William Powell
Acting
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.
Born: July 28, 1892
Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Known For
Filmography
as Self (archive footage)
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
as (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Self (archive footage)
as Nick Charles (archive footage)
as Doc
as J.D. Hanley
as Steve Latimer
as Homer 'Doc' Brown
as Professor
as Emery Slade
as Andrew Gentling
as Arthur Peabody
as Senator Melvin G. Ashton
as Clarence Day Sr.
as Nick Charles
as Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
as Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
as William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
as Nick Charles
as William S. Whitley
as (archive footage)
as William Powell
as David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier
as Nick Charles
as Steve Ireland
as Larry Wilson aka George Carey
as Nick Charles
as Johann Porok
as Charles Lodge
as Self (archive footage)
as Baron Stephan Wolensky
as Charles
as Nick Charles
as William 'Bill' Stephens Chandler
as Godfrey
as Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford
as Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.
as Self
as Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan
as Fritz
as Clay Dalzell
as Ned Riley
as John Prentice
as Capt. Bill Tennant
as Nick Charles
as Jim Wade
as Sherwood Nash
as Philo Vance
as John Fletcher
as Donald Free
as Anton "Tony" Adam
as Dan Hardesty
as The Robber
as Gar Evans
as Hugh Dawltry
as Jamie Darricott
as Michael Trevor
as William Foster
as Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson
as Philo Vance
as Philo Vance
as John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
as Gardoni
as Robert Courtland
as Karl Kraley
as Philo Vance
as Capt. William Trench
as Philo Vance
as Philip Voaze
as Froggy
as John Murdock
as Dapper Frank Trent
as Smith
as Her Nemesis
as Becque
as Lev Andreyev
as Kada
as Clan Dillon
as Prince Eric
as Prince Alado
as Harold Jones
as Manuel Oliveros
as Don Kendall
as Trent Regan
as George Wilson
as Tony Santelli
as Boldini
as Van Templeton
as Jack Harrison
as Snake Landree
as Lorenzo Salvia
as Roddy Forrester
as Nick Di Silva
as Scott Seldon
as Barnaby Powers
as Don Julio
as Tito Melema
as Prince Arnoldo da Pescia
as Duke of Orleans
as Gaspar De Vaca
as DeValle
as Francis I
as Forman Wells