William Powell was on the New York stage by 1912, but it would be ten
years before his film career would begin. In 1924 he went to Paramount
Pictures, where he was employed for the next seven years. During that
time, he played in a number of interesting films, but stardom was
elusive. He did finally attract attention with
Der letzte Befehl (1928) as Leo,
the arrogant film director. Stardom finally came via his role as Philo
Vance in
Die Stimme aus dem Jenseits (1929),
in which he investigates the death of
Louise Brooks, "the Canary."
Unlike many silent actors, sound boosted Powell's career. He had a
fine, urbane voice and his stage training and comic timing greatly
aided his introduction to sound pictures. However, he was not happy
with the type of roles he was playing at Paramount, so in 1931 he
switched to Warner Bros. There, he again became disappointed with his
roles, and his last appearance for Warners was as Philo Vance in
The Kennel Murder Case (1933).
In 1934 Powell went to MGM, where he was teamed with
Myrna Loy in
Manhattan Melodrama (1934).
While Philo made Powell a star, another detective, Nick Charles, made
him famous. Powell received an Academy Award nomination for
Mordsache Dünner Mann (1934) and later
starred in the Best Picture winner for 1936,
Der große Ziegfeld (1936).
Powell could play any role with authority, whether in a comedy,
thriller, or drama. He received his second Academy Award nomination for
Mein Mann Godfrey (1936) and was on
top of the world until 1937, when he made his first picture with
Jean Harlow,
Die öffentliche Meinung (1935). The two clicked,
off-screen as well as on-screen, and shortly became engaged. One day,
while Powell was filming
Doppelhochzeit (1937) on one MGM
sound stage, Harlow became ill on another. She was finally taken to the
hospital, where she died. Her death greatly upset both Powell and
Myrna Loy, and he took six weeks off from
making the movie to deal with his sorrow. After that he traveled, not
making another MGM film for a year. He eventually did five sequels to
"The Thin Man," the last one in 1947. He also received his third
Academy Award nomination for his work in
Unser Leben mit Vater (1947). His
screen appearances became less frequent after that, and his last role
was in 1955. He had come a long way from playing the villain in 1922.
