William Powell
1892-07-28 ( 132 years old ) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

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.

Movies

The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell 2023-02-20
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts 2017-06-14
William Powell: A True Gentleman 2005-08-02
Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell 1993-02-06
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To 1990-06-04
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life 1988-11-22
Platinum Bombshell 1987-12-26
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn 1986-03-09
Going Hollywood: The '30s 1984-01-01
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage 1983-02-25
That's Entertainment, Part II 1976-05-16
It's Showtime 1976-03-31
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? 1975-08-06
The Big Parade of Comedy 1964-09-02
Hollywood: The Selznick Years 1961-12-31
Mister Roberts 1955-07-10
How to Marry a Millionaire 1953-10-29
The Girl Who Had Everything 1953-03-27
The Treasure of Lost Canyon 1952-03-01
It's a Big Country 1951-11-20
Dancing in the Dark 1949-12-02
Take One False Step 1949-08-14
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid 1948-08-11
The Senator Was Indiscreet 1947-12-31
Life with Father 1947-09-13
Song of the Thin Man 1947-08-28
The Hoodlum Saint 1946-04-04
Ziegfeld Follies 1945-08-26
The Great Morgan 1945-01-01
The Thin Man Goes Home 1944-12-24
The Heavenly Body 1944-03-23
Twenty Years After 1944-01-01
The Youngest Profession 1943-02-26
Crossroads 1942-07-23
Shadow of the Thin Man 1941-11-21
Love Crazy 1941-05-23
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound 1940-10-24
I Love You Again 1940-08-09
Hollywood: Style Center of the World 1940-05-29
Another Thin Man 1939-11-17
From the Ends of the Earth 1939-05-28
The Baroness and the Butler 1938-02-18
Double Wedding 1937-10-15
The Romance of Celluloid 1937-08-27
The Emperor's Candlesticks 1937-07-02
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney 1937-02-19
After the Thin Man 1936-12-25
Libeled Lady 1936-10-09
My Man Godfrey 1936-09-02
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford 1936-04-24
The Great Ziegfeld 1936-04-08
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara 1935-12-07
Rendezvous 1935-10-25
Escapade 1935-07-05
Reckless 1935-04-19
Star of Midnight 1935-04-19
Evelyn Prentice 1934-11-09
The Key 1934-06-09
The Thin Man 1934-05-25
Manhattan Melodrama 1934-05-04
Fashions of 1934 1934-02-14
The Kennel Murder Case 1933-10-28
Double Harness 1933-07-21
Private Detective 62 1933-06-10
Lawyer Man 1932-12-24
One Way Passage 1932-10-04
Jewel Robbery 1932-07-08
High Pressure 1932-01-10
The Road to Singapore 1931-09-02
Ladies' Man 1931-04-16
Man of the World 1931-03-24
The Voice of Hollywood 1930-08-30
For the Defense 1930-07-19
Shadow of the Law 1930-06-06
Paramount on Parade 1930-04-22
The Benson Murder Case 1930-04-13
Street of Chance 1930-02-08
Behind the Make-Up 1930-01-18
Pointed Heels 1929-12-20
Charming Sinners 1929-08-17
The Greene Murder Case 1929-08-11
The Four Feathers 1929-06-01
The Canary Murder Case 1929-02-16
Interference 1928-11-04
Forgotten Faces 1928-08-05
The Vanishing Pioneer 1928-06-23
The Drag Net 1928-05-01
Partners in Crime 1928-03-01
Feel My Pulse 1928-02-26
Beau Sabreur 1928-01-22
The Last Command 1928-01-21
She's a Sheik 1927-11-12
Nevada 1927-08-01
Paid to Love 1927-07-23
Time to Love 1927-06-18
Special Delivery 1927-05-06
Senorita 1927-04-01
Love's Greatest Mistake 1927-02-20
New York 1927-01-30
The Great Gatsby 1926-11-21
Tin Gods 1926-09-19
Beau Geste 1926-08-24
Aloma of the South Seas 1926-05-15
The Runaway 1926-04-04
Desert Gold 1926-03-22
Sea Horses 1926-02-22
White Mice 1926-01-31
The Beautiful City 1925-10-25
My Lady's Lips 1925-07-01
Faint Perfume 1925-06-08
Too Many Kisses 1925-01-11
Romola 1924-12-06
Dangerous Money 1924-10-13
Under the Red Robe 1923-11-12
The Bright Shawl 1923-04-22
Outcast 1922-12-07
When Knighthood Was in Flower 1922-09-15
Sherlock Holmes 1922-03-07

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