Madeleine Carroll and Powell in On the Avenue (1937)

Dick Powell, or Richard Ewing Powell (November 14,1904 - January 2,1963) was a singer, actor, producer, and director. He attended Little Rock College .

Born in Mountain View, Arkansas, Powell started 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.

In 1944 he abruptly switched to noir detective roles, first starring as Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet. He became a popular tough-guy lead, appearing in movies such as Cornered , 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.

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.

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.

Powell died on January 2, 1963 of stomach cancer, one of many of the cast and crew of the 1956 movie, The Conqueror, who died of the disease. The Conqueror had been filmed in Utah near an atomic test site. He is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Powell's first wife, from 1925 until 1927, was Mildred Maund. His second wife, from September 19, 1936 until 1944, was Joan Blondell, with whom he had two children, Ellen and Norman. His third wife, from August 19, 1945 until his death, was June Allyson, with whom he had two children, Pamela (adopted) and Richard, Jr.

Filmography

As Actor:

• Blessed Event (1932)
• Big City Blues (1932) (voice only)
• Too Busy to Work (1932)
• The Road Is Open Again (1933) (short subject)
• The King's Vacation (1933)
• 42nd Street (1933)
• Hollywood on Parade No. 9 (1933) (short subject)
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
• Footlight Parade (1933)
• College Coach (1933)
• Convention City (1933)
• Hollywood Newsreel (1934) (short subject)
• And She Learned About Dames (1934) (short subject)
• Wonder Bar (1934)
• Twenty Million Sweethearts (1934)
• Dames (1934)
• Happiness Ahead (1934)
• Flirtation Walk (1934)
• A Dream Comes True (1935) (short subject)
• Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
• Broadway Gondolier (1935)
• Page Miss Glory (1935)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
• Shipmates Forever (1935)
• Thanks a Million (1935)
• Colleen (1936)
• Hearts Divided (1936)
• Stage Struck (1936)
• Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)
• On the Avenue (1937)
• The Singing Marine (1937)
• Varsity Show (1937)
• Hollywood Hotel (1937)
• For Auld Lang Syne (1938) (short subject)
• Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938)
• Hard to Get (1938)
• Going Places (1938)
• Hollywood Hobbies (1939) (short subject)
• Naughty But Nice (1939)
• I Want a Divorce (1940)
• Christmas in July (1940)
• Model Wife (1941)
• In the Navy (1941)
• Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
• Happy Go Lucky (1943)
• Three Cheers for the Girls (1943)
• Riding High (1943)
• True to Life (1943)
• Meet the People (1944)
• It Happened Tomorrow (1944)
• Murder, My Sweet (1944)
• Cornered (1945)
• Johnny O'Clock (1947)
• To the Ends of the Earth (1948)
• Pitfall (1948)
• Station West (1948)
• Rogues' Regiment (1948)
• Mrs. Mike (1949)
• The Reformer and the Redhead (1950)
• Right Cross (1950)
• Cry Danger (1951)
• The Tall Target (1951)
• You Never Can Tell (1951)
• Callaway Went Thataway (1951) (scenes deleted)
• The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
• Susan Slept Here (1954)

As Director:

• Split Second (1953)
• The Conqueror (1956) (also producer)
• You Can't Run Away from It (1956) (also producer)
• The Enemy Below (1957) (also producer)
• The Hunters (1958) (also producer)

External links

• Internet Movie Database Dick Powell
• Dick Powell Photo Gallery