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Dick Powell is a Actor, Director, Producer and Thanks American born on 14 november 1904 at Mountain View (USA)

Dick Powell

Dick Powell
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Birth name Richard Ewing Powell
Nationality USA
Birth 14 november 1904 at Mountain View (USA)
Death 2 january 1963 (at 58 years) at West Los Angeles (USA)

Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American singer, actor, film producer, film director and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility and successfully transformed into a hardbitten leading man starring in projects of a more dramatic nature. He was the first actor to portray the private detective Philip Marlowe on screen.

Biography

Powell was born in Mountain View, the seat of Stone County in northern Arkansas. The family moved to Little Rock in 1914, where Powell sang in church choirs and with a local orchestras and started his own band. Powell attended the former Little Rock College, before he started his entertainment career as a singer with the Royal Peacock Band which toured throughout the Midwest. During this time, he married Mildred Maund, a model, but she found being married to an entertainer not to her liking and they soon divorced. Later, he joined the Charlie Davis Orchestra, based in Indianapolis. 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 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. would not allow him to do so. As a result, he bought his release from Warner Bros. in 1940. They did cast him in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), but as Lysander, another youthful romantic character. 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. By 1944, Powell felt he was too old to play romantic leading men anymore,, so 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.

In 1944, Powell's career changed dramatically when 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. He was the first actor to play Marlowe — by name — in motion pictures. (Hollywood had previously adapted some Marlowe novels, but with the lead character changed.) Later, Powell was the first actor to play Marlowe on radio, in 1944 and 1945, and on television, in a 1954 episode of Climax! Powell also played the slightly less hard-boiled detective Richard Rogue in the radio series "Rogue's Gallery", beginning in 1945.

In 1945, Dmytryk and Powell reteamed to make the film 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 in 1948, he stepped out of the brutish type when he starred in Pitfall, a film noir in which a bored insurance company worker falls for an innocent but dangerous woman, 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 NBC radio theater production Richard Diamond, Private Detective. His character in the 30-minute weekly was a likable private detective with a quick wit. Many episodes ended with Detective Diamond having an excuse to sing a little song to his date, showcasing Powell's vocal abilities. Many of the episodes were written by Blake Edwards. When Richard Diamond came to television in 1957, the lead role was portrayed by David Janssen, who did no singing in the series. Prior to the Richard Diamond series, he starred in Rogue's Gallery. He played Richard Rogue, private detective. The Richard Diamond tongue-in-cheek persona developed in the Rogue series.

In the 1950s, Powell was one of the founders of Four Star Television, along with Charles Boyer, David Niven, and Ida Lupino. He appeared in and supervised several shows for that company. Powell played the role of Willie Dante in Four Star Playhouse, in episodes entitled "Dante's Inferno" (1952), "The Squeeze" (1953), "The Hard Way" (1953), and "The House Always Wins" (1955). In 1961, Howard Duff, husband of Ida Lupino, assumed the Dante role in a short-lived NBC adventure series Dante, set at a San Francisco nightclub called "Dante's Inferno".

Powell guest-starred in numerous Four Star programs, including a 1958 appearance on the Duff-Lupino sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve. He appeared in 1961 on James Whitmore's legal drama The Law and Mr. Jones on ABC. In the episode "Everybody Versus Timmy Drayton", Powell played a colonel having problems with his son. Shortly before his death, Powell sang on camera for the final time in a guest-star appearance on Four Star's Ensign O'Toole, singing The Song of the Marines, which he first sang in his 1937 film The Singing Marine. He hosted and occasionally starred in his Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater on CBS from 1956–1961, and his final anthology series, The Dick Powell Show on NBC from 1961 through 1963; after his death, the series continued through the end of its second season (as The Dick Powell Theater), with guest hosts.

Powell's film The Enemy Below (1957), based on the novel by Denys Rayner, won the Academy Award for Special Effects.

Powell also directed The Conqueror (1956), starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan. The exterior scenes were filmed in St. George, Utah, downwind of U.S. above-ground atomic tests. The cast and crew totaled 220, and of that number, 91 had developed some form of cancer by 1981, and 46 had died of cancer by then, including Powell and Wayne. This cancer rate is about three times higher than one would expect in a group of this size, and many have argued that radioactive fallout was the cause.

Best films

Paper Moon (1973)
(Thanks)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
(Actor)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1953)
(Actor)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
(Actor)
42nd Street (1933)
(Actor)
Susan Slept Here (1954)
(Actor)

Usually with

Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley
(12 films)
Orry-Kelly
Orry-Kelly
(19 films)
Robert Lord
Robert Lord
(9 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Dick Powell (69 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

Hollywood Without Make-Up
Directed by Ken Murray
Origin USA
Genres Documentary
Themes Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentary films about cities
Actors Kirk Douglas, Ken Murray, Cary Grant, June Allyson, George K. Arthur, Eddie Albert
Roles Self (archive footage)
Rating71% 3.5768853.5768853.5768853.5768853.576885
The film consists of archive footage of famous Hollywood stars, mostly home movies showing the stars as themselves instead of playing a role in front of the camera.
Susan Slept Here, 1h38
Directed by Frank Tashlin
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy, Comedy-drama, Romantic comedy, Romance
Themes Films about writers, Christmas films, Théâtre, Films based on plays
Actors Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis, Glenda Farrell, Alvy Moore, Les Tremayne
Roles Mark Christopher
Rating63% 3.197613.197613.197613.197613.19761
Mark Christopher (Powell) is a successful thirty-five-year-old Hollywood screenwriter who has suffered from partial writer's block since winning an Academy Award and has been unable to produce a decent script. One Christmas Eve, he receives an unexpected and very unwanted surprise present.
The Bad and the Beautiful, 1h58
Directed by Vincente Minnelli, Jerry Thorpe
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Comedy-drama, Romance
Themes Films about films, Films about television
Actors Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gloria Grahame
Roles James Lee Bartlow
Rating77% 3.8955153.8955153.8955153.8955153.895515
In Hollywood, screenwriter James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell), movie star Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner), and director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan) each refuse to speak by phone to Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas) in Paris. Movie producer Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon) gathers them in his office and explains that Shields was calling them because he has a new film idea and he wants the three of them for the project. Shields cannot get financing on his own, but with their names attached, there would be no problem. Pebbel asks the three to allow him to get Shields on the phone before they give their final answer.
Cry Danger
Cry Danger (1951)
, 1h19
Directed by Robert Parrish, Dick Powell
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Noir, Crime
Actors Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, Richard Erdman, William Conrad, Regis Toomey, Jean Porter
Roles Rocky Mulloy
Rating72% 3.641783.641783.641783.641783.64178
Rocky Mulloy was sentenced to life in prison for a robbery and murder that he didn't commit. He's released five years later when a witness named Delong appears and provides an alibi. Rocky then sets out to find who framed him, hoping that by uncovering the actual criminals, he'll be able to free his friend Danny Morgan, also accused of the same crime.
You Never Can Tell, 1h18
Directed by Lou Breslow
Origin USA
Genres Comedy, Fantasy
Themes Films about religion
Actors Dick Powell, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake, Albert Sharpe, Frank Nelson, Anthony George
Roles Rex Shepherd
Rating69% 3.489723.489723.489723.489723.48972
An ex-police dog named Rex inherits a fortune from his eccentric millionaire owner. But someone poisons him for his fortune, and he is able to go back to earth as a human detective to bring his killer to justice.
The Tall Target, 1h18
Directed by Anthony Mann
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Historical, Crime
Themes Transport films, Rail transport films, Political films
Actors Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson, Ruby Dee, Richard Steven Rauber
Roles John Kennedy
Rating71% 3.593813.593813.593813.593813.59381
New York Police Sergeant John Kennedy once guarded Abraham Lincoln for 48 hours while he was campaigning for President of the United States, and came away deeply impressed by the man. Kennedy has infiltrated a cabal and discovered that an assassination attempt will be made as the president-elect makes his way by train via Baltimore to Washington, DC. His boss, Superintendent Simon G. Stroud (an uncredited Tom Powers), dismisses the threat as "hogwash", as does Caleb Jeffers (Adolphe Menjou), a militia colonel with whom Stroud is meeting. Kennedy resigns on the spot to try to foil the conspirators on his own. Having already sent a copy of his report to the Secretary of War, he telegrams Lincoln, urgently requesting a meeting in Baltimore.
Right Cross, 1h30
Directed by John Sturges
Genres Drama
Themes Sports films, Martial arts films, Boxing films
Actors June Allyson, Ricardo Montalbán, Dick Powell, Lionel Barrymore, Mimi Aguglia, Barry Kelley
Roles Rick Garvey
Rating60% 3.001753.001753.001753.001753.00175
Sean O'Malley (Lionel Barrymore), a wheelchair-bound fight promoter who was once known as the best in his business, has lost his professional stature and is now suffering from poor health. Sean's daughter Pat (June Allyson) has taken over many of her father's responsibilities, and is romantically involved with Sean's best fighter, Johnny Monterez (Ricardo Montalban).
Mrs. Mike
Mrs. Mike (1949)
, 1h39
Directed by Louis King
Origin USA
Genres Drama
Actors Dick Powell, Evelyn Keyes, J. M. Kerrigan, Will Wright, Angela Clarke, John Miljan
Roles Sgt. Mike Flannigan
Rating65% 3.279853.279853.279853.279853.27985
A young Boston woman, Kathy O'Fallon, travels north to visit her Uncle John at his cabin near the Canadian border. While there she meets Mike Flannigan, a sergeant with the Canadian Royal Northwest Mounted Police, and before long they're in love. Kathy marries Mike, who takes her by dogsled to his outpost in the cold, remote north.
Rogues' Regiment, 1h26
Directed by Robert Florey
Origin USA
Genres Adventure
Themes French war films, Political films
Actors Dick Powell, Märta Torén, Vincent Price, Stephen McNally, Edgar Barrier, Richard Loo
Roles Whit Corbett
Rating64% 3.2365053.2365053.2365053.2365053.236505
An American Intelligence Agent and Nazi hunter is on the trail of a former SS war criminal reminiscent of Martin Bormann believed to be hiding in the French Foreign Legion in Indochina.
To the Ends of the Earth, 1h49
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Noir
Themes Films set in Africa, Films about immigration, Medical-themed films, Seafaring films, Films about drugs, Transport films
Actors Dick Powell, Signe Hasso, Ludwig Donath, Vladimir Nikolayevich Sokoloff, Edgar Barrier, John Hoyt
Roles Commissioner Michael Barrows
Rating68% 3.4355253.4355253.4355253.4355253.435525
In 1935, United States Narcotics Agent Michael Barrows (Powell) is assigned to find an unidentified freighter suspected of smuggling drugs. When he and the Coast Guard spot it along the California coast, they give chase. Barrows watches helplessly through binoculars as the freighter captain has about a hundred chained slave laborers thrown overboard to drown. The ship escapes by passing beyond the 12 mile limit and entering international waters. Horrified by what he has seen, Barrows determines to smash the narcotics ring - traveling "to the ends of the Earth" if need be - without first clearing it with his boss, Commissioner H. J. Anslinger (played by the real Harry J. Anslinger).