
William Powell
Biography
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) 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). After high school, he left home for New York and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts at the age of 18. In 1912, Powell graduated from the AADA, and worked in some vaudeville and stock companies. 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. His most memorable role in silent movies was as a bitter film director opposite Emil Jannings' Academy Award-winning performance as a fallen general in The Last Command (1928). This success, along with Powell's pleasant speaking voice, led to his first starring role as amateur detective Philo Vance in the "talkie" The Canary Murder Case (1929). 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. However, Harlow surprisingly and quickly became ill, and died from uremia at the age of 26 in June 1937 before they could marry. 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 cantankerous Clarence Day, Sr., in Life with Father. His last film was 1955's Mister Roberts. 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, his son William David Powell.
Acting (114 movies)

How to Marry a Millionaire
1953

The Thin Man
1934

I Love You Again
1940

Double Wedding
1937

Love Crazy
1941

Take One False Step
1949

Libeled Lady
1936

The Heavenly Body
1944

My Man Godfrey
1936

Manhattan Melodrama
1934

One Way Passage
1932

Life with Father
1947

Another Thin Man
1939

Shadow of the Thin Man
1941

After the Thin Man
1936

Song of the Thin Man
1947

The Thin Man Goes Home
1944

Crossroads
1942

The Great Ziegfeld
1936

Ziegfeld Follies
1945

The Senator Was Indiscreet
1947

Mister Roberts
1955

High Pressure
1932

Private Detective 62
1933

The Benson Murder Case
1930

Jewel Robbery
1932

Reckless
1935

The Last Command
1928

The Canary Murder Case
1929

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983

Feel My Pulse
1928

When Knighthood Was in Flower
1922

Sherlock Holmes
1922

The Treasure of Lost Canyon
1952

The Girl Who Had Everything
1953

Romola
1924

It's a Big Country
1951

Dancing in the Dark
1949

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
1948

The Baroness and the Butler
1938

The Hoodlum Saint
1946

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
1937

The Key
1934

The Emperor's Candlesticks
1937

Rendezvous
1935

Star of Midnight
1935

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
1936

Evelyn Prentice
1934

The Kennel Murder Case
1933

Fashions of 1934
1934

The Greene Murder Case
1929

Man of the World
1931

The Four Feathers
1929

Paid to Love
1927

The Youngest Profession
1943

Nevada
1927

Lawyer Man
1932

Interference
1928

Street of Chance
1930

Escapade
1935

Double Harness
1933

Beau Geste
1926

Charming Sinners
1929

The Road to Singapore
1931

Behind the Make-Up
1930

Pointed Heels
1929

For the Defense
1930

The Bright Shawl
1923

The Great Gatsby
1926

Ladies' Man
1931

Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984

Forgotten Faces
1928

The Runaway
1926

Partners in Crime
1928

Shadow of the Law
1930

Special Delivery
1927

Paramount on Parade
1930

Aloma of the South Seas
1926

The Big Parade of Comedy
1964

La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
1935

Dangerous Money
1924

Too Many Kisses
1925

Outcast
1922

Under the Red Robe
1923

Faint Perfume
1925

My Lady's Lips
1925

White Mice
1926

Sea Horses
1926

The Beautiful City
1925

Desert Gold
1926

Tin Gods
1926

New York
1927

Time to Love
1927

The Drag Net
1928

She's a Sheik
1927

Love's Greatest Mistake
1927

The Vanishing Pioneer
1928

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975

Hollywood: Style Center of the World
1940

That's Entertainment, Part II
1976
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