William 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 a

t 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.

Born

Jul 29, 1892

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Died

Mar 05, 1984

Known For

Acting

Movies

119 acting

0 crew

Popularity

1.1

movie

Known For

The Baroness and the Butler

1938 • as Johann Porok

★ 5.3

How to Marry a Millionaire

1953 • as J.D. Hanley

★ 6.8

The Thin Man

1934 • as Nick Charles

★ 7.5

That's Entertainment, Part II

1976 • as (archive footage)

★ 7.0

Libeled Lady

1936 • as Bill Chandler

★ 7.3

My Man Godfrey

1936 • as Godfrey

★ 7.6

Evelyn Prentice

1934 • as John Prentice

★ 6.5

The Thin Man Goes Home

1944 • as Nick Charles

★ 7.1

After the Thin Man

1936 • as Nick Charles

★ 7.3

Shadow of the Thin Man

1941 • as Nick Charles

★ 7.0

Romola

1924 • as Tito Melema

★ 6.7

Ziegfeld Follies

1945 • as Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.

★ 6.0

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

1983 • as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

★ 7.0

Life with Father

1947 • as Clarence Day Sr.

★ 6.7

Another Thin Man

1939 • as Nick Charles

★ 7.1

Mister Roberts

1955 • as Doc

★ 7.0

The Emperor's Candlesticks

1937 • as Baron Stephan Wolensky

★ 4.9

Twenty Years After

1944 • as (archive footage)

★ 8.0

The Great Ziegfeld

1936 • as Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.

★ 6.3

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

1975 • as Self (archive footage)

★ 6.3

Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid

1948 • as Arthur Peabody

★ 6.6

White Mice

1926 • as Roddy Forrester

★ 7.0

Crossroads

1942 • as David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier

★ 5.9

The Youngest Profession

1943 • as William Powell

★ 5.3

The Big Parade of Comedy

1964 • as Nick Charles (archive footage)

★ 7.2

Manhattan Melodrama

1934 • as Jim Wade

★ 7.1

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

1987 • as Self (archive footage)

★ 6.5

Charming Sinners

1929 • as Karl Kraley

★ 7.5

The Kennel Murder Case

1933 • as Philo Vance

★ 6.1

It's Showtime

1976 • as Self (archive footage)

★ 7.5

The Girl Who Had Everything

1953 • as Steve Latimer

★ 6.2

Senorita

1927 • as Manuel Oliveros

★ 8.0

The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies

1995 • as Self (archive footage)

★ 8.0

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford

1936 • as Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford

★ 6.2

From the Ends of the Earth

1939 • as Self

★ 5.0

Song of the Thin Man

1947 • as Nick Charles

★ 6.7

Private Detective 62

1933 • as Donald Free

★ 6.2

Outcast

1922 • as DeValle

★ 3.0

The Road to Singapore

1931 • as Hugh Dawltry

★ 5.6

The Romance of Celluloid

1937 • as Self (archive footage)

★ 7.0

Special Delivery

1927 • as Harold Jones

★ 6.0

Desert Gold

1926 • as Snake Landree

★ 8.0

Going Hollywood: The '30s

1984 • as (archive footage)

★ 9.0

Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts

2017 • as Self - Actor (archive footage)

★ 6.5

The Last Command

1928 • as Lev Andreyev

★ 7.4

The Treasure of Lost Canyon

1952 • as Homer 'Doc' Brown

★ 6.0

Dancing in the Dark

1949 • as Emery Slade

★ 6.0

Double Wedding

1937 • as Charles Lodge

★ 6.4

Discovering Jean Harlow

2015 • as archive footage

★ 10.0

I Love You Again

1940 • as Larry Wilson aka George Carey

★ 7.2

The Hoodlum Saint

1946 • as Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill

★ 5.5

Sherlock Holmes

1922 • as Forman Wells

★ 6.1

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

1937 • as Charles

★ 5.9

The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn

1986 • as Self (archive footage)

★ 8.3

Jewel Robbery

1932 • as The Robber

★ 6.5

One Way Passage

1932 • as Dan Hardesty

★ 7.3

Love Crazy

1941 • as Steve Ireland

★ 6.8

Reckless

1935 • as Ned Riley

★ 5.1

The Heavenly Body

1944 • as William S. Whitley

★ 5.6

The Great Morgan

1945 • as William Powell (voice) (uncredited)

★ 6.0

Pointed Heels

1929 • as Robert Courtland

★ 6.4

My Lady's Lips

1925 • as Scott Seldon

★ 10.0

The Canary Murder Case

1929 • as Philo Vance

★ 5.7

Fashions of 1934

1934 • as Sherwood Nash

★ 6.6

Take One False Step

1949 • as Andrew Gentling

★ 5.4

Hollywood: Style Center of the World

1940 • as Self

★ 5.8

The Great Gatsby

1926 • as George Wilson

★ 9.0

The Benson Murder Case

1930 • as Philo Vance

★ 5.9

Street of Chance

1930 • as John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis

★ 6.8

movie

Two Tragic Blondes - Marilyn Monroe And Jean Harlow

1989 • as Self (archive footage)

★ 9.0

La Fiesta de Santa Barbara

1935 • as Self

★ 6.1

It's a Big Country

1951 • as Professor

★ 5.9

The Bright Shawl

1923 • as Gaspar De Vaca

★ 7.0

A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound

1940 • as Self

★ 6.8

Paramount on Parade

1930 • as Philo Vance

★ 6.1

Beau Geste

1926 • as Boldini

★ 6.4

Time to Love

1927 • as Prince Alado

★ 10.0

The Greene Murder Case

1929 • as Philo Vance

★ 6.0

Jean Harlow: Platinum Bombshell

1996 • as Self (archive footage)

Double Harness

1933 • as John Fletcher

★ 6.5

The Senator Was Indiscreet

1947 • as Senator Melvin G. Ashton

★ 6.2

The Key

1934 • as Capt. Bill Tennant

★ 4.9

Rendezvous

1935 • as Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan

★ 4.9

New York

1927 • as Trent Regan

★ 9.0

Star of Midnight

1935 • as Clay Dalzell

★ 5.9

Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To

1990 • as (archive footage)

★ 8.5

Interference

1929 • as Philip Voaze

★ 7.6

Behind the Make-Up

1930 • as Gardoni

★ 6.8

The Four Feathers

1929 • as Capt. William Trench

★ 5.0

For the Defense

1930 • as William Foster

★ 5.3

Lawyer Man

1932 • as Anton "Tony" Adam

★ 6.1

High Pressure

1932 • as Gar Evans

★ 5.8

Dangerous Money

1924 • as Prince Arnoldo da Pescia

★ 9.0

Shadow of the Law

1930 • as Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson

★ 6.7

When Knighthood Was in Flower

1922 • as Francis I

★ 5.8

The Voice of Hollywood

1930

Partners in Crime

1928 • as Smith

★ 6.0

Nevada

1927 • as Clan Dillon

★ 7.0

Too Many Kisses

1925 • as Don Julio

★ 5.9

Ladies' Man

1931 • as Jamie Darricott

★ 4.6

The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell

2023 • as Self (archive footage)

Under the Red Robe

1923 • as Duke of Orleans

★ 6.0

Escapade

1935 • as Fritz

★ 8.0

Paid to Love

1927 • as Prince Eric

★ 6.5

The Drag Net

1928 • as Dapper Frank Trent

★ 6.5

Man of the World

1931 • as Michael Trevor

★ 6.2

Sea Horses

1926 • as Lorenzo Salvia

★ 9.0

The Vanishing Pioneer

1928 • as John Murdock

★ 9.0

Forgotten Faces

1928 • as Froggy

★ 7.0

The Runaway

1926 • as Jack Harrison

★ 10.0

William Powell: A True Gentleman

2005

★ 7.5

Beau Sabreur

1928 • as Becque

★ 9.0

Faint Perfume

1925 • as Barnaby Powers

★ 7.0

Tin Gods

1926 • as Tony Santelli

★ 9.0

Love's Greatest Mistake

1927 • as Don Kendall

★ 9.0

The Beautiful City

1925 • as Nick Di Silva

★ 9.0

Aloma of the South Seas

1926 • as Van Templeton

★ 8.0

She's a Sheik

1927 • as Kada

★ 8.0

Feel My Pulse

1928 • as Her Nemesis

★ 6.6

William Powell

Known For

How to Marry a Millionaire

The Thin Man

Libeled Lady

My Man Godfrey

The Thin Man Goes Home

After the Thin Man

Shadow of the Thin Man

Another Thin Man

Mister Roberts

The Great Ziegfeld

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