Dillon
1927	She's a Sheik	Kada	lost film
1928	The Last Command	Lev Andreyev
1928	Beau Sabreur	Becque	lost film
1928	Feel My Pulse	Her Nemesis
1928	Partners in Crime	Smith
1928	The Drag Net	Dapper Frank Trent	lost film
1928	The Vanishing Pioneer	John Murdock	lost film
1928	Forgotten Faces	Froggy
1928	Interference	Philip Voaze	Powell’s sound debut
1929	The Canary Murder Case	Philo Vance
1929	The Four Feathers	Capt. William Trench
1929	The Greene Murder Case	Philo Vance
1929	Charming Sinners	Karl Kraley
1929	Pointed Heels	Robert Courtland
1930	Behind the Make-Up	Gardoni
1930	Street of Chance	John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
1930	The Benson Murder Case	Philo Vance
1930	Paramount on Parade	Philo Vance
1930	Shadow of the Law	John Nelson
1930	For the Defense	William Foster
1931	Man of the World	Michael Trevor
1931	Ladies' Man	Jamie Darricott
1931	The Road to Singapore	Hugh Dawltry
1932	High Pressure	Gar Evans
1932	Jewel Robbery	The Robber
1932	One Way Passage	Dan Hardesty
1932	Lawyer Man	Anton Adam
1933	Private Detective 62	Free
1933	Double Harness	John Fletcher
1933	The Kennel Murder Case	Philo Vance
1934	Fashions of 1934	Sherwood Nash
1934	Manhattan Melodrama	Jim Wade
1934	The Thin Man	Nick Charles
1934	The Key	Capt. Bill Tennant
1934	Evelyn Prentice	John Prentice
1935	Star of Midnight	Clay 'Dal' Dalzell
1935	Reckless	Ned Riley
1935	Escapade	Fritz
1935	Rendezvous	Lieutenant Bill Gordon
1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.
1936	The Ex-Mrs. Bradford	Dr. Lawrence Bradford
1936	My Man Godfrey	Godfrey
1936	Libeled Lady	Bill Chandler
1936	After the Thin Man	Nick Charles
1937	The Last of Mrs. Cheney	Charles
1937	The Emperor's Candlesticks	Baron Stephan Wolensky
1937	Double Wedding	Charles Lodge
1938	The Baroness and the Butler	Johann Porok
1939	Another Thin Man	Nick Charles
1940	I Love You Again	Larry Wilson a.k.a. George Carey
1941	Love Crazy	Steve Ireland
1941	Shadow of the Thin Man	Nick Charles
1942	Crossroads	David Talbot, a.k.a. Jean Pelletier
1943	The Youngest Profession	Himself
1944	The Heavenly Body	William S. Whitley
1945	The Thin Man Goes Home	Nick Charles
1945	Ziegfeld Follies	Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
1946	The Hoodlum Saint	Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
1946	The Great Morgan	Himself	Voice, Uncredited
1947	Life with Father	Clarence Day
1947	Song of the Thin Man	Nick Charles
1947	The Senator Was Indiscreet	Senator Melvin G. Ashton
1948	Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid	Mr. Arthur Peabody
1949	Take One False Step	Professor Andrew Gentling
1949	Dancing in the Dark	Emery Slade
1951	It's a Big Country	Professor
1952	The Treasure of Lost Canyon	Homer 'Doc' Brown
1953	The Girl Who Had Everything	Steve Latimer
1953	How to Marry a Millionaire	J.D. Hanley
1955	Mister Roberts	Doc	(final film)

Short subjects

• Screen Snapshots (1932)
• Hollywood on Parade No. A-12 (1933)
• Screen Snapshots: The Skolsky Party (1946)

Box Office Ranking

• 1935 - 15th
• 1936 - 13th
• 1937 - 5th, 6th (UK)
• 1938 - 25th, 10th (UK)
• 1940 - 25th
• 1941 - 25th

See also

• List of actors with Academy Award nominations

References

1. Interments of Interest (PDF), Palm Springs Cemetery District, retrieved March 20, 2017
2. Flint, Peter B. (1984-03-06). "William Powell, Film Star, Dies at 91". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
3. "William Powell Biography". Archived from the original on 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
4. Life, Volume 80, p. 208
5. Ankerich, Michael G. (1998). The Sound of Silence: Conversations with 16 Film and Stage Personalities. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company, Inc., p. 106.
6. Christensen et al., p. 375.
7. Parish, James Robert; Stanke, Don E. (1975). The Debonairs. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House. p. 459. ISBN 978-0870002939.
8. Bryant, p. 142.
9. Di Mambro, Dina. "Portrait of Harlow: The Original Blonde Bombshell". ClassicHollywoodBios.com. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
10. "75 Years Ago, Saying Good-bye to Jean Harlow". DearMrGable.com. June 9, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
11. "Obituary: Diana Lewis". The Independent. 31 January 1997.
12. Critchlow, Donald T. (2013-10-21). When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics. ISBN 9781107650282.
13. "Surgery: How Not to Die Of Cancer". Time. 1963-05-10. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
14. Bryant, pp. 127–36.
15. Brooks, Patricia; Brooks, Jonathan (2006). "Chapter 8: East L.A. and the Desert". Laid to Rest in California: a guide to the cemeteries and grave sites of the rich and famous. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press. pp. 240–42. ISBN 978-0762741014. OCLC 70284362.
16. "Awards – New York Film Critics Circle – NYFCC". www.nyfcc.com. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
17. "Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
18. "Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. 37 (1): 32. Winter 2011.
19. "Radio Guide". Altoona Tribune. Pennsylvania, Altoona. August 16, 1949. p. 19. Retrieved November 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.

Bibliography

• Bryant, Roger. William Powell: The Life and Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2006. ISBN 0-7864-2602-0.
• Christensen, Lawrence O., et al. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. Columbia, Maryland: University of Missouri Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8262-1222-0.
• Francisco, Charles. Gentleman: The William Powell Story . New York: St Martins Press, 1985. ISBN 0-312-32103-1.

External links

• William Powell
• William Powell at IMDb
• William Powell at the Internet Broadway Database
• William Powell at the TCM Movie Database
• In Loving Memory Of William Powell
• Photographs of William Powell
• FBI file on William Powell
• William Powell at Find a Grave