Acting
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 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.
Filmography
The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
Film · 2023
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
Film · 2017
Discovering Jean Harlow
Film · 2015
William Powell: A True Gentleman
Film · 2005
Alias Nick and Nora
Film · 2005
Jean Harlow: Platinum Bombshell
Film · 1996
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Film · 1995
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
Film · 1990
Two Tragic Blondes - Marilyn Monroe And Jean Harlow
Film · 1989
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Film · 1987
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Film · 1986
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Film · 1984
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Film · 1983
That's Entertainment, Part II
Film · 1976
It's Showtime
Film · 1976
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Film · 1975
The Big Parade of Comedy
Film · 1964
Mister Roberts
Film · 1955
How to Marry a Millionaire
Film · 1953
The Girl Who Had Everything
Film · 1953
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
Film · 1952
It's a Big Country
Film · 1951
Take One False Step
Film · 1949
Dancing in the Dark
Film · 1949
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Film · 1948
Life with Father
Film · 1947
Song of the Thin Man
Film · 1947
The Senator Was Indiscreet
Film · 1947
The Hoodlum Saint
Film · 1946
Ziegfeld Follies
Film · 1945
The Great Morgan
Film · 1945
The Heavenly Body
Film · 1944
The Thin Man Goes Home
Film · 1944
Twenty Years After
Film · 1944
The Youngest Profession
Film · 1943
Crossroads
Film · 1942
Love Crazy
Film · 1941
Shadow of the Thin Man
Film · 1941
I Love You Again
Film · 1940
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Film · 1940
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Film · 1940
Another Thin Man
Film · 1939
From the Ends of the Earth
Film · 1939
The Baroness and the Butler
Film · 1938
Double Wedding
Film · 1937
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Film · 1937
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Film · 1937
The Romance of Celluloid
Film · 1937
Libeled Lady
Film · 1936
My Man Godfrey
Film · 1936
After the Thin Man
Film · 1936
The Great Ziegfeld
Film · 1936
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Film · 1936
Reckless
Film · 1935
Rendezvous
Film · 1935
Star of Midnight
Film · 1935
Escapade
Film · 1935
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Film · 1935
The Thin Man
Film · 1934
Manhattan Melodrama
Film · 1934
The Key
Film · 1934
Evelyn Prentice
Film · 1934
Fashions of 1934
Film · 1934
Private Detective 62
Film · 1933
The Kennel Murder Case
Film · 1933
Double Harness
Film · 1933
One Way Passage
Film · 1932
High Pressure
Film · 1932
Jewel Robbery
Film · 1932
Lawyer Man
Film · 1932
Man of the World
Film · 1931
The Road to Singapore
Film · 1931
Ladies' Man
Film · 1931
The Benson Murder Case
Film · 1930
Street of Chance
Film · 1930
Behind the Make-Up
Film · 1930
For the Defense
Film · 1930
Shadow of the Law
Film · 1930
Paramount on Parade
Film · 1930
The Voice of Hollywood
Film · 1930
The Canary Murder Case
Film · 1929
The Greene Murder Case
Film · 1929
The Four Feathers
Film · 1929
Interference
Film · 1929
Charming Sinners
Film · 1929
Pointed Heels
Film · 1929
The Last Command
Film · 1928
Feel My Pulse
Film · 1928
Forgotten Faces
Film · 1928
Partners in Crime
Film · 1928
The Drag Net
Film · 1928
The Vanishing Pioneer
Film · 1928
Beau Sabreur
Film · 1928
Paid to Love
Film · 1927
Nevada
Film · 1927
Special Delivery
Film · 1927
New York
Film · 1927
Time to Love
Film · 1927
She's a Sheik
Film · 1927
Love's Greatest Mistake
Film · 1927
Senorita
Film · 1927
Beau Geste
Film · 1926
The Great Gatsby
Film · 1926
The Runaway
Film · 1926
Aloma of the South Seas
Film · 1926
White Mice
Film · 1926
Sea Horses
Film · 1926
Desert Gold
Film · 1926
Tin Gods
Film · 1926
Too Many Kisses
Film · 1925
Faint Perfume
Film · 1925
My Lady's Lips
Film · 1925
The Beautiful City
Film · 1925
Romola
Film · 1924
Dangerous Money
Film · 1924
The Bright Shawl
Film · 1923
Under the Red Robe
Film · 1923
When Knighthood Was in Flower
Film · 1922
Sherlock Holmes
Film · 1922
Outcast
Film · 1922