Birthday:
Birthday:

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.
Birthday: July 29, 1892
Death: March 05, 1984

October 29, 1953

May 25, 1934

October 15, 1937

August 09, 1940

May 23, 1941

August 14, 1949

October 09, 1936

March 23, 1944

September 02, 1936

October 04, 1932

May 04, 1934

September 13, 1947

December 25, 1936

November 17, 1939

November 21, 1941

December 24, 1944

August 28, 1947

July 23, 1942

April 08, 1936

August 26, 1945

December 31, 1947

July 10, 1955

January 10, 1932

June 10, 1933

April 13, 1930

July 08, 1932

April 19, 1935

January 21, 1928

February 16, 1929

February 25, 1983

February 26, 1928

March 07, 1922

September 15, 1922

December 06, 1924

March 27, 1953

March 01, 1952

November 20, 1951

December 02, 1949

August 11, 1948

April 04, 1946

February 18, 1938

July 02, 1937

February 19, 1937

April 24, 1936

October 25, 1935

April 19, 1935

November 09, 1934

June 09, 1934

February 14, 1934

October 28, 1933

August 11, 1929

March 24, 1931

June 01, 1929

July 23, 1927

February 26, 1943

August 01, 1927

December 24, 1932

November 04, 1928

February 08, 1930

July 05, 1935

July 21, 1933

August 24, 1926

August 17, 1929

September 02, 1931

December 20, 1929

January 18, 1930

July 19, 1930

April 22, 1923

November 21, 1926

April 16, 1931

January 01, 1984

August 05, 1928

April 04, 1926

March 01, 1928

June 06, 1930

May 06, 1927

April 22, 1930

May 15, 1926

September 02, 1964

December 07, 1935

August 30, 1930

December 07, 1922

November 12, 1923

October 13, 1924

January 11, 1925

June 08, 1925

July 01, 1925

October 25, 1925

January 31, 1926

February 22, 1926

March 22, 1926

September 19, 1926

January 30, 1927

February 20, 1927

June 18, 1927

November 12, 1927

May 01, 1928

June 23, 1928

August 06, 1975

May 29, 1940

May 16, 1976

January 22, 1928

January 01, 1945

August 27, 1937

May 28, 1939

October 24, 1940

January 01, 1944

March 09, 1986

June 04, 1990

August 02, 2005

April 01, 1927

March 13, 1987

March 31, 1976

June 14, 2017

May 20, 1996

February 20, 2023