Vintage
Something Different for Joomla
Our Friends Say...
|
"The Midnight Palace is helping to preserve a wonderful era in the film industry" |
Book Review: Chaplin - A Life Midnight Palace staff writer Teresa Watson dives into Stephen Weissman's new book on the legendary comedian. His childhood, influence, and eventual rise to fame are covered. Read the review!
Johnny Mack Brown: Football Hero and Movie Star. Midnight Palace staff writer Ed Lorusso takes a look at the man who was primarily known for Westerns, but whose career was much more diverse. Read the article!
| William Powell - Star of the Month (January 2009) |
| Written by Teresa Watson | |
|
Every month we throw the spotlight on an actor or actress who exemplifies what it means to be a class act. As always, we welcome your emails if you have a suggestion for a future Star of the Month. The Midnight Palace is pleased to present the Star of the Month for January 2009: William Powell. Date of Birth Date of Death Birth Name Nickname(s) Height Overview:
One day in 1955, Myrna Loy received five thousand red roses from her old friend and frequent co-star, William Powell. She knew that something was wrong and called him. He apologized for the short notice, but said he was retiring from acting, effectively immediately. When asked why, he replied, “I’m tired.” With that simple statement, the dignified, quiet actor slipped quietly off the silver screen and into retirement. William Horatio Powell was born July 29, 1892 in Pittsburgh, the only child of Horatio Powell, a banker, and Nettie Brady. The family moved to Kansas City when William was nine years old, where he would eventually begin his lifelong love of the theater. Horatio’s plans for his young son’s future led to the courtroom: he would be a lawyer. His mother, however, seemed to know that her young Willie was headed for a life on the stage. For a while, it looked like Horatio’s plans for William would prevail, until his freshman year at Central High School, when he auditioned for and won a minor role in a school play. At that moment, Powell would later say, a ham was born. As graduation approached, he knew that life as an attorney was not what he wanted. He began to make plans to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. The problem would be convincing his father. Both sides made their case: being a lawyer would guarantee a good life, his father argued, while being an actor was little better than living like a gypsy. Powell told his father that he didn’t want to be a little fish in a big pond, but a big fish in a big pond. They reached an impasse, which Horatio tried to break by telling his only son that the money they had saved for his education would not be used at the Academy, but would remain in the bank until he realized his mistake and enrolled at Kansas University. Powell spent the summer days working with the telephone company and nights as an usher at the theater. With a small loan from his great-aunt, he made his way to New York. Two years later, he graduated from the Academy and appeared in his first Broadway show, The Ne’er-Do-Well. During a road show of Within the Law in 1914, Powell fell in love with Eileen Wilson, one of the female leads, and married her in 1915. He discovered during those first lean years of their marriage that the villains often have the meatier roles than the heroes. But while the roles were meatier, the paychecks were not, and he took jobs wherever he could find them, spending significant time on the road away from his young wife, which began to put a strain on their marriage. It was his role as Javier in the 1922 show Spanish Love that opened a lifelong door for Powell. A prominent director, Albert Parker, saw Spanish Love one evening, and approached Powell with an offer. The role was as one of Moriarty’s henchmen in a movie version of Sherlock Holmes. He eagerly accepted the offer and moved to Hollywood. For the next six years, Powell would play the villain opposite stars like John Barrymore (Sherlock Holmes), Richard Barthelmess (The Bright Shawl), Emil Jannings (The Last Command) and Bebe Daniels (She’s a Sheik). One of his best roles was as Boldini in Beau Geste, which starred Ronald Colman, who would, along with Barthelmess, become two of Powell’s lifelong friends. Studios began to make the switch to sound, and Powell starred in Paramount’s first talkie, 1928’s Interference. While he was receiving rave reviews for his performances and was becoming known as the villain people loved to hate, Powell was eager for a chance to portray a hero. He finally got his chance in 1929, when he was cast as amateur detective Philo Vance in The Canary Murder Case. The role of Vance was the first time he would play a sophisticated but bored member of high society, a role he would perfect a few years later. Powell was becoming one of the most popular stars on the Paramount lot, but the studio had not done much to use his growing popularity to their advantage. His private life was in turmoil: despite the fact that he and Eileen now had a son, William Jr., they had grown farther apart and were no longer living together. He persuaded his parents to move to California, where his father took over his financial matters and his mother became his secretary. Eileen and Powell would eventually divorce in 1931, shortly before Powell married actress Carole Lombard. She was funny and outgoing, witty and intelligent, but their work schedules at different studios caused a rift in their marriage almost immediately. They were divorced by 1933, but remained close friends until Lombard’s death in 1942. The mid-30s saw Powell’s popularity soar when he was paired with Myrna Loy in 1934’s Manhattan Melodrama, his first movie for MGM. The studio, looking to capitalize on the movie’s popularity, cast him in The Thin Man. Before the movie hit the theaters, Powell and Loy were cast in Evelyn Prentice. It wasn’t a strong movie, but the public didn’t seem to care: they were excited to see their favorite couple together in another movie. Take a look at this short clip from The Thin Man:
Louis B. Mayer was proud of the stars he had at his studio, and was always holding “family gatherings” to show them off to the press. It was at one of these gatherings, in May 1934, that Powell first met Jean Harlow. She felt he still had a boyish charm; he was struck by her innocence and vulnerability. They were two people no one imagined getting together, which helped them develop a strong relationship. They starred in two movies together: 1935’s Reckless and 1936’s Libeled Lady, which also co-starred Loy, who became a close friend of Harlow’s. Both Powell and Loy were unable to work for weeks after Harlow’s sudden death in 1937. In fact, Powell would not work again for a year. While dealing with his deep grief over Harlow’s death, Powell was diagnosed with cancer and underwent radical new treatment. Once his cancer was in remission and he had regained his strength, he returned to work. He would make a total of six Thin Man movies with Loy, the last one coming in 1947 with Song of the Thin Man. It was also the last Powell-Loy movie they ever made together. Powell got married for a third time in 1940, to actress Diana Lewis, a marriage that would last forty-four years. His professional life was aggravating. MGM was not offering him good scripts; he made only one movie in 1948, Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid, with Ann Blyth. He co-starred in several movies from 1949 to 1953, before he landed the role of Doc in 1955’s Mister Roberts (please see our film review). He gave one of his finest performances playing the world-weary doctor who has seen it all, trying to convince Doug Roberts (portrayed by Henry Fonda, who originated the role on Broadway) that war is not all it is cracked up to be. Bringing the lights down... His performance in Mister Roberts resulted in more offers, but Powell was 63 years old, happily married for fifteen years, and ready to retire. He had seen it all, done it all, and had nothing left to prove to himself or anyone. He slipped quietly into private life, content in retirement with Diana, who was still in her thirties when Powell retired. He would be back in the headlines briefly in 1968 when his only child, William Jr., committed suicide. He stayed in touch with Loy, sending her roses when she opened a new show, and getting together with her when she was in town. During a visit with the ninety-year-old Powell in 1982, Loy asked him how he was doing, and he displayed the same wit he had used during their first meeting in 1934: “Not bad for a one-hundred-year-old man.” On March 5, 1984, at the age of 92, William Powell passed away peacefully and quietly. He left behind an extraordinary body of work that shows his great versatility: villain, hero, romantic, and a world-weary seen it all. He never sought the same greatness that other stars aimed for; he focused more on who the character was, making the audience believe that the character and the actor were one and the same. Perhaps Myrna Loy said it best: “There’s just nobody like him, and there’s never been anybody quite like him.” Our William Powell Film Reviews: Special Links of Interest: Downloads: The author would like to cite Gentleman: The William Powell Story by Charles Francisco for some of the information contained in this article. |
|
