Dick Powell

Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss. Born in Mountain View, the seat of Stone County in northern Arkansas, Powell attended the former Little Rock College in the state capital, before he started his entertainment career as a singer with the Charlie Davis Orchestra, based in the midwest. He recorded a number of records with Davis and on his own, for the Vocalion label in the late 1920s. Powell moved to Pittsburgh, where he found great local success as the Master of Ceremonies at the Enright Theater and the Stanley Theater. In April 1930, Warner Bros. bought up Brunswick Records which at that time owned Vocalion. Warner Bros. was sufficiently impressed by Powell's singing and stage presence to offer him a film contract in 1932. He made his film debut as a singing bandleader in Blessed Event. He went on to star as a boyish crooner in movie musicals such as 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, Flirtation Walk, and On the Avenue, often appearing opposite Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell. Powell desperately wanted to expand his range but Warner Bros. wouldn't allow him to do so, although they did (mis)cast him in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) as Lysander. This was to be Powell's only Shakespearean role and one he did not want to play, feeling that he was completely wrong for the part. Finally, reaching his forties and knowing that his young romantic leading man days were behind him he lobbied to play the lead in Double Indemnity. He lost out to Fred MacMurray, another Hollywood nice guy. MacMurray’s success, however, fueled Powell’s resolve to pursue projects with greater range and in 1944, he was cast in the first of a series of films noir, as private detective Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, directed by Edward Dmytryk. The film was a big hit and Powell had successfully reinvented himself as a dramatic actor. The following year Dmytryk and Powell re-teamed to make Cornered, a gripping, post-WWII thriller that helped define the film noir style. He became a popular "tough guy" lead appearing in movies such as Johnny O'Clock and Cry Danger. But 1948 saw him step out of the brutish type when he starred in Pitfall, a film noir that sees a bored insurance company worker fall for an innocent but dangerous femme fatale, played by Lizabeth Scott. Even when he appeared in lighter fare such as The Reformer and the Redhead and Susan Slept Here (1954) he never sang in his later roles. The latter, his final onscreen appearance in a feature film, did include a dance number with costar Debbie Reynolds. From 1949-1953, Powell played the lead role in the National Broadcasting Company radio theater production Richard Diamond, Private Detective. His character in the 30-minute weekly was a likable private detective with a quick wit. When Richard Diamond came to television in 1957, the lead role was portrayed by David Janssen.

Known For: Acting

Born: Mountain View, Arkansas, USA, 1904-11-14

Died: 1963-01-02

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1932	Blessed Event	Bunny Harmon	65
2	1932	Big City Blues	Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)	53
3	1932	Too Busy to Work	Dan Hardy	40
4	1933	Just Around the Corner	Jerry	60
5	1933	The Road Is Open Again	The Songwriter	0
6	1933	The King's Vacation	John Kent	50
7	1933	42nd Street	Billy Lawler	69
8	1933	Gold Diggers of 1933	Brad	72
9	1933	Footlight Parade	Scotty Blair	69
10	1933	College Coach	Phil "Sarge" Sargeant	42
11	1933	Convention City	Jerry Ford	37
12	1934	Hollywood Newsreel	Himself	40
13	1934	And She Learned About Dames	Himself	60
14	1934	Wonder Bar	Tommy	61
15	1934	Twenty Million Sweethearts	Buddy Clayton	60
16	1934	Studio Highlights	Self (archive footage)	0
17	1934	Dames	Jimmy Higgens	64
18	1934	Happiness Ahead	Bob Lane	60
19	1934	Flirtation Walk	Dick "Canary" Dorcy	56
20	1935	Gold Diggers of 1935	Dick Curtis	64
21	1935	Broadway Gondolier	Richard 'Dick' Purcell, aka Ricardo Purcelli	54
22	1935	Page Miss Glory	Bingo Nelson	63
23	1935	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Lysander	64
24	1935	Shipmates Forever	Richard 'Dick' Melville III	65
25	1935	Thanks a Million	Eric Land	61
26	1935	Things You Never See on the Screen	Self	50
27	1935	A Dream Comes True	Himself (uncredited)	55
28	1936	One And One Is One	Himself	50
29	1936	Colleen	Donald Ames	53
30	1936	Hearts Divided	Jerome Bonaparte	50
31	1936	Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)	Self	60
32	1936	Stage Struck	George Randall	40
33	1936	Gold Diggers of 1937	Rosmer Peck	58
34	1937	On the Avenue	Gary Blake	67
35	1937	The Singing Marine	Bob Brent	40
36	1937	Varsity Show	Charles 'Chuck' Daly	62
37	1937	Breakdowns of 1937	Self	60
38	1938	Hollywood Hotel	Ronnie Bowers	54
39	1938	Cowboy from Brooklyn	Elly Jordan	40
40	1938	Hard to Get	Bill Davis	60
41	1938	Going Places	Peter Mason	63
42	1938	Breakdowns of 1938	Elly Jordan (archive footage) (uncredited)	50
43	1939	Hollywood Hobbies	Self (uncredited)	56
44	1939	Naughty But Nice	Professor Donald Hardwick	62
45	1940	I Want a Divorce	Alan MacNally	0
46	1940	Christmas in July	Jimmy McDonald	69
47	1941	Model Wife	Frederick "Fred" Chambers	0
48	1941	In the Navy	Thomas Halstead	63
49	1942	Star Spangled Rhythm	Dick Powell	59
50	1943	Happy Go Lucky	Pete Hamilton	40
51	1943	Three Cheers for the Girls	Singer (archive footage) (uncredited)	62
52	1943	Riding High	Steve Baird	45
53	1943	True to Life	Link Ferris	60
54	1944	It Happened Tomorrow	Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens	67
55	1944	Meet the People	William 'Swanee' Swanson	50
56	1944	Murder, My Sweet	Philip Marlowe	72
57	1945	Cornered	Laurence Gerard	60
58	1947	Johnny O'Clock	Johnny O'Clock	62
59	1947	Blow-Ups of 1947	Self	63
60	1948	To the Ends of the Earth	Commissioner Michael Barrows	57
61	1948	Pitfall	John Forbes	69
62	1948	Station West	Lt. John Martin Haven	61
63	1948	Rogues' Regiment	Whit Corbett	65
64	1949	Mrs. Mike	Sgt. Mike Flannigan	20
65	1950	The Reformer and the Redhead	Andrew Hale	63
66	1950	Right Cross	Rick Garvey	66
67	1951	Cry Danger	Rocky Mulloy	67
68	1951	The Tall Target	John Kennedy	68
69	1951	You Never Can Tell	Rex Shepherd	64
70	1952	The Bad and the Beautiful	James Lee Bartlow	73
71	1954	Susan Slept Here	Mark Christopher	62
72	1961	One Must Die		0
73	1961	Who Killed Julie Greer?	Host / Inspector Amos Burke	0
74	1961	Ricochet	Self - Host	0
75	1975	Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?	Self (archive footage)	57
76	1976	It's Showtime	Self (archive footage)	70
77	1983	Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage	Self (archive footage) (uncredited)	65
78	1984	Going Hollywood: The '30s	(archive footage)	100
79	1985	That's Dancing!		70
80	1999	Television: The First Fifty Years	Self (archive footage)	0
81	2006	42nd Street: From Book to Screen to Stage	Self (archive footage)	60
82	2006	Gold Diggers: FDR'S New Deal... Broadway Bound	Self (archive footage)	49
83	2013	Classic Movie Bloopers: Uncensored	Self (archive footage)	55
84	2024	The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout	Self (archive footage)	80

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1944	Golden Globe Awards	Self - Host	72
2	1948	The Ed Sullivan Show	Self	68
3	1949	The Emmy Awards	Self	79
4	1950	What's My Line?	Self - Mystery Guest	69
5	1950	What's My Line?	Self - Panelist	69
6	1950	Lux Video Theatre	Self - Intermission Guest	63
7	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Willie Dante	63
8	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Eddie White	63
9	1952	Four Star Playhouse	US Marshal Philip Dana	63
10	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Burt Stroude	63
11	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Paul	63
12	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Mike Donegan	63
13	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Graham	63
14	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Dan	63
15	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Dan Hodges	63
16	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Dave Robinson	63
17	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Fred	63
18	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Chris	63
19	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Jeff	63
20	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Eddie	63
21	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Dave	63
22	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Capt. Avery	63
23	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Andrew	63
24	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Will Sonnett	63
25	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Fleet Mason	63
26	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Grover Doane	63
27	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Steve	63
28	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Priest	63
29	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Philip Benton	63
30	1952	Four Star Playhouse	Dan Matson	63
31	1952	This Is Your Life	Self	64
32	1954	Climax!	Philip Marlowe	33
33	1956	Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre	Self - Host	55
34	1957	Tonight Starring Jack Paar	Self	70
35	1959	The DuPont Show with June Allyson	Paul Martin	63
36	1959	The DuPont Show with June Allyson	Dr. Timothy McVey	63
37	1961	The DuPont Show of the Week	Self	60
38	1961	The Dick Powell Show	Self - Host	55
39	1988	American Experience	Self (archive footage) (uncredited)	74

Dick Powell

Film

Television