William Powell
Acting
Born: July 29, 1892 · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Died: March 5, 1984 (aged 91)
Highest Rated
Biography
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.
Known for
How to Marry a Millionaire
1953
The Thin Man
1934
My Man Godfrey
1936
After the Thin Man
1936
Mister Roberts
1955
The Great Ziegfeld
1936
Another Thin Man
1939
Libeled Lady
1936
Shadow of the Thin Man
1941
The Thin Man Goes Home
1944
Song of the Thin Man
1947
The Last Command
1928
Photos (6)
Movies (105)
How to Marry a Millionaire
J.D. Hanley
The Thin Man
Nick Charles
The Last Command
Lev Andreyev
After the Thin Man
Nick Charles
Mister Roberts
Doc
My Man Godfrey
Godfrey
Libeled Lady
Bill Chandler
Song of the Thin Man
Nick Charles
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Baron Stephan Wolensky
Evelyn Prentice
John Prentice
The Baroness and the Butler
Johann Porok
The Great Ziegfeld
Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.
I Love You Again
Larry Wilson aka George Carey
Ziegfeld Follies
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
Charming Sinners
Karl Kraley
Another Thin Man
Nick Charles
Paramount on Parade
Philo Vance
Life with Father
Clarence Day Sr.
Shadow of the Thin Man
Nick Charles
Romola
Tito Melema
Manhattan Melodrama
Jim Wade
Love Crazy
Steve Ireland
The Thin Man Goes Home
Nick Charles
One Way Passage
Dan Hardesty
The Hoodlum Saint
Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
New York
Trent Regan
That's Entertainment, Part II
(archive footage)
Twenty Years After
(archive footage)
Lawyer Man
Anton "Tony" Adam
Special Delivery
Harold Jones
The Big Parade of Comedy
Nick Charles (archive footage)
The Road to Singapore
Hugh Dawltry
The Youngest Profession
William Powell
Jewel Robbery
The Robber
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Arthur Peabody
Pointed Heels
Robert Courtland
Double Harness
John Fletcher
It's a Big Country
Professor
The Kennel Murder Case
Philo Vance
Double Wedding
Charles Lodge
Reckless
Ned Riley
Private Detective 62
Donald Free
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford
Outcast
DeValle
Dancing in the Dark
Emery Slade
The Heavenly Body
William S. Whitley
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Charles
Take One False Step
Andrew Gentling
Senorita
Manuel Oliveros
My Lady's Lips
Scott Seldon
Rendezvous
Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan
The Girl Who Had Everything
Steve Latimer
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
Homer 'Doc' Brown
White Mice
Roddy Forrester
The Bright Shawl
Gaspar De Vaca
Beau Geste
Boldini
The Great Gatsby
George Wilson
Fashions of 1934
Sherwood Nash
Desert Gold
Snake Landree
The Canary Murder Case
Philo Vance
Discovering Jean Harlow
archive footage
The Great Morgan
William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
Man of the World
Michael Trevor
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
(archive footage)
The Four Feathers
Capt. William Trench
The Senator Was Indiscreet
Senator Melvin G. Ashton
Star of Midnight
Clay Dalzell
Beau Sabreur
Becque
Sherlock Holmes
Forman Wells
The Voice of Hollywood
1930
Crossroads
David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier
Time to Love
Prince Alado
When Knighthood Was in Flower
Francis I
The Key
Capt. Bill Tennant
Ladies' Man
Jamie Darricott
Going Hollywood: The '30s
(archive footage)
The Drag Net
Dapper Frank Trent
Shadow of the Law
Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson
The Greene Murder Case
Philo Vance
Paid to Love
Prince Eric
Interference
Philip Voaze
Sea Horses
Lorenzo Salvia
For the Defense
William Foster
The Runaway
Jack Harrison
She's a Sheik
Kada
Street of Chance
John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
Forgotten Faces
Froggy
The Benson Murder Case
Philo Vance
Tin Gods
Tony Santelli
Escapade
Fritz
High Pressure
Gar Evans
Behind the Make-Up
Gardoni
Under the Red Robe
Duke of Orleans
Dangerous Money
Prince Arnoldo da Pescia
Too Many Kisses
Don Julio
The Beautiful City
Nick Di Silva
Feel My Pulse
Her Nemesis
Faint Perfume
Barnaby Powers
Aloma of the South Seas
Van Templeton
Partners in Crime
Smith
The Vanishing Pioneer
John Murdock
William Powell: A True Gentleman
2005
Nevada
Clan Dillon
Love's Greatest Mistake
Don Kendall
Alias Nick and Nora
2005
Self / Appearances (14)
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Self (archive footage)
It's Showtime
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
Self
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
Self
The Romance of Celluloid
Self (archive footage)
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
Self (archive footage)
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
Self
Jean Harlow: Platinum Bombshell
Self (archive footage)
From the Ends of the Earth
Self
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
Self - Actor (archive footage)
The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
Self (archive footage)