Powell starred in The Great Ziegfeld, (1936), opposite his The Thin Man co-star, Myrna Loy, who played Ziegfeld's wife, Billie Burke. In 1937, Powell received his second Academy Award nomination for the comedy My Man Godfrey.[10]
In 1935, he starred with Jean Harlow in Reckless. In 1936, Harlow and Powell appeared in Libeled Lady, and they became romantically involved off-set. He gave her a handsome ring, but did not ask her to marry him, so she referred to it as her "unengagement ring". Powell had been unhappy with his previous marriage to popular actor Carole Lombard, and this apparently kept him from entering a similar arrangement with Harlow, who was a sex symbol to the film-going public during that time. They kept company but did not live together. Harlow fell ill from undiagnosed kidney failure while working on a film with Clark Gable, and died before the film was completed, from uremia, at age 26 in June 1937.[11]
Powell received his third Academy Award nomination in 1947 for his role as Clarence Day Sr. in Life with Father.[12] His last film was playing the character Doc in 1955's Mister Roberts.
Personal life
On April 15, 1915, Powell married Eileen Wilson, who was born Julia Mary Tierney. The couple had a son, William David Powell. They divorced in 1930. Powell's son became a television writer and producer before a period of ill health and depression led to his suicide in 1968.[13]
On June 26, 1931, Powell married actress Carole Lombard. They divorced in 1933, but starred in My Man Godfrey three years later. Powell was devastated by her death in an airplane crash in 1942.[14] He was romantically involved with Jean Harlow, his co-star in Reckless (1935), until her unexpected death from illness in 1937.[15][16] On January 6, 1940, three weeks after they met, Powell married his third wife, actress Diana Lewis, who cancelled her film career to be his full-time wife. They remained married until his death in 1984.[17]
In March 1938, Powell was diagnosed with rectal cancer.[4][20] He underwent surgery and experimental radium treatment, which put the disease in full remission within two years. Given his own health and sorrow over Jean Harlow's death, Powell did not undertake any film roles for more than a year during this period.[21]
^ a bInterments of Interest (PDF), Palm Springs Cemetery District, retrieved March 20, 2017
^"Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709–1950", Horatio Powell, July 29, 1892, son of H. W. Powell and Nettie B. Powell; Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Record accessed via FamilySearch archives, Salt Lake City, Utah, January 31, 2022.
^ a b"Obituaries: William Powell, star of 'Thin Man' films", Chicago Tribune, March 6, 1984, p. N6. Retrieved via ProQuest Historical Newspapers through subscription access at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, January 31, 2022.
^ a bFlint, Peter B. (March 6, 1984). "William Powell, Film Star, Dies at 91". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
^"William Powell Biography". Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved August 1, 2008.
^Nathan, George Jean (October 1922). "A Ballet of Opinion". The Smart Set. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^Woollcott, Alexander (August 17, 1922). "The Play". The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2024.
^Life, Volume 80, p. 208
^"1935 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. October 8, 2014. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
^"1937 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. October 8, 2014. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
^Christensen et al., p. 375.
^"1948 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. October 5, 2014. Retrieved June 1, 2023.
^Parish, James Robert; Stanke, Don E. (1975). The Debonairs. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House. p. 459. ISBN 978-0870002939.
^Bryant, p. 142.
^Di Mambro, Dina. "Portrait of Harlow: The Original Blonde Bombshell". ClassicHollywoodBios.com. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
^"75 Years Ago, Saying Good-bye to Jean Harlow". DearMrGable.com. June 9, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
^"Obituary: Diana Lewis". The Independent. January 31, 1997.
^Critchlow, Donald T. (October 21, 2013). When Hollywood Was Right: How Movie Stars, Studio Moguls, and Big Business Remade American Politics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107650282.
^"Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Google News Archive Search".
^"Surgery: How Not to Die Of Cancer". Time. May 10, 1963. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
^Bryant, pp. 127–36.
^Brooks, Patricia; Brooks, Jonathan (2006). "Chapter 8: East L.A. and the Desert". Laid to Rest in California: A guide to the cemeteries and grave sites of the rich and famous. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press. pp. 240–42. ISBN 978-0762741014. OCLC 70284362.
^"Awards – New York Film Critics Circle – NYFCC". www.nyfcc.com. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
^"Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
^ a b"Those Were the Days". Nostalgia Digest. Vol. 37, no. 1. Winter 2011. p. 32.
^"Radio Guide". Altoona Tribune. Altoona, PA. August 16, 1949. p. 19. Retrieved November 14, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.