William Powell

William Horatio Powell was an American actor, known primarily for his film career. Under contract with 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, My Man Godfrey, and Life with Father.

Early life

Powell was born in Pittsburgh in 1892, the only child of Nettie Manila and Horatio Warren Powell, an accountant. In 1907, young William moved with his family to Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated from Central High School four years later.

Career

After high school, Powell enrolled at the University of Kansas to study law, but after a week he relocated to New York City, where he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In 1912, Powell left the AADA, and began working in vaudeville and stock companies. He also appeared on Broadway. Powell began his Hollywood career in 1922, in a production of Sherlock Holmes with John Barrymore. He performed as Francis I in When Knighthood Was in Flower with Marion Davies.
Powell remained under contract to Paramount throughout the 1920s, before signing with Warner Bros.
Powell portrayed a vengeful film director in the silent movie The Last Command. His first starring role was Philo Vance in The Canary Murder Case. He played Vance at Paramount Pictures four times. His strong stage-developed voice became a powerful asset when talking pictures were introduced.
File:Thin-Man-Loy-Powell-Skippy.jpg|upright|thumb|Promotional photo for The Thin Man with Powell, co-star Myrna Loy, and Skippy as Asta
Powell appeared as Nick Charles in six Thin Man films, beginning with The Thin Man in 1934, based upon Dashiell Hammett's novel. This movie provided Powell with his first Academy Award nomination, in 1935
Powell starred in The Great Ziegfeld,, opposite his The Thin Man co-star, Myrna Loy, who played Ziegfeld's wife, Billie Burke. In 1937, Powell received his second Academy Award nomination for the comedy My Man Godfrey.
In 1935, he starred with Jean Harlow in Reckless. In 1936, Harlow and Powell appeared in Libeled Lady, and they became romantically involved off-set. He gave her a handsome ring, but did not ask her to marry him, so she referred to it as her "unengagement ring". Powell had been unhappy with his previous marriage to popular actress Carole Lombard, and this apparently kept him from entering a similar arrangement with Harlow, who was a sex symbol to the film-going public during that time. They kept company but did not live together. Harlow fell ill from undiagnosed kidney failure while working on a film with Clark Gable, and died before the film was completed, from uremia, at age 26 in June 1937.
Powell received his third Academy Award nomination in 1947 for his role as Clarence Day Sr. in Life with Father. His last film was playing the character Doc in 1955's Mister Roberts.

Personal life

On April 15, 1915, Powell married Eileen Wilson, who was born Julia Mary Tierney. The couple had a son, William David Powell. They divorced in 1930. Powell's son became a television writer and producer before a period of ill health and depression led to his suicide in 1968.
On June 26, 1931, Powell married actress Carole Lombard. They divorced in 1933, but starred in My Man Godfrey three years later. Powell was devastated by her death in an airplane crash in 1942. He was romantically involved with Jean Harlow, his co-star in Reckless, until her unexpected death from illness in 1937. On January 6, 1940, three weeks after they met, Powell married his third wife, actress Diana Lewis, who retired from her film career to be his full-time wife. They remained married until his death in 1984.
A Republican, Powell supported Thomas Dewey in both the 1944 and 1948 United States presidential elections.

Cancer

In March 1938, Powell was diagnosed with rectal cancer. 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 more than a year during this period.

Death

Powell died in Palm Springs, California, on March 5, 1984, at the age of 91 from pneumonia. He is buried at the Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California, near his third wife, Diana Lewis.

Honors

Academy Awards nominations

1934 Best Actor – The Thin Man
1936 Best Actor – My Man Godfrey
1947 Best Actor – ''Life with Father''
Other awards

in 1947 for Life with Father and The Senator Was Indiscreet.
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.

Radio appearances

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1922	Sherlock Holmes	Foreman Wells
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 Arnolfo da Pescia	Lost film
1924	Romola	Tito Melema
1925	Too Many Kisses	Julio
1925	Faint Perfume	Barnaby Powers	Lost film
1925	My Lady's Lips	Scott Seddon
1925	The Beautiful City	Nick Di Silva	Lost film
1925	The New Commandment		Lost film Uncredited
1926	White Mice	Roddy Forrester	Incomplete film
1926	Sea Horses	Lorenzo Salvia	Lost film
1926	Desert Gold	Snake Landree	Lost film
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 Trailer extant
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	Lost film
1927	Paid to Love	Prince Eric
1927	Nevada	Clan Dillon
1927	She's a Sheik	Kada
1928	The Last Command	Lev Andreyev
1928	Beau Sabreur	Becque	Lost film Trailer extant
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
1935	The Casino Murder Case	"A new man"	uncredited cameo
1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
1936	The Ex-Mrs. Bradford	Dr. Lawrence Bradford
1936	My Man Godfrey	Godfrey Parke
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