William Powell
Known for: Acting
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
Film
How to Marry a Millionaire
J.D. Hanley
1953
Film
The Baroness and the Butler
Johann Porok
1938
Film
The Thin Man
Nick Charles
1934
Film
Libeled Lady
Bill Chandler
1936
Film
Mister Roberts
Doc
1955
Film
Evelyn Prentice
John Prentice
1934
Film
My Man Godfrey
Godfrey
1936
Film
The Great Ziegfeld
Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.
1936
Film
Charming Sinners
Karl Kraley
1929
Film
After the Thin Man
Nick Charles
1936
Film
Ziegfeld Follies
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
1945
Film
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
1976
Film
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
1987
Film
Life with Father
Clarence Day Sr.
1947
Film
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
1975
Film
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Baron Stephan Wolensky
1937
Film
It's Showtime
Self (archive footage)
1976
Film
I Love You Again
Larry Wilson aka George Carey
1940
Film
Another Thin Man
Nick Charles
1939
Film
Shadow of the Thin Man
Nick Charles
1941
Film
Manhattan Melodrama
Jim Wade
1934
Film
New York
Trent Regan
1927
Film
The Youngest Profession
William Powell
1943
Film
Love Crazy
Steve Ireland
1941
Film
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Self
1935
Film
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
Film
Twenty Years After
(archive footage)
1944
Film
The Romance of Celluloid
Self (archive footage)
1937
Film
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
1995
Film
The Big Parade of Comedy
Nick Charles (archive footage)
1964
Film
Romola
Tito Melema
1924
Film
Desert Gold
Snake Landree
1926
Film
White Mice
Roddy Forrester
1926
Film
Crossroads
David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier
1942
Film
It's a Big Country
Professor
1951
Film
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
1940
Film
Going Hollywood: The '30s
(archive footage)
1984
Film
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Arthur Peabody
1948
Film
Senorita
Manuel Oliveros
1927
Film
Song of the Thin Man
Nick Charles
1947
Film
Special Delivery
Harold Jones
1927
Film
The Thin Man Goes Home
Nick Charles
1944
Film
Outcast
DeValle
1922
Film
For the Defense
William Foster
1930
Film
Private Detective 62
Donald Free
1933
Film
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
Self - Actor (archive footage)
2017
Film
Double Wedding
Charles Lodge
1937
Film
The Kennel Murder Case
Philo Vance
1933
Film
Paramount on Parade
Philo Vance
1930
Film
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Self (archive footage)
1986
Film
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
Homer 'Doc' Brown
1952
Film
Pointed Heels
Robert Courtland
1929
Film
Jean Harlow: Platinum Bombshell
Self (archive footage)
1996
Film
The Last Command
Lev Andreyev
1928
Film
The Girl Who Had Everything
Steve Latimer
1953
Film
Fashions of 1934
Sherwood Nash
1934
Film
Sherlock Holmes
Forman Wells
1922
Film
The Heavenly Body
William S. Whitley
1944
Film
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
(archive footage)
1990
Film
One Way Passage
Dan Hardesty
1932
Film
The Hoodlum Saint
Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
1946
Film
Rendezvous
Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan
1935
Film
Jewel Robbery
The Robber
1932
Film
Forgotten Faces
Froggy
1928
Film
From the Ends of the Earth
Self
1939
Film
Reckless
Ned Riley
1935
Film
William Powell: A True Gentleman
2005
Film
Shadow of the Law
Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson
1930
Film
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Charles
1937
Film
Take One False Step
Andrew Gentling
1949
Film
Lawyer Man
Anton "Tony" Adam
1932
Film
The Road to Singapore
Hugh Dawltry
1931
Film
Dancing in the Dark
Emery Slade
1949
Film
When Knighthood Was in Flower
Francis I
1922
Film
Time to Love
Prince Alado
1927
Film
Double Harness
John Fletcher
1933
Film
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford
1936
Film
My Lady's Lips
Scott Seldon
1925
Film
Star of Midnight
Clay Dalzell
1935
Film
The Bright Shawl
Gaspar De Vaca
1923
Film
The Beautiful City
Nick Di Silva
1925
Film
The Great Gatsby
George Wilson
1926
Film
The Great Morgan
William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
1945
Film
The Canary Murder Case
Philo Vance
1929
Film
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
1940
Film
The Greene Murder Case
Philo Vance
1929
Film
Discovering Jean Harlow
archive footage
2015
Film
Behind the Make-Up
Gardoni
1930
Film
Man of the World
Michael Trevor
1931
Film
The Benson Murder Case
Philo Vance
1930
Film
Partners in Crime
Smith
1928
Film
The Vanishing Pioneer
John Murdock
1928
Film
Dangerous Money
Prince Arnoldo da Pescia
1924
Film
The Four Feathers
Capt. William Trench
1929
Film
Paid to Love
Prince Eric
1927
Film
Too Many Kisses
Don Julio
1925
Film
Interference
Philip Voaze
1929
Film
The Voice of Hollywood
1930
Film
Beau Geste
Boldini
1926
Film
Nevada
Clan Dillon
1927
Film
Tin Gods
Tony Santelli
1926
Film
High Pressure
Gar Evans
1932
Two Tragic Blondes - Marilyn Monroe And Jean Harlow
Self (archive footage)
1989
Film
Street of Chance
John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
1930
Film
The Key
Capt. Bill Tennant
1934
Film
Feel My Pulse
Her Nemesis
1928
Film
The Senator Was Indiscreet
Senator Melvin G. Ashton
1947
Film
The Drag Net
Dapper Frank Trent
1928
Film
The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
Self (archive footage)
2023
Film
Love's Greatest Mistake
Don Kendall
1927
Film
Sea Horses
Lorenzo Salvia
1926
Film
She's a Sheik
Kada
1927
Film
Aloma of the South Seas
Van Templeton
1926
Film
Faint Perfume
Barnaby Powers
1925
Film
Escapade
Fritz
1935
Film
Under the Red Robe
Duke of Orleans
1923
Film
Ladies' Man
Jamie Darricott
1931
Film
The Runaway
Jack Harrison
1926
Film
Beau Sabreur
Becque
1928