1892-07-28 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.
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The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell | Self (archive footage) | 2023-02-20 |
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Cinecittà Babilonia: sesso, droga e camicie nere | Self - Actor (archive footage) | 2017-06-14 |
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William Powell: A True Gentleman | 2005-08-02 | |
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Jean Harlow: Platinum Bombshell | Self (archive footage) | 1996-05-20 |
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Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To | (archive footage) | 1990-06-04 |
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James Stewart: A Wonderful Life | Self (archive footage) | 1987-03-13 |
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The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn | Self (archive footage) | 1986-03-09 |
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Going Hollywood: The '30s | (archive footage) | 1984-01-01 |
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Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) | 1983-02-25 |
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It's Showtime | Self (archive footage) | 1976-03-31 |
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That's Entertainment, Part II | (archive footage) | 1976-05-16 |
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? | Self (archive footage) | 1975-08-06 |
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The Big Parade of Comedy | Nick Charles (archive footage) | 1964-09-02 |
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Mister Roberts | Doc | 1955-07-10 |
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How to Marry a Millionaire | J.D. Hanley | 1953-10-29 |
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The Girl Who Had Everything | Steve Latimer | 1953-03-27 |
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The Treasure of Lost Canyon | Homer 'Doc' Brown | 1952-03-01 |
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It's a Big Country | Professor | 1951-11-20 |
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Dancing in the Dark | Emery Slade | 1949-12-02 |
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Take One False Step | Andrew Gentling | 1949-08-14 |
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Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid | Arthur Peabody | 1948-08-11 |
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The Senator Was Indiscreet | Senator Melvin G. Ashton | 1947-12-31 |
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Life with Father | Clarence Day Sr. | 1947-09-13 |
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Song of the Thin Man | Nick Charles | 1947-08-28 |
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The Hoodlum Saint | Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill | 1946-04-04 |
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The Great Morgan | William Powell (voice) (uncredited) | 1945-01-01 |
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Ziegfeld Follies | Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. | 1945-08-26 |
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The Heavenly Body | William S. Whitley | 1944-03-23 |
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The Thin Man Goes Home | Nick Charles | 1944-12-24 |
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Twenty Years After | (archive footage) | 1944-01-01 |
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The Youngest Profession | William Powell | 1943-02-26 |
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Crossroads | David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier | 1942-07-23 |
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Love Crazy | Steve Ireland | 1941-05-23 |
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Shadow of the Thin Man | Nick Charles | 1941-11-21 |
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Hollywood: Style Center of the World | Self | 1940-05-29 |
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I Love You Again | Larry Wilson aka George Carey | 1940-08-09 |
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A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound | Self | 1940-10-24 |
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Another Thin Man | Nick Charles | 1939-11-17 |
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From the Ends of the Earth | Self | 1939-05-28 |
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The Baroness and the Butler | Johann Porok | 1938-02-18 |
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The Last of Mrs. Cheyney | Charles | 1937-02-19 |
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The Romance of Celluloid | Self (archive footage) | 1937-08-27 |
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The Emperor's Candlesticks | Baron Stephan Wolensky | 1937-07-02 |
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Double Wedding | Charles Lodge | 1937-10-15 |
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Libeled Lady | William 'Bill' Stephens Chandler | 1936-10-09 |
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After the Thin Man | Nick Charles | 1936-12-25 |
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The Ex-Mrs. Bradford | Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford | 1936-04-24 |
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The Great Ziegfeld | Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr. | 1936-04-08 |
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My Man Godfrey | Godfrey | 1936-09-02 |
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Rendezvous | Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan | 1935-10-25 |
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Escapade | Fritz | 1935-07-05 |
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Star of Midnight | Clay Dalzell | 1935-04-19 |
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Reckless | Ned Riley | 1935-04-19 |
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La Fiesta de Santa Barbara | Self | 1935-12-07 |
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Fashions of 1934 | Sherwood Nash | 1934-02-14 |
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The Thin Man | Nick Charles | 1934-05-25 |
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The Key | Capt. Bill Tennant | 1934-06-09 |
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Manhattan Melodrama | Jim Wade | 1934-05-04 |
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Evelyn Prentice | John Prentice | 1934-11-09 |
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Double Harness | John Fletcher | 1933-07-21 |
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The Kennel Murder Case | Philo Vance | 1933-10-28 |
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Private Detective 62 | Donald Free | 1933-06-10 |
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High Pressure | Gar Evans | 1932-01-10 |
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Jewel Robbery | The Robber | 1932-07-08 |
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One Way Passage | Dan Hardesty | 1932-10-04 |
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Lawyer Man | Anton "Tony" Adam | 1932-12-24 |
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Ladies' Man | Jamie Darricott | 1931-04-16 |
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The Road to Singapore | Hugh Dawltry | 1931-09-02 |
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Man of the World | Michael Trevor | 1931-03-24 |
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For the Defense | William Foster | 1930-07-19 |
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Paramount on Parade | Philo Vance | 1930-04-22 |
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The Voice of Hollywood | 1930-08-30 | |
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Street of Chance | John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis | 1930-02-08 |
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Shadow of the Law | Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson | 1930-06-06 |
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Behind the Make-Up | Gardoni | 1930-01-18 |
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The Benson Murder Case | Philo Vance | 1930-04-13 |
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Pointed Heels | Robert Courtland | 1929-12-20 |
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The Four Feathers | Capt. William Trench | 1929-06-01 |
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The Canary Murder Case | Philo Vance | 1929-02-16 |
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Charming Sinners | Karl Kraley | 1929-08-17 |
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The Greene Murder Case | Philo Vance | 1929-08-11 |
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The Vanishing Pioneer | John Murdock | 1928-06-23 |
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Beau Sabreur | Becque | 1928-01-22 |
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The Drag Net | Dapper Frank Trent | 1928-05-01 |
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Interference | Philip Voaze | 1928-11-04 |
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Forgotten Faces | Froggy | 1928-08-05 |
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Feel My Pulse | Her Nemesis | 1928-02-26 |
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Partners in Crime | Smith | 1928-03-01 |
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The Last Command | Lev Andreyev | 1928-01-21 |
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Time to Love | Prince Alado | 1927-06-18 |
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She's a Sheik | Kada | 1927-11-12 |
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Love's Greatest Mistake | Don Kendall | 1927-02-20 |
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New York | Trent Regan | 1927-01-30 |
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Paid to Love | Prince Eric | 1927-07-23 |
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Special Delivery | Harold Jones | 1927-05-06 |
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Nevada | Clan Dillon | 1927-08-01 |
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Senorita | Manuel Oliveros | 1927-04-01 |
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The Runaway | Jack Harrison | 1926-04-04 |
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The Great Gatsby | George Wilson | 1926-11-21 |
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Beau Geste | Boldini | 1926-08-24 |
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Aloma of the South Seas | Van Templeton | 1926-05-15 |
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Sea Horses | Lorenzo Salvia | 1926-02-22 |
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White Mice | Roddy Forrester | 1926-01-31 |
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Tin Gods | Tony Santelli | 1926-09-19 |
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Desert Gold | Snake Landree | 1926-03-22 |
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Too Many Kisses | Don Julio | 1925-01-11 |
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My Lady's Lips | Scott Seldon | 1925-07-01 |
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The Beautiful City | Nick Di Silva | 1925-10-25 |
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Faint Perfume | Barnaby Powers | 1925-06-08 |
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Romola | Tito Melema | 1924-12-06 |
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Dangerous Money | Prince Arnoldo da Pescia | 1924-10-13 |
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The Bright Shawl | Gaspar De Vaca | 1923-04-22 |
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Under the Red Robe | Duke of Orleans | 1923-11-12 |
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Outcast | DeValle | 1922-12-07 |
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When Knighthood Was in Flower | Francis I | 1922-09-15 |
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Sherlock Holmes | Forman Wells | 1922-03-07 |
