Film Snail

William Powell

Born · July 28, 1892

Died · March 5, 1984 (91 years old)

Known For: Acting

Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Bio

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.

Known for

The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell

self

0.0

2023

Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts

Self - Actor (archive footage)

6.5

2017

William Powell: A True Gentleman

7.5

2005

Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell

Self (archive footage)

8.5

1993

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To

(archive footage)

9.0

1990

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

Self (archive footage)

6.0

1988

platinum bombshell

0.0

1987

The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn

Self (archive footage)

8.0

1986

Going Hollywood: The '30s

(archive footage)

10.0

1984

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

6.5

1983

That's Entertainment, Part II

(archive footage)

6.9

1976

It's Showtime

Self (archive footage)

7.0

1976

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Self (archive footage)

5.7

1975

The Big Parade of Comedy

Nick Charles (archive footage)

6.3

1964

Hollywood: The Selznick Years

Jim Wade (archive footage) (uncredited)

3.3

1961

Mister Roberts

Doc

7.0

1955

How to Marry a Millionaire

J.D. Hanley

6.8

1953

The Girl Who Had Everything

Steve Latimer

5.8

1953

The Treasure of Lost Canyon

Homer 'Doc' Brown

5.6

1952

It's a Big Country

Professor

5.3

1951

Dancing in the Dark

Emery Slade

5.0

1949

Take One False Step

Andrew Gentling

5.5

1949

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid

Mr. Peabody

6.4

1948

The Senator Was Indiscreet

Senator Melvin G. Ashton

5.4

1947

Life with Father

Clarence Day Sr.

6.5

1947

Song of the Thin Man

Nick Charles

6.8

1947

The Hoodlum Saint

Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill

5.2

1946

Ziegfeld Follies

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.

6.1

1945

The Great Morgan

William Powell (voice) (uncredited)

5.5

1945

The Thin Man Goes Home

Nick Charles

7.1

1944

The Heavenly Body

William S. Whitley

5.7

1944

Twenty Years After

(archive footage)

6.0

1944

The Youngest Profession

William Powell

5.2

1943

Crossroads

David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier

5.9

1942

Shadow of the Thin Man

Nick Charles

7.0

1941

Love Crazy

Steve Ireland

7.1

1941

A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound

Self

6.7

1940

I Love You Again

Larry Wilson aka George Carey

7.2

1940

Hollywood: Style Center of the World

Self

5.5

1940

Another Thin Man

Nick Charles

1937

After the Thin Man

Nick Charles

7.3

1936

Libeled Lady

4.9

1934

The Thin Man

Nick Charles

7.5

1934

Manhattan Melodrama

Jim Wade

7.0

1934

Fashions of 1934

Sherwood Nash

6.4

1934

The Kennel Murder Case

Philo Vance

6.2

1933

Double Harness

John Fletcher

6.7

1933

Private Detective 62

Donald Free

6.0

1933

Lawyer Man

Anton Adam

5.8

1932

One Way Passage

Dan Hardesty

7.2

1932

Jewel Robbery

The Robber

6.5

1932

High Pressure

Gar Evans

6.0

1932

The Road to Singapore

Hugh Dawltry

5.4

1931

Ladies' Man

Jamie Darricott

4.3

1931

Man of the World

Michael Trevor

5.9

1931

The Voice of Hollywood

0.0

1930

For the Defense

William Foster

4.8

1930

Shadow of the Law

Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson

6.4

1930

Paramount on Parade

Philo Vance

6.1

1930

The Benson Murder Case

Philo Vance

5.8

1930

Street of Chance

John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis

6.6

1930

Behind the Make-Up

Gardoni

6.2

1930

Pointed Heels

Robert Courtland

7.2

1929

Charming Sinners

Karl Kraley

0.0

1929

The Greene Murder Case

Philo Vance

5.8

1929

The Four Feathers

Capt. William Trench

4.4

1929

The Canary Murder Case

Philo Vance

5.6

1929

Interference

Philip Voaze

8.0

1928

Forgotten Faces

Froggy

0.0

1928

The Vanishing Pioneer

John Murdock

0.0

1928

The Drag Net

Dapper Frank Trent

6.0

1928

Partners in Crime

Smith

2.0

1928

Feel My Pulse

Her Nemesis

6.0

1928

Beau Sabreur

Becque

0.0

1928

The Last Command

Lev Andreyev

7.3

1928

She's a Sheik

Kada

0.0

1927

Nevada

Clan Dillon

6.0

1927

Paid to Love

Prince Eric

6.0

1927

Time to Love

Prince Alado

0.0

1927

Special Delivery

Harold Jones

6.0

1927

Senorita

Manuel Oliveros

0.0

1927

Love's Greatest Mistake

Don Kendall

0.0

1927

New York

Trent Regan

0.0

1927

The Great Gatsby

George Wilson

0.0

1926

Tin Gods

Tony Santelli

0.0

1926

Beau Geste

Boldini

6.0

1926

Aloma of the South Seas

Van Templeton

0.0

1926

The Runaway

Jack Harrison

0.0

1926

Desert Gold

Snake Landree

0.0

1926

Sea Horses

Lorenzo Salvia

0.0

1926

White Mice

Roddy Forrester

0.0

1926

The Beautiful City

Nick Di Silva

0.0

1925

My Lady's Lips

Scott Seldon

0.0

1925

Faint Perfume

Barnaby Powers

0.0

1925

Too Many Kisses

Don Julio

5.8

1925

Romola

Tito Melema

6.0

1924

Dangerous Money

Prince Arnoldo da Pescia

0.0

1924

Under the Red Robe

Duke of Orleans

5.0

1923

The Bright Shawl

Gaspar De Vaca

0.0

1923

Outcast

DeValle

1.0

1922

When Knighthood Was in Flower

Francis I

5.7

1922

Sherlock Holmes

Forman Wells

6.1

1922