Dick Powell

Dick Powell (1904-1963)

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The singer, actor, producer, and director Dick Powell was born as Richard Ewing Powell in Mountain View, Arkansas on November 14, 1904. He attended Little Rock College in Arkansas, before starting his entertainment career as a singer in his own band. He was signed by Warner Bros. in 1932 and 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.

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Powell desperately wanted to expand his range but Warner Bros. wouldn?t let him. 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 found himself cast in the first of a series of films noir this time as Private Detective Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, directed by Edward Dmytryk. The film was a big hit. Dick Powell had successfully reinvented himself as an actor.

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The following year, Dmytryk and Powell re-teamed to make Cornered, a gripping, post-WWII thriller that helped define the film noir style.

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He became a popular tough-guy lead, appearing in movies such as Johnny O'Clock and The Tall Target. Even when he appeared in lighter fare such as The Reformer and the Redhead and Mrs. Mike, he never sang in his later roles.

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From 1949 until 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 likeable private detective with a quick wit.

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In the 1950s Powell produced and directed several B-movies and was one of the founders of Four Star Television, appearing in and supervising several shows for that company.

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Powell died on January 2, 1963 from stomach cancer, aged 58. He was one of many of the cast and crew of the 1956 movie, The Conqueror, who died from the same disease. The Conqueror had been filmed in Utah near an atomic test site and it's been rumored, however never proven, that the film's shooting location may have been the cause of the cancers the crew were inflicted with.

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He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

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Singer: :For other senses of this word, see singer (disambiguation)....

Actor: An actor is a person who acts, or plays a role, in an artistic production. The term commonly refers to someone working in movies, television, live theatre, or radio, and can occasionally denote a street entertainer. Besides playing dramatic roles, actors may also sing or dance or work only on radio ...

Producer: Producer may refer to:...

Dick Powell related Images and Photos (experimental)

Dick Powell 1935	Flirtation Walk Dick Powell Ruby Keeler on Midget Window Card 1934	Christmas in July Dick Powell Ellen Drew 1940	Murder My Sweet Dick Powell Claire Trevor 1944
Christmas in July Dick Powell Ellen Drew on Window Card 1940	Dames Ruby Keeler Dick Powell Joan Blondell Zasu Pitts Guy Kibbee Hugh Herbert 1934	In the Navy Dick Powell the Andrews Sisters Bud Abbott Lou Costello on Midget Window Card 1941	Flirtation Walk Ruby Keeler Dick Powell 1934
Cry Danger Rhonda Fleming Dick Powell 1951	Hard to Get Olivia De Havilland Dick Powell 1938	Defense Secretary Dick Cheney Administering Oath of Office to Colin Powell	Dick