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.
119 movies
The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
2023·0.0
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
2017·6.5
Discovering Jean Harlow
2015·10.0
William Powell: A True Gentleman
2005·7.5
Jean Harlow: Platinum Bombshell
1996·0.0
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
1995·8.0
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
1990·8.5
Two Tragic Blondes - Marilyn Monroe And Jean Harlow
1989·9.0
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1987·6.5
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
1986·8.3
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984·9.0
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983·7.0
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976·7.0
It's Showtime
1976·7.5
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975·6.3
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964·7.2
Mister Roberts
1955·7.0
How to Marry a Millionaire
1953·6.8
The Girl Who Had Everything
1953·6.2
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
1952·6.0
It's a Big Country
1951·5.9
Dancing in the Dark
1949·6.0
Take One False Step
1949·5.4
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
1948·6.6
The Senator Was Indiscreet
1947·6.2
Life with Father
1947·6.7
Song of the Thin Man
1947·6.7
The Hoodlum Saint
1946·5.5
Ziegfeld Follies
1945·6.0
The Great Morgan
1945·6.0
The Thin Man Goes Home
1944·7.1
The Heavenly Body
1944·5.6
Twenty Years After
1944·8.0
The Youngest Profession
1943·5.0
Crossroads
1942·5.9
Shadow of the Thin Man
1941·7.0
Love Crazy
1941·6.8
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
1940·6.8
I Love You Again
1940·7.2
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
1940·5.8
Another Thin Man
1939·7.1
From the Ends of the Earth
1939·5.0
The Baroness and the Butler
1938·5.3
Double Wedding
1937·6.4
The Romance of Celluloid
1937·7.0
The Emperor's Candlesticks
1937·4.9
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
1937·5.9
After the Thin Man
1936·7.3
Libeled Lady
1936·7.3
My Man Godfrey
1936·7.6
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
1936·6.2
The Great Ziegfeld
1936·6.3
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
1935·6.1
Rendezvous
1935·4.9
Escapade
1935·8.0
Reckless
1935·5.1
Star of Midnight
1935·5.9
Evelyn Prentice
1934·6.5
The Key
1934·4.9
The Thin Man
1934·7.5
Manhattan Melodrama
1934·7.0
Fashions of 1934
1934·6.6
The Kennel Murder Case
1933·6.1
Double Harness
1933·6.5
Private Detective 62
1933·6.2
Lawyer Man
1932·6.1
One Way Passage
1932·7.4
Jewel Robbery
1932·6.5
High Pressure
1932·5.8
The Road to Singapore
1931·5.6
Ladies' Man
1931·4.6
Man of the World
1931·6.2
The Voice of Hollywood
1930·0.0
For the Defense
1930·5.3
Shadow of the Law
1930·6.7
Paramount on Parade
1930·6.1
The Benson Murder Case
1930·5.9
Street of Chance
1930·6.8
Behind the Make-Up
1930·6.8
Pointed Heels
1929·6.4
Charming Sinners
1929·7.5
The Greene Murder Case
1929·6.0
The Four Feathers
1929·5.0
The Canary Murder Case
1929·5.7
Interference
1929·7.6
Forgotten Faces
1928·7.0
The Vanishing Pioneer
1928·9.0
The Drag Net
1928·6.5
Partners in Crime
1928·6.0
Feel My Pulse
1928·6.6
Beau Sabreur
1928·9.0
The Last Command
1928·7.4
She's a Sheik
1927·8.0
Nevada
1927·7.0
Paid to Love
1927·6.5
Time to Love
1927·10.0
Special Delivery
1927·6.0
Senorita
1927·8.0
Love's Greatest Mistake
1927·9.0
New York
1927·9.0
The Great Gatsby
1926·9.0
Tin Gods
1926·9.0
Beau Geste
1926·6.4
Aloma of the South Seas
1926·8.0
The Runaway
1926·10.0
Desert Gold
1926·8.0
Sea Horses
1926·9.0
White Mice
1926·7.0
The Beautiful City
1925·9.0
My Lady's Lips
1925·10.0
Faint Perfume
1925·7.0
Too Many Kisses
1925·5.9
Romola
1924·6.7
Dangerous Money
1924·9.0
Under the Red Robe
1923·6.0
The Bright Shawl
1923·7.0
Outcast
1922·3.0
When Knighthood Was in Flower
1922·5.8
Sherlock Holmes
1922·6.1