The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
2023 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
William Powell
1892-07-29
•
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.
Filmography
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
2017 · Movie
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
Discovering Jean Harlow
2015 · Movie
as archive footage
William Powell: A True Gentleman
2005 · Movie
Jean Harlow: Platinum Bombshell
1996 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
1995 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
1990 · Movie
as (archive footage)
No image
Two Tragic Blondes - Marilyn Monroe And Jean Harlow
1989 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1987 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
1986 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984 · Movie
as (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983 · Movie
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976 · Movie
as (archive footage)
It's Showtime
1976 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964 · Movie
as Nick Charles (archive footage)
Mister Roberts
1955 · Movie
as Doc
How to Marry a Millionaire
1953 · Movie
as J.D. Hanley
The Girl Who Had Everything
1953 · Movie
as Steve Latimer
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
1952 · Movie
as Homer 'Doc' Brown
It's a Big Country
1951 · Movie
as Professor
Take One False Step
1949 · Movie
as Andrew Gentling
Dancing in the Dark
1949 · Movie
as Emery Slade
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
1948 · Movie
as Arthur Peabody
Life with Father
1947 · Movie
as Clarence Day Sr.
Song of the Thin Man
1947 · Movie
as Nick Charles
The Senator Was Indiscreet
1947 · Movie
as Senator Melvin G. Ashton
The Hoodlum Saint
1946 · Movie
as Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
Ziegfeld Follies
1945 · Movie
as Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
The Great Morgan
1945 · Movie
as William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
The Heavenly Body
1944 · Movie
as William S. Whitley
The Thin Man Goes Home
1944 · Movie
as Nick Charles
Twenty Years After
1944 · Movie
as (archive footage)
The Youngest Profession
1943 · Movie
as William Powell
Crossroads
1942 · Movie
as David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier
Love Crazy
1941 · Movie
as Steve Ireland
Shadow of the Thin Man
1941 · Movie
as Nick Charles
I Love You Again
1940 · Movie
as Larry Wilson aka George Carey
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
1940 · Movie
as Self
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
1940 · Movie
as Self
Another Thin Man
1939 · Movie
as Nick Charles
From the Ends of the Earth
1939 · Movie
as Self
The Baroness and the Butler
1938 · Movie
as Johann Porok
Double Wedding
1937 · Movie
as Charles Lodge
The Emperor's Candlesticks
1937 · Movie
as Baron Stephan Wolensky
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
1937 · Movie
as Charles
The Romance of Celluloid
1937 · Movie
as Self (archive footage)
Libeled Lady
1936 · Movie
as Bill Chandler
My Man Godfrey
1936 · Movie
as Godfrey
After the Thin Man
1936 · Movie
as Nick Charles
The Great Ziegfeld
1936 · Movie
as Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
1936 · Movie
as Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford
Reckless
1935 · Movie
as Ned Riley
Rendezvous
1935 · Movie
as Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan
Star of Midnight
1935 · Movie
as Clay Dalzell
Escapade
1935 · Movie
as Fritz
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
1935 · Movie
as Self
The Thin Man
1934 · Movie
as Nick Charles
Manhattan Melodrama
1934 · Movie
as Jim Wade
Evelyn Prentice
1934 · Movie
as John Prentice
The Key
1934 · Movie
as Capt. Bill Tennant
Fashions of 1934
1934 · Movie
as Sherwood Nash
Private Detective 62
1933 · Movie
as Donald Free
The Kennel Murder Case
1933 · Movie
as Philo Vance
Double Harness
1933 · Movie
as John Fletcher
One Way Passage
1932 · Movie
as Dan Hardesty
High Pressure
1932 · Movie
as Gar Evans
Jewel Robbery
1932 · Movie
as The Robber
Lawyer Man
1932 · Movie
as Anton "Tony" Adam
Man of the World
1931 · Movie
as Michael Trevor
The Road to Singapore
1931 · Movie
as Hugh Dawltry
Ladies' Man
1931 · Movie
as Jamie Darricott
The Benson Murder Case
1930 · Movie
as Philo Vance
Street of Chance
1930 · Movie
as John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
Behind the Make-Up
1930 · Movie
as Gardoni
For the Defense
1930 · Movie
as William Foster
Shadow of the Law
1930 · Movie
as Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson
Paramount on Parade
1930 · Movie
as Philo Vance
The Voice of Hollywood
1930 · Movie
The Canary Murder Case
1929 · Movie
as Philo Vance
The Greene Murder Case
1929 · Movie
as Philo Vance
The Four Feathers
1929 · Movie
as Capt. William Trench
Interference
1929 · Movie
as Philip Voaze
Charming Sinners
1929 · Movie
as Karl Kraley
Pointed Heels
1929 · Movie
as Robert Courtland
The Last Command
1928 · Movie
as Lev Andreyev
Feel My Pulse
1928 · Movie
as Her Nemesis
Forgotten Faces
1928 · Movie
as Froggy
Partners in Crime
1928 · Movie
as Smith
The Drag Net
1928 · Movie
as Dapper Frank Trent
The Vanishing Pioneer
1928 · Movie
as John Murdock
Beau Sabreur
1928 · Movie
as Becque
Paid to Love
1927 · Movie
as Prince Eric
Nevada
1927 · Movie
as Clan Dillon
Special Delivery
1927 · Movie
as Harold Jones
Love's Greatest Mistake
1927 · Movie
as Don Kendall
New York
1927 · Movie
as Trent Regan
She's a Sheik
1927 · Movie
as Kada
Time to Love
1927 · Movie
as Prince Alado
Senorita
1927 · Movie
as Manuel Oliveros
Beau Geste
1926 · Movie
as Boldini
The Great Gatsby
1926 · Movie
as George Wilson
The Runaway
1926 · Movie
as Jack Harrison
Aloma of the South Seas
1926 · Movie
as Van Templeton
Sea Horses
1926 · Movie
as Lorenzo Salvia
Desert Gold
1926 · Movie
as Snake Landree
White Mice
1926 · Movie
as Roddy Forrester
Tin Gods
1926 · Movie
as Tony Santelli
Too Many Kisses
1925 · Movie
as Don Julio
The Beautiful City
1925 · Movie
as Nick Di Silva
My Lady's Lips
1925 · Movie
as Scott Seldon
Faint Perfume
1925 · Movie
as Barnaby Powers
Romola
1924 · Movie
as Tito Melema
Dangerous Money
1924 · Movie
as Prince Arnoldo da Pescia
The Bright Shawl
1923 · Movie
as Gaspar De Vaca
Under the Red Robe
1923 · Movie
as Duke of Orleans
Sherlock Holmes
1922 · Movie
as Forman Wells
When Knighthood Was in Flower
1922 · Movie
as Francis I
Outcast
1922 · Movie
as DeValle
