William Powell
Date of Birth: 29 Jul 1892
Country: USA
Biography: A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles. He 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).
Total Credits at Criticker: 96 (Actor)
Biography submitted by Antares and picture by driscarpin
Find more information about William Powell at The Internet Movie Database
Titles you haven't rated - Actor (96)
A scatterbrained socialite hires a vagrant as a family butler...but there's more to Godfrey than meets the eye. (imdb)
Warren Haggerty is the chief editor of the New York Evening Star. He keeps on delaying his marriage... (imdb)
Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process. (imdb)
Comedy-mystery featuring Nick and Nora Charles: a former detective and his rich, playful wife. They solve a murder case mostly for the fun of it. (imdb)
A financier from New York rules his numerous family, consisting of his wife and his four sons, with the meticulousity of a bookkeeper. (imdb)
A dancer disappears from a theather and then William Powell and society beauty Ginger Rogers solve the murder. (imdb)
Comedy-drama about life on a not particularly important ship of the US Navy during WW2. (imdb)
Selma asks Nick to find her missing husband. He had been seeing a bit on the side, and blackmailing a local criminal. David Graham claims he paid the missing husband to get rid of a former girlfriend. Will Nick locate him ? (imdb)
In this adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's "The Farewell Murder", Nick and Nora (and their dog Asta) visit the estate of Col. MacFay, who is being threatened by a mysterious man wanting revenge for a past injustice. When MacFay is murdered, that man is the obvious suspect- maybe too obvious... (imdb)
Nick and Nora Charles are looking forward to a day of leisure, but when they make a trip to the race track, they learn that a jockey, who was recently accused of throwing a race, has just been found shot to death... (imdb)
Nick and Nora Charles are attending a charity benefit aboard a gambling ship. The festive atmosphere conceals many tensions among those connected with the ship, with most of the friction centering around Tommy Drake, its unpopular, spiteful band-leader... (imdb)
While alone on a cruise, upstanding, teetotal - and mean - Larry Wilson receives a blow on the head, causing him to revert to his old, forgotten, persona of man-about-town and swindler George Carey. Deciding to get what he can out of his position as Wilson he returns to his hometown to continue the pretence. The only trouble is he takes a serious shine to his wife Kay, and doesn't at all agree that Larry should be letting her go. (imdb)
A decorated, aristocratic Czarist General is reduced to penury after the collapse of Imperial Russia. An old adversary, now a successful director hires the general to re-enact the revolution which deposed him. (imdb)
This 1922 production was at the time the most expensive picture ever made. It was also a major box-office hit. Marion Davies plays Mary Tudor, intended bride of old Louis of France. (IMDB Comments)
The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld looks down from heaven and ordains a new revue in his grand old style. (imdb)
At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, sideshow barker Flo Ziegfeld turns the tables on his more successful neighbor Billings, and steals his girlfriend to boot. This pattern is repeated throughout their lives, as Ziegfeld makes and loses many fortunes putting on ever bigger, more spectacular shows... (imdb)
Sherwood Nash is a swindler who bootlegs Paris fashions for sale at cut-rate prices. His assistant Lynn poses as An American interested in a dress and Snap conceals a camera in his cane. When they try to steal the latest Baroque designs hidden cameras capture them. Threat and counterthreat lead to the suggestion of putting on a legitimate show. (imdb)
A young American girl visits Paris accompanied by her fiancee and her wealthy uncle. There she meets and is romanced by a worldly novelist; what she doesn't know is that he is a blackmailer who is using her to get to her uncle. (imdb)
Archer Coe has been found dead in his locked bedroom. The cops consider it suicide, but Philo believes otherwise. When the Coroner shows up, he finds that Archer had been hit with a blunt object, stabbed and shot - making suicide unlikely. When the evidence points to his brother, Brisbane is found stabbed to death in the closet. (imdb)
Nick and Nora head to Nick's hometown of Sycamore Springs to spend some time with his parents. His father, a prominent local physician, was always a bit disappointed with Nick's choice of profession in particular and his lifestyle in general. With Nick's arrival however the towns folk, including several of the local criminal element, are convinced that he must be there on a case... (imdb)
Steve and Susan Ireland are about to celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary by re-enacting their first date. When Susan's meddling mother interrupts and injures herself. Steve is left to take care of her and when he meets an old flame in the elevator--Susan's mother takes the opportunity to break-up their marriage. She convinces Susan that Steve is cheating on her-Susan files for divorce. Steve has one solution to save his marriage...Pretend he is insane. (imdb)
Two sisters of differing temperaments, the younger's milquetoast fiancé, and a free spirited artist in an auto trailer have romantic complications in this screwball comedy. (imdb)
The neglected wife of a high profile attorney dallies with a unscrupulous womanizer and finds herself involved in blackmail and murder. (imdb)
The friendship between two orphans endures even though they grow up on opposite sides of the law and fall in love with the same woman. (imdb)
Joan Ames is slowly dying as a result of illness. She's determined to have one last good time on a holiday cruise. She meets good-natured criminal Dan Hardesty who is being transported back to the USA to face execution. A romance develops between them in what could be their last days alive without either one revealing their secret. (imdb)
A former reporter comes back home after serving in the army during World War I and finds that it's much more difficult to find work than he expected. Desperate, one day he crashes a wedding attended by many of the city's rich and powerful, meets a beautiful girl named Kay who turns out to be his ticket to meeting those rich and powerful people, and he soon manages to land a job on a newspaper. He receives a rude awakening when the stock market crashes in 1929. (imdb)
A woman (Harding) tricks a playboy (Powell) into marrying her and then tries to make him legitimately fall in love with her. (imdb)
The story, told in eight episodes, covers different facets of the American Spirit, from racial and religious tolerance to the dangers of self-centeredness and myopic reasoning. The parables represent a broad cross-section of the American experience: the elderly woman whose pride is injured when she's forgotten in the latest census; the novice minister more pleased with the sound of his own voice than with the needs of his congregation; and more... (imdb)
An ex-married couple investigate a murder in the 'Thin Man' manner. (imdb)
Sherlock Holmes is asked by his friend Watson to help Prince Alexis clear himself of charges of a theft he did not commit. He is able to do so, but not until years later does Holmes trap the real culprit, Professor Moriarty, and his agents in their attempts to blackmail Prince Alexis. He also finds love with Alice Faulkner. (TCM.com)
Male Polish secret agent and female Russian secret police spy smuggle messages to Petersburg in candlesticks and while chasing after stolen candlesticks discover each other's identity and fall in love. (imdb)
A gentleman thief charms a Viennese baron's wife and also conducts a daring daylight robbery of a jewelers. (imdb)
A chic jewel thief in England falls in love with one of her marks. (TCM.com)
As told to a psychiatrist: Mr. Peabody, middle-aged Bostonian on vacation with his wife in the Caribbean, hears mysterious, wordless singing on an uninhabited rock in the bay. Fishing in the vicinity, he catches...a mermaid. He takes her home and, though she has no spoken language, falls in love with her. Of course, his wife won't believe that thing in the bathtub is anything but a large fish. Predictable complications follow in rather tame fashion. (imdb)
In 1917 Lt. Bill Gordon is headed for France when he meets and becomes friendly with Joel Carter, niece of the Asst. Secretary of War. Finding out that he is an expert on codes, she gets her uncle to cancel Bill's orders and has him reassigned to break enemy codes. In his new assignment he becomes involved with beautiful Russian spy Olivia Karloff, who is working for the Germans, and must juggle Joel's affection and his pursuit of Karloff's connections to retrieve a stolen code book. (imdb)
Dim-witted blowhard, Melvin G. Ashton, is a US Senator who wants to be President. He hires Lew Gibson, a talented PR man who gets Ashton in newsreels and on the front page, never thinking he'll win. But Ashton has a secret weapon: a diary documenting every shady deal his party's made for 35 years. With the diary, he blackmails the party leaders to support his candidacy, and he's on his way to the nomination... (imdb)
A musical revue that basically has Paramount stars and contract-players doing things some had never done on screen, and wouldn't again; such as Ruth Chatteron , in a French-café setting singing "My Marine" to a group of U. S. Marines, including Stuart Eriwn, Stanley Smith and Frederic March; Buddy Rogers doing a song-duet with Lillian Roth called "Any Time's the Time to Fall in Love", on a cuckoo-clock set; and Clara Bow singing and dancing in "The Red Head" number to a group of sailors. (imdb)
An astronomer's neglected wife takes up astrology and a handsome astrologer. (TCM.com)
Attorney's daughter falls for one of his gangster clients. (imdb)
Michael "Beau" Geste leaves England in disgrace and joins the infamous French Foreign Legion. He is reunited with his two brothers in North Africa, where they face greater danger from their own sadistic commander than from the rebellious Arabs. (imdb)
A beautiful showgirl, name "the Canary" is a scheming nightclub singer. Blackmailing is her game and with that she ends up dead. But who killed "the Canary". All the suspects knew and were used by her and everyone had a motive to see her dead. The only witness to the crime has also been 'rubbed out'. Only one man, the keen, fascinating, debonair detective Philo Vance, would be able to figure out who is the killer. (imdb)
Gar Evans is a con artist, who pretents to be the owner of a "Golden Gate Artificial Rubber Company", and he is looking for investors. Finding them is relatively easy, but it becomes difficult when those want to see the inventor of the synthetic rubber. (imdb)
Idealistic attorney Anton Adam makes headlines when he successfully prosecutes a prominent New York racketeer named Gilmurry. Adam's sudden renown attracts the attention of high-profile legal eagle Granville Bentley, who asks Adam to become a partner in his law firm. But Adam's rising career takes a nosedive when he's framed by Gilmurry and a sexy actress in a trumped-up breach of promise suit. The only constant in Adam's life is the loyalty and unrequited love of his secretary Olga. (imdb)
A private eye in Paris falls for the beautiful gambling lady he''s investigating. (TCM.com)
Charles Abbott is a wealthy adventurer in Cuba of the 1850s. He is in love with Narcissa but goes after La Clavel to obtain information on the Spanish. He becomes implicated in the death of his friend Escobar, brother of Narcissa. (imdb)
Joan Lyons and her friend Patricia Drew are autograph hounds spending most of their day bumping into, and having tea, with the likes of Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Based on misinformation from a meddling old-maid governess, Miss Featherstone, Joan also devotes some time to working on the no-problem marriage of her parents to the extent of hiring Dr. Hercules, the strong man from a side show to pay attention to her mother in order to make her father jealous, despite the good advice received (imdb)
A Butler (Powell) gets elected to the Hungarian parliament where he opposes his master's government. (imdb)
A ruthless, crooked stockbroker is murdered at his luxurious country estate, and detective Philo Vance just happens to be there; he decides to find out who killed him. (imdb)
Powell stars as sophisticated detective Philo Vance, who is brought in to investigate the killing of multi-millionaire Tobias Greene. Vance brings together a handful of likely suspects, but it soon becomes apparent he hasn't found the guilty party when all nine of the possible candidates also wind up dead. Vance starts taking a closer look at Greene's mourning family -- as well as the circumstances under which he earned his fortune. (allmovie.com)
Prof. Andrew Gentling, in Los Angeles to help found a new college, is inveigled by old flame Catherine Sykes into a midnight drive. Next day Catherine is missing, believed killed; friend Martha convinces Andrew that he's a prime suspect and should investigate before he's arrested. But this only puts Andrew in a more deadly kind of danger. (imdb)
An American banker goes to a small Balkan country looking to invest his bank's money and shore up the country's weak economy in order to maximize the return on their investment. Towards that end he befriends the country's king and they come up with a scheme to get the Crown Prince married, a prospect not particularly appealing to the Crown Prince--until he sees the beautiful cabaret dancer the pair has picked for him to marry. (imdb)
Conceited actor Emery Slade, on a mission to recruit a Broadway star for Fox, picks unknown Julie Clarke instead. (imdb)
This was the third screen version of A.E.W. Mason's oft-filmed novel about one soldier's triumph over cowardice and was the last rendering during the silent era. Here, Richard Arlen stars as Harry Faversham, the British officer who resigns rather than fight against rebels in Egypt. (allrovi.com)
Young David, orphaned en route to California, falls into the hands of medicine-show rascal Baltimore Dan. Years later, now a trained thief, he's adopted by eccentric 'Doc' Brown, retired miner and pharmacist. Doc and David become fast friends in their scenic outdoor rambles. But when they discover a hidden treasure, the idyllic interlude gives way to more troubles and a strange coincidence. (imdb)
A rich playboy cannot hide his reputation when he falls in love with a married woman.
Gardoni, a down-on-his-luck vaudeville performer, is taken in by a fellow performer, a clown who has a bicycle riding act. Gardoni shows his appreciation by stealing the clown's act and his girlfriend, whom he marries. (imdb)
Charming Sinners was a stilted adaptation of Somerset Maugham's play The Constant Wife. Robert Miles (Clive Brook) starts the ball rolling when he falls in love with Anne-Marie Whitley (Mary Nolan), the best friend of his own wife Kathryn (Ruth Chatterton). In retaliation, Kathryn begins a flirtation with her former boyfriend Karl Kraley (William Powell). After reels and reels of verbal fencing, the status quo is re-established, and Robert and Kathryn are reunited. (imdb)
A rich but hypochondriac heiress inherits a sanitarium. What she doesn't know is that it is a front for bootleggers, and a hideout for criminals on the run from the law. (imdb)
This courtroom and crime drama is actually a thinly veiled chronicle of the notorious exploits of former Big Apple assistant district attorney William Fallon. In this version, lawyer William Foster finds himself convicted of jury tampering and is sent to prison where he must face many of the people he jailed while working closely with the Mafia. Many of these people were innocent. The attorney must also leave his true love. (allrovi.com)
Paramount's first all-talking picture, Interference was dismally directed by Roy Pomeroy, whose lofty status as the studio's "technical wizard" did not necessarily qualify him to be a director. Evelyn Brent heads the cast as scheming Deborah Kane, who sets out to blackmail Faith Marley (Doris Kenyon), the above-reproach wife of Sir John Marlay. (allrovi.com)
British officer is assigned to duty in Ireland and gets embroiled in Anglo-Irish battles and old girl friend who is now married to an Irishman. Powell learns more than he wanted to know about "the Irish Problem." (imdb)
Nevada is a 1927 movie based upon a Zane Grey novel and starring Gary Cooper, Thelma Todd, and William Powell. This lavish Western film was remade in 1944 as an early Robert Mitchum B-picture, the only time Cooper and Mitchum played the same role. This movie still survives in a complete copy, but the films appearance is not the best, do probably to poor preservation, it's possible to make out scenes, but not as well as other highly restored silent films.
'Natural' Davis (William Powell) is a respected gambler who follows a ruthless code of honour with those who cheat against him. His wife Alma (Kay Francis) wants to divorce him because of his addiction and lifestyle but they agree on a reconciliation and 2nd honeymoon together and 'Natural' promises to give up gambling. However, his plans change when his brother 'Babe' (Regis Toomey) arrives in town
A society gigolo goes after a rich mother and her daughter, but tries to find true happiness with his girlfriend, who is neither rich nor in "society." (imdb)
John Nelson, a well-to-do businessman, is escorting a woman he knows as Ethel Barry to the door of her apartment suite when a man steps out of the shadows and angrily demands to know where ... (imdb)
Miriam, a down-on-her-luck streetwalker meets Geoffrey Sherwood, who is crestfallen after Valentine Moreland, the love of his life, MARRIES another man. Sherwood helps Miriam to abandon her sordid lifestyle, but complications arise when Valentine comes back into his life. Can Miriam win him back again? (imdb)
Under the Red Robe is a 1923 silent historical drama directed by Alan Crosland based upon the Stanley Weyman novel Under the Red Robe. The film marks the last motion picture appearance by stage actor Robert B. Mantell who plays Cardinal Richelieu and the only silent screen performance of opera singer John Charles Thomas. (Wikipedia)
Set somewhere in Vienna in the 1900s, the film opens with a successful surgeon (Morgan), feeing[clarification needed] for the affection of his wife (Bruce). As does his brother, a concert conductor (Owen), for his flirtatious gal (Christians). Both women have something in common: they are in love with a philandering painter (Powell). The surgeon's wife contacts the artist and allows herself to be painted while only dressed in furs, with her face covered by a mask. (Wikipedia)
The second and last of Eddie Cantor's silent vehicles, Special Delivery casts the wide-eyed comedian as a hapless mailman. While going through his swiftly appointed rounds, Eddie stumbles upon a gang of crooks who are planning a large-scale confidence scam. He exposes the villains and wins the love of heroine Madge (Jobyna Ralston). Though Cantor was a fine physical comic, he didn't truly score in films until the arrival of talkies allowed his fans to hear as well as see him.
Based on a story by Zane Grey, Desert Gold is a remake of the 1919 film of the same name. Neil Hamilton stars as George Thorne, a U.S. cavalry lieutenant in love with fair senorita Mercedes Castaneda (Shirley Mason). When Mercedes is kidnapped by scurrilous outlaw Snake Landree (William Powell in his swarthy-villain period), Lt. Thorne and his Eastern-dude pal Dick Gale (Robert Frazer) gallop to her rescue.
In Renaissance Florence, Tito, a no-good young man pretending to be a scholar, wins the admiration of a blind man who has long looked for someone to finish his scholarly work. He has a beautiful daughter named Romola. Tito flirts with a peasant girl in the streets, and for fun goes through a mock marriage with her -- but she takes it seriously. Romola doesn't really love him, but marries him because her father wishes it. (imdb)
Dangerous Money is a lost 1924 silent film drama produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Frank Tuttle and starred popular Bebe Daniels. (The Movie Database)
"Too Many Kisses" stars Richard Dix as the playboy son of a New York industrialist. Dix's father (Frank Currier) wants Dix to get away from his many girlfriends and buckle down to work, so Currier sends Dix to an obscure village in Spain to find samples of a rare mineral. When Dix gets to Spain, he runs afoul of the local police chief, played by William Powell in an excellent performance... (The Movie Database)
After a stormy six year marriage, Barnaby Powers divorces his wife Richmiel. She returns home, taking their young son Oliver with her. Barnaby follows her, to ask for custody of the boy, but meets and falls in love with Richmiel's pretty and sensitive cousin Ledda. Complications ensue. (The Movie Database)
A newspaper publisher finds out that his wild daughter has fallen in with a ring of gamblers. A reporter who has infiltrated the gang to get a story falls in love with the gang's female leader, and when the two are caught in a police raid, they find themselves in equal amounts of trouble. (imdb)
The Beautiful City is a 1925 American drama film starring Richard Barthelmess, Dorothy Gish and William Powell. For their mother's sake, a man takes the blame for a robbery committed by his brother and his brother's gangster boss. (The Movie Database)
A movie actress, mistakenly thinking she has killed a fellow actor, goes on the run and finds herself taken in by a Kentucky mountain family. (The Movie Database)
A young South Seas native boy is sent to the U.S. for his education. He returns to his island after his father dies to try to stop a revolution. (The Movie Database)
Sea Horses is a 1926 American drama silent film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Becky Gardiner, James Shelley Hamilton and Francis Brett Young. The film stars Jack Holt, Florence Vidor, William Powell, George Bancroft, Mack Swain, Frank Campeau and Allan Simpson. The film was released on February 22, 1926, by Paramount Pictures. It is considered a lost film. (letterboxd)
Tin Gods is a lost 1926 silent film drama produced by Famous Players-Lasky, released by Paramount Pictures, and based on the play Tin Gods by William Anthony McGuire. Allan Dwan directed and Thomas Meighan starred. (The Movie Database)
New York is a 1927 American drama silent film directed by Luther Reed and written by Barbara Chambers, Becky Gardiner and Forrest Halsey. The film stars Ricardo Cortez, Lois Wilson, Estelle Taylor, William Powell, Norman Trevor and Richard "Skeets" Gallagher. The film was released on January 30, 1927, by Paramount Pictures. (The Movie Database)
Love's Greatest Mistake is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by A. Edward Sutherland and starring Evelyn Brent. The film is now lost. (The Movie Database)
Señorita is a 1927 American silent action comedy film directed by Clarence Badger, and starring Bebe Daniels. The film is a parody of The Mark Zorro (1920), Bebe Daniels was one of the first actresses to play a female Zorro-like character. (The Movie Database)
The daughter of a desert chief kidnaps a member of the French Foreign Legion in the hopes of wooing him. (The Movie Database)
A 1928 silent film crime drama produced by Famous Players-Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Josef von Sternberg from an original screen story and starring George Bancroft and Evelyn Brent. (The Movie Database)
The film is about a desert-bound member of the French Foreign Legion who exposes a betrayer to the Legion and is then sent on a mission among the Arabs to conclude the signing of a crucial peace treaty. (The Movie Database)
After being dismissed for imitating his boss's voice on radio, former Assistant District Attorney Richard Deming witnesses a store robbery and is taken captive by the criminals. Suspected of the crime, he is sought by the police, but his sweetheart, Marie, convinced of his innocence, enlists the help of two friends, a newspaper reporter and a half-witted detective. Hoping to win the girl's favor, the two go to the gangsters' hideout, encounter a violent gang war, and accidently set off a case... (The Movie Database)
A petty thief (Clive Brook) just robs the very rich at speakeasies, and gets away with it because the rich don't want the bad publicity, finally is caught and sent to Sing Sing. After good behavior, he gets an emergency permission for a return home, so that he may save his daughter from the hands of her disreputable mother (Baclanova). However, he must first promise not to kill his wife while he is out of prison. (The Movie Database)
A compilation of scenes from classic MGM comedies from the silent era up to 1948's "A Southern Yankee." Among the films showcased are "The Thin Man," "A Night at the Opera," "Dinner at Eight" and "Bonnie Scotland." (imdb)
The Vanishing Pioneers is a 1928 silent western film directed by John Waters and starring Jack Holt. Holt's son, Tim makes his screen debut in this film The film is now lost. Parts of the film were shot in Zion National Park and Springdale, Utah. (The Movie Database)