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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
July 28, 1892
Died
March 5, 1984
Place of Birth
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Also Known As
- William H. Powell
- Уильям Пауэлл
- ویلیام پاول
William Powell
0.6 Popularity
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
0.0
self
The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
2023
6.5
Self - Actor (archive footage)
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
2017
7.5
William Powell: A True Gentleman
2005
8.5
Self (archive footage)
Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
1993
9.0
(archive footage)
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
1990
6.0
Self (archive footage)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1988
0.0
Self (archive footage)
Platinum Bombshell
1987
8.0
Self (archive footage)
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
1986
10.0
(archive footage)
Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984
6.5
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
1983
Credits
The Love Story of Jean Harlow and William Powell
as self
2023
0.0
Cinecittà Babilonia: Sex, Drugs and Black Shirts
as Self - Actor (archive footage)
2017
6.5
William Powell: A True Gentleman
2005
7.5
Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell
as Self (archive footage)
1993
8.5
Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To
as (archive footage)
1990
9.0
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
as Self (archive footage)
1988
6.0
Platinum Bombshell
as Self (archive footage)
1987
0.0
The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn
as Self (archive footage)
1986
8.0
Going Hollywood: The '30s
as (archive footage)
1984
10.0
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1983
6.5
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
1976
6.9
It's Showtime
as Self (archive footage)
1976
7.0
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
as Self (archive footage)
1975
5.7
The Big Parade of Comedy
as Nick Charles (archive footage)
1964
6.3
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
as Jim Wade (archive footage) (uncredited)
1961
3.3
Mister Roberts
as Doc
1955
7.0
How to Marry a Millionaire
as J.D. Hanley
1953
6.8
The Girl Who Had Everything
as Steve Latimer
1953
5.8
The Treasure of Lost Canyon
as Homer 'Doc' Brown
1952
5.6
It's a Big Country
as Professor
1951
5.3
Dancing in the Dark
as Emery Slade
1949
5.0
Take One False Step
as Andrew Gentling
1949
5.5
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
as Mr. Peabody
1948
6.4
The Senator Was Indiscreet
as Senator Melvin G. Ashton
1947
5.4
Life with Father
as Clarence Day Sr.
1947
6.6
Song of the Thin Man
as Nick Charles
1947
6.8
The Hoodlum Saint
as Terence Ellerton 'Terry' O'Neill
1946
5.2
Ziegfeld Follies
as Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
1945
6.0
The Great Morgan
as William Powell (voice) (uncredited)
1945
5.5
The Thin Man Goes Home
as Nick Charles
1944
7.1
The Heavenly Body
as William S. Whitley
1944
5.7
Twenty Years After
as (archive footage)
1944
6.0
The Youngest Profession
as William Powell
1943
5.2
Crossroads
as David Talbot aka Jean Pelletier
1942
5.9
Shadow of the Thin Man
as Nick Charles
1941
7.0
Love Crazy
as Steve Ireland
1941
7.1
A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound
as Self
1940
6.7
I Love You Again
as Larry Wilson aka George Carey
1940
7.2
Hollywood: Style Center of the World
as Self
1940
5.5
Another Thin Man
as Nick Charles
1939
7.1
🎬
From the Ends of the Earth
as Self
1939
0.0
The Baroness and the Butler
as Johann Porok
1938
5.2
Double Wedding
as Charles Lodge
1937
6.6
The Romance of Celluloid
as Self (archive footage)
1937
7.0
The Emperor's Candlesticks
as Baron Stephan Wolensky
1937
5.2
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
as Charles
1937
6.0
After the Thin Man
as Nick Charles
1936
7.3
Libeled Lady
as William 'Bill' Stephens Chandler
1936
7.3
My Man Godfrey
as Godfrey
1936
7.6
The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
as Dr. Lawrence 'Brad' Bradford
1936
6.2
The Great Ziegfeld
as Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr.
1936
6.3
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
as Self
1935
5.9
Rendezvous
as Lt. William 'Bill' Gordon / Anson Meridan
1935
4.8
Escapade
as Fritz
1935
0.0
Reckless
as Ned Riley
1935
5.3
Star of Midnight
as Clay Dalzell
1935
6.0
Evelyn Prentice
as John Prentice
1934
6.7
The Key
as Capt. Bill Tennant
1934
4.9
The Thin Man
as Nick Charles
1934
7.5
Manhattan Melodrama
as Jim Wade
1934
7.0
Fashions of 1934
as Sherwood Nash
1934
6.4
The Kennel Murder Case
as Philo Vance
1933
6.1
Double Harness
as John Fletcher
1933
6.7
Private Detective 62
as Donald Free
1933
6.1
Lawyer Man
as Anton Adam
1932
5.8
One Way Passage
as Dan Hardesty
1932
7.3
Jewel Robbery
as The Robber
1932
6.5
High Pressure
as Gar Evans
1932
6.0
The Road to Singapore
as Hugh Dawltry
1931
5.6
Ladies' Man
as Jamie Darricott
1931
4.3
Man of the World
as Michael Trevor
1931
5.9
🎬
The Voice of Hollywood
1930
0.0
For the Defense
as William Foster
1930
4.8
Shadow of the Law
as Jim Montgomery aka John Nelson
1930
6.4
Paramount on Parade
as Philo Vance
1930
6.1
The Benson Murder Case
as Philo Vance
1930
5.8
Street of Chance
as John D. Marsden / 'Natural' Davis
1930
6.6
Behind the Make-Up
as Gardoni
1930
6.2
Pointed Heels
as Robert Courtland
1929
7.2
Charming Sinners
as Karl Kraley
1929
0.0
The Greene Murder Case
as Philo Vance
1929
5.8
The Four Feathers
as Capt. William Trench
1929
4.4
The Canary Murder Case
as Philo Vance
1929
5.6
Interference
as Philip Voaze
1928
8.0
Forgotten Faces
as Froggy
1928
0.0
The Vanishing Pioneer
as John Murdock
1928
0.0
The Drag Net
as Dapper Frank Trent
1928
6.0
Partners in Crime
as Smith
1928
2.0
Feel My Pulse
as Her Nemesis
1928
6.0
Beau Sabreur
as Becque
1928
0.0
The Last Command
as Lev Andreyev
1928
7.3
She's a Sheik
as Kada
1927
0.0
Nevada
as Clan Dillon
1927
6.0
Paid to Love
as Prince Eric
1927
6.0
Time to Love
as Prince Alado
1927
0.0
Special Delivery
as Harold Jones
1927
6.0
Senorita
as Manuel Oliveros
1927
0.0
Love's Greatest Mistake
as Don Kendall
1927
0.0
New York
as Trent Regan
1927
0.0
The Great Gatsby
as George Wilson
1926
0.0
Tin Gods
as Tony Santelli
1926
0.0
Beau Geste
as Boldini
1926
6.0
Aloma of the South Seas
as Van Templeton
1926
0.0
The Runaway
as Jack Harrison
1926
0.0
Desert Gold
as Snake Landree
1926
0.0
Sea Horses
as Lorenzo Salvia
1926
0.0
White Mice
as Roddy Forrester
1926
0.0
The Beautiful City
as Nick Di Silva
1925
0.0
My Lady's Lips
as Scott Seldon
1925
0.0
Faint Perfume
as Barnaby Powers
1925
0.0
Too Many Kisses
as Don Julio
1925
5.5
Romola
as Tito Melema
1924
6.3
Dangerous Money
as Prince Arnoldo da Pescia
1924
0.0
Under the Red Robe
as Duke of Orleans
1923
5.0
The Bright Shawl
as Gaspar De Vaca
1923
0.0
Outcast
as DeValle
1922
1.0
When Knighthood Was in Flower
as Francis I
1922
5.7
Sherlock Holmes
as Forman Wells
1922
6.1