William Powell: Chameleon of Stage & Screen

"Cultivate solitude and quiet and a few sincere friends, rather than mob merriment, noise and thousands of nodding acquaintances." William Powell

William Horatio Powell was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Horatio Warren Powell, an accountant and his wife Nettie Brady Manila on July 29th, 1892.
Young William showed an early interest in performing, much to the chagrin of his father who had hoped he would be interested in a legal career instead.
When the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1907, William attended Central High School where he excelled in the drama and glee clubs, public speaking and cheerleading. I would have never pegged him for a male cheerleader!
Following his graduation he left for New York to enroll at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts which was financed by his aunt Elizabeth who paid $700 for him to attend, considering his father would only agree to pay for law school and nothing else.
William scraped by performing for stock companies and appearing in vaudeville shows.
In 1914 he met Eileen Wilson and the couple married in 1915 and had one son, William David Powell before the union ended in divorce in 1930. William David, plagued by depression and emotional instability would later commit suicide by stabbing himself to death in the shower at the age of 43, how horrifically tragic.
After many successful appearances on Broadway, William was discovered by film director Albert Parker in 1922, scoring a small role in Sherlock Holmes opposite John Barrymore. He was signed to Paramount (although the majority of his career would be with MGM) and was cast in a number of films from When Knighthood Was in Flower, Romola, Aloma of the South Seas to Beau Geste, The Great Gatsby and Special Delivery.
His most memorable role in silent films being that of a bitter film director in the Last Command in 1928, which eventually led to his role as an amateur detective in The Canary Murder Case in 1929.
Powell was seriously getting noticed in Hollywood and in 1930 he starred opposite Carole Lombard in For the Defense, Man of the World and Ladies Man, in 1931.
The pair fell in love and married that same year but divorced only two years later, three years later they starred together in the screwball comedy My Man Godfrey.
They remained friends until her death in 1942.

Reporter: "Say, listen, is he working on a case?"
Nora Charles: "Yes, he is."
Reporter: "What case?"
Nora Charles: "A case of Scotch, pitch in and help him!"

William Powell's most famous role was that of Nick Charles in The Thin Man series opposite Myrna Loy, who played his wife Nora in the films.
The series features a retired private detective and his clever socialite wife who solve crimes and offer peppered witty dialogue and interesting banter whilst doing so.
In 1935 Powell had a very close relationship with actress Jean Harlow after starring with her in Reckless and on Christmas Day in 1936 he proposed to Jean, gifting her with a 150 carat sapphire engagement ring worth $20,000. The engaged couple actually lived next door to one another as children, Jean's name at that time was Harlean Harlow Carpenter.
Despite their obvious love one for the other, the relationship was abruptly cut short upon the untimely death of Harlow in 1937 of uremic poisoning due to kidney disease.
Reportedly a single white gardenia with an unsigned note placed in her hands that read, "Good night, my dearest darling," was from Powell.
He also paid for her final resting place--a $25,000, 9x10 foot private room lined with multicolored imported marble.
Jean is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Between Jean's death and his diagnosis of colon cancer William accepted fewer roles, his career slowed down a bit from 1940-47 and his cancer went into remission.
Powell married actress Diana Lewis, whom he had only known three weeks prior on January 6th, 1940 and continued working most notably filming Life With Father in 1947, How to Marry a Millionaire in 1953 and Mr. Roberts in 1955.
At age 63 William retired from acting, choosing to move to Palm Springs with his wife for rest, relaxation and many glorious years together.
As he approached 90 years of age, his health began to fail, yet mentally he remained as sharp as ever and in good spirits until his death on March 5th, 1984 from cardiac arrest.
He was 91 years of age.
Mr. Powell is interred at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California.

With the sophistication of Fred Astaire and the grittiness of James Cagney, William Powell will be remembered most for his role in the Thin Man series, but also as a chameleon of stage and screen and the portrait of a most esteemed thespian none of us will soon forget.



Sources:
William Powell, IMDB
William Powell,
Find A Grave

Photo Credits:
Flick'r