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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0001635
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105960
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Filmography (Movies)
The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:20/02/2023
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
Character:Self - Actor (archive footage)
Release Date:14/06/2017
William Powell: A True Gentleman
Character:
Release Date:02/08/2005
Jean Harlow: Platinum Bombshell
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:20/05/1996
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:04/06/1990
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:13/03/1987
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:09/03/1986
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1984
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Character:Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:25/02/1983
That's Entertainment, Part II
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:16/05/1976
It's Showtime
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:31/03/1976
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:06/08/1975
The Big Parade of Comedy
Character:Nick Charles (archive footage)
Release Date:02/09/1964
Mister Roberts
Character:Doc
Release Date:10/07/1955
How to Marry a Millionaire
Character:J.D. Hanley
Release Date:29/10/1953
The Girl Who Had Everything
Character:Steve Latimer
Release Date:27/03/1953
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
Character:Homer 'Doc' Brown
Release Date:01/03/1952
It's a Big Country
Character:Professor
Release Date:20/11/1951
Dancing in the Dark
Character:Emery Slade
Release Date:02/12/1949
Take One False Step
Character:Andrew Gentling
Release Date:14/08/1949
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Character:Arthur Peabody
Release Date:11/08/1948
The Senator Was Indiscreet
Character:Senator Melvin G. Ashton
Release Date:31/12/1947
Life with Father
Character:Clarence Day Sr.
Release Date:13/09/1947
Song of the Thin Man
Character:Nick Charles
Release Date:28/08/1947
The Hoodlum Saint
Character:Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
Release Date:04/04/1946
Ziegfeld Follies
Character:Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
Release Date:26/08/1945
The Great Morgan
Character:William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
Release Date:01/01/1945
The Thin Man Goes Home
Character:Nick Charles
Release Date:24/12/1944
The Heavenly Body
Character:William S. Whitley
Release Date:23/03/1944
Twenty Years After
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:01/01/1944
The Youngest Profession
Character:William Powell
Release Date:26/02/1943
Crossroads
Character:David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier
Release Date:23/07/1942
Shadow of the Thin Man
Character:Nick Charles
Release Date:21/11/1941
Love Crazy
Character:Steve Ireland
Release Date:23/05/1941
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Character:Self
Release Date:24/10/1940
I Love You Again
Character:Larry Wilson aka George Carey
Release Date:09/08/1940
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Character:Self
Release Date:29/05/1940
Another Thin Man
Character:Nick Charles
Release Date:17/11/1939
From the Ends of the Earth
Character:Self
Release Date:28/05/1939
The Baroness and the Butler
Character:Johann Porok
Release Date:18/02/1938
Double Wedding
Character:Charles Lodge
Release Date:15/10/1937
The Romance of Celluloid
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:27/08/1937
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Character:Baron Stephan Wolensky
Release Date:02/07/1937
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Character:Charles
Release Date:19/02/1937
After the Thin Man
Character:Nick Charles
Release Date:25/12/1936
Libeled Lady
Character:William 'Bill' Stephens Chandler
Release Date:09/10/1936
My Man Godfrey
Character:Godfrey
Release Date:02/09/1936
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Character:Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford
Release Date:24/04/1936
The Great Ziegfeld
Character:Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.
Release Date:08/04/1936
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Character:Self
Release Date:07/12/1935
Rendezvous
Character:Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan
Release Date:25/10/1935
Escapade
Character:Fritz
Release Date:05/07/1935
Reckless
Character:Ned Riley
Release Date:19/04/1935
Star of Midnight
Character:Clay Dalzell
Release Date:19/04/1935
Evelyn Prentice
Character:John Prentice
Release Date:09/11/1934
The Key
Character:Capt. Bill Tennant
Release Date:09/06/1934
The Thin Man
Character:Nick Charles
Release Date:25/05/1934
Manhattan Melodrama
Character:Jim Wade
Release Date:04/05/1934
Fashions of 1934
Character:Sherwood Nash
Release Date:14/02/1934
The Kennel Murder Case
Character:Philo Vance
Release Date:28/10/1933
Double Harness
Character:John Fletcher
Release Date:21/07/1933
Private Detective 62
Character:Donald Free
Release Date:10/06/1933
Lawyer Man
Character:Anton "Tony" Adam
Release Date:24/12/1932
One Way Passage
Character:Dan Hardesty
Release Date:04/10/1932
Jewel Robbery
Character:The Robber
Release Date:08/07/1932
High Pressure
Character:Gar Evans
Release Date:10/01/1932
The Road to Singapore
Character:Hugh Dawltry
Release Date:02/09/1931
Ladies' Man
Character:Jamie Darricott
Release Date:16/04/1931
Man of the World
Character:Michael Trevor
Release Date:24/03/1931
The Voice of Hollywood
Character:
Release Date:30/08/1930
For the Defense
Character:William Foster
Release Date:19/07/1930
Shadow of the Law
Character:Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson
Release Date:06/06/1930
Paramount on Parade
Character:Philo Vance
Release Date:22/04/1930
The Benson Murder Case
Character:Philo Vance
Release Date:13/04/1930
Street of Chance
Character:John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
Release Date:08/02/1930
Behind the Make-Up
Character:Gardoni
Release Date:18/01/1930
Pointed Heels
Character:Robert Courtland
Release Date:20/12/1929
Charming Sinners
Character:Karl Kraley
Release Date:17/08/1929
The Greene Murder Case
Character:Philo Vance
Release Date:11/08/1929
The Four Feathers
Character:Capt. William Trench
Release Date:01/06/1929
The Canary Murder Case
Character:Philo Vance
Release Date:16/02/1929
Interference
Character:Philip Voaze
Release Date:04/11/1928
Forgotten Faces
Character:Froggy
Release Date:05/08/1928
The Vanishing Pioneer
Character:John Murdock
Release Date:23/06/1928
The Drag Net
Character:Dapper Frank Trent
Release Date:01/05/1928
Partners in Crime
Character:Smith
Release Date:01/03/1928
Feel My Pulse
Character:Her Nemesis
Release Date:26/02/1928
Beau Sabreur
Character:Becque
Release Date:22/01/1928
The Last Command
Character:Lev Andreyev
Release Date:21/01/1928
She's a Sheik
Character:Kada
Release Date:12/11/1927
Nevada
Character:Clan Dillon
Release Date:01/08/1927
Paid to Love
Character:Prince Eric
Release Date:23/07/1927
Time to Love
Character:Prince Alado
Release Date:18/06/1927
Special Delivery
Character:Harold Jones
Release Date:06/05/1927
Senorita
Character:Manuel Oliveros
Release Date:01/04/1927
Love's Greatest Mistake
Character:Don Kendall
Release Date:20/02/1927
New York
Character:Trent Regan
Release Date:30/01/1927
The Great Gatsby
Character:George Wilson
Release Date:21/11/1926
Tin Gods
Character:Tony Santelli
Release Date:19/09/1926
Beau Geste
Character:Boldini
Release Date:24/08/1926
Aloma of the South Seas
Character:Van Templeton
Release Date:15/05/1926
The Runaway
Character:Jack Harrison
Release Date:04/04/1926
Desert Gold
Character:Snake Landree
Release Date:22/03/1926
Sea Horses
Character:Lorenzo Salvia
Release Date:22/02/1926
White Mice
Character:Roddy Forrester
Release Date:31/01/1926
The Beautiful City
Character:Nick Di Silva
Release Date:25/10/1925
My Lady's Lips
Character:Scott Seldon
Release Date:01/07/1925
Faint Perfume
Character:Barnaby Powers
Release Date:08/06/1925
Too Many Kisses
Character:Don Julio
Release Date:11/01/1925
Romola
Character:Tito Melema
Release Date:06/12/1924
Dangerous Money
Character:Prince Arnoldo da Pescia
Release Date:13/10/1924
Under the Red Robe
Character:Duke of Orleans
Release Date:12/11/1923
The Bright Shawl
Character:Gaspar De Vaca
Release Date:22/04/1923
Outcast
Character:DeValle
Release Date:07/12/1922
When Knighthood Was in Flower
Character:Francis I
Release Date:15/09/1922
Sherlock Holmes
Character:Forman Wells
Release Date:07/03/1922
Images
