William Powell
Born
July 28, 1892
Died
March 5, 1984 (91 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
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.
Known For

The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
self
2023

Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
Self - Actor (archive footage)
2017

William Powell: A True Gentleman
2005

Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
Self (archive footage)
1993

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
(archive footage)
1990

Platinum Bombshell
Self (archive footage)
1987

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
1987

The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Self (archive footage)
1986

Going Hollywood: The '30s
(archive footage)
1984

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983

That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
1976

It's Showtime
Self (archive footage)
1976

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
1975

The Big Parade of Comedy
Nick Charles (archive footage)
1964

Hollywood: The Selznick Years
Jim Wade (archive footage) (uncredited)
1961

Mister Roberts
Doc
1955

How to Marry a Millionaire
J.D. Hanley
1953

The Girl Who Had Everything
Steve Latimer
1953

The Treasure of Lost Canyon
Homer 'Doc' Brown
1952

It's a Big Country
Professor
1951

Dancing in the Dark
Emery Slade
1949

Take One False Step
Andrew Gentling
1949

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Arthur Peabody
1948

The Senator Was Indiscreet
Senator Melvin G. Ashton
1947

Life with Father
Clarence Day Sr.
1947

Song of the Thin Man
Nick Charles
1947

The Hoodlum Saint
Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
1946

Ziegfeld Follies
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
1945

The Great Morgan
William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
1945

The Thin Man Goes Home
Nick Charles
1944

The Heavenly Body
William S. Whitley
1944

Twenty Years After
(archive footage)
1944

The Youngest Profession
William Powell
1943

Crossroads
David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier
1942

Shadow of the Thin Man
Nick Charles
1941

Love Crazy
Steve Ireland
1941

A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
1940

I Love You Again
Larry Wilson aka George Carey
1940

Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
1940

Another Thin Man
Nick Charles
1939
From the Ends of the Earth
Self
1939

The Baroness and the Butler
Johann Porok
1938

Double Wedding
Charles Lodge
1937

The Romance of Celluloid
Self (archive footage)
1937

The Emperor's Candlesticks
Baron Stephan Wolensky
1937

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Charles
1937

After the Thin Man
Nick Charles
1936

Libeled Lady
William 'Bill' Stephens Chandler
1936

My Man Godfrey
Godfrey
1936

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford
1936

The Great Ziegfeld
Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.
1936

La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Self
1935

Rendezvous
Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan
1935

Escapade
Fritz
1935

Reckless
Ned Riley
1935

Star of Midnight
Clay Dalzell
1935

Evelyn Prentice
John Prentice
1934

The Key
Capt. Bill Tennant
1934

The Thin Man
Nick Charles
1934

Manhattan Melodrama
Jim Wade
1934

Fashions of 1934
Sherwood Nash
1934

The Kennel Murder Case
Philo Vance
1933

Double Harness
John Fletcher
1933

Private Detective 62
Donald Free
1933

Lawyer Man
Anton Adam
1932

One Way Passage
Dan Hardesty
1932

Jewel Robbery
The Robber
1932

High Pressure
Gar Evans
1932

The Road to Singapore
Hugh Dawltry
1931

Ladies' Man
Jamie Darricott
1931

Man of the World
Michael Trevor
1931
The Voice of Hollywood
1930

For the Defense
William Foster
1930

Shadow of the Law
Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson
1930

Paramount on Parade
Philo Vance
1930

The Benson Murder Case
Philo Vance
1930

Street of Chance
John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
1930

Behind the Make-Up
Gardoni
1930

Pointed Heels
Robert Courtland
1929

Charming Sinners
Karl Kraley
1929

The Greene Murder Case
Philo Vance
1929

The Four Feathers
Capt. William Trench
1929

The Canary Murder Case
Philo Vance
1929

Interference
Philip Voaze
1928

Forgotten Faces
Froggy
1928

The Vanishing Pioneer
John Murdock
1928

The Drag Net
Dapper Frank Trent
1928

Partners in Crime
Smith
1928

Feel My Pulse
Her Nemesis
1928

Beau Sabreur
Becque
1928

The Last Command
Lev Andreyev
1928

She's a Sheik
Kada
1927

Nevada
Clan Dillon
1927

Paid to Love
Prince Eric
1927

Time to Love
Prince Alado
1927

Special Delivery
Harold Jones
1927

Senorita
Manuel Oliveros
1927

Love's Greatest Mistake
Don Kendall
1927

New York
Trent Regan
1927

The Great Gatsby
George Wilson
1926

Tin Gods
Tony Santelli
1926

Beau Geste
Boldini
1926

Aloma of the South Seas
Van Templeton
1926

The Runaway
Jack Harrison
1926

Desert Gold
Snake Landree
1926

Sea Horses
Lorenzo Salvia
1926

White Mice
Roddy Forrester
1926

The Beautiful City
Nick Di Silva
1925

My Lady's Lips
Scott Seldon
1925

Faint Perfume
Barnaby Powers
1925

Too Many Kisses
Don Julio
1925

Romola
Tito Melema
1924

Dangerous Money
Prince Arnoldo da Pescia
1924

Under the Red Robe
Duke of Orleans
1923

The Bright Shawl
Gaspar De Vaca
1923

Outcast
DeValle
1922

When Knighthood Was in Flower
Francis I
1922

Sherlock Holmes
Forman Wells
1922