DICK POWELL

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/5d3a4653.jpg..http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/0abecbee.jpg

Information from IMDb


Date of Birth
14 November 1904, Mountain View, Arkansas, USA

Date of Death
2 January 1963, West Los Angeles, California, USA (cancer of the lymph glands)

Birth Name
Richard Ewing Powell

Height
6' (1.83 m)
Spouse
June Allyson (19 August 1945 - 2 January 1963) (his death) 2 children
Joan Blondell (19 September 1936 - 14 July 1944) (divorced) 1 child
Maude Maund (1925 - 1927) (divorced)

Trivia
He was a vocalist with Charlie Davis's orchestra before entering film.

Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, California, USA.

Father of Ellen Powell, from his marriage to Joan Blondell. He adopted Joan's son, Norman S. Powell in February 1938.

Died on the same day as Jack Carson. They had different forms of cancer.

Father of Dick Powell Jr. from his marriage to June Allyson.

His parents were Ewing and Sallie Rowena Thompson Powell.

His brother Luther Powell was born October 30, 1906, and died August 15, 1996. His brother Howard Smith Powell was born October 13, 1899, and died in January, 1986.

He was yet another casualty of the 1956 film The Conqueror (1956) filmed near a nuclear test site in Utah. Many of the people involved with the film, including Powell, who directed, eventually died of cancer, either caused by, or exacerbated by, working on it. Others included actors John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Ted de Corsia, and Agnes Moorehead.

His daughter Pamela Powell was adopted during his marriage to June Allyson.

As of early 2007, his birthplace in the small town of Mountain View, AR still stands on the north side of Main Street. It's a modest circa 1895 house (sadly in a state of benign neglect) with a wraparound porch with a small historical marker and a badly weathered display out in front that details his 1936 engagement to Joan Blondell, marriage to June Allyson and more recent death of his brother.

His estate was reportedly valued at $10,000,000 at the time of his death.

In the 1940s he sold his 55-foot yacht, Santana, to lifelong sailing enthusiast Humphrey Bogart. The vessel subsequently achieved celebrity status as "Bogie's Boat" due to his numerous seafaring expeditions, and Bogart even named his production company, Santana Productions, after it.

In The Day of the Locust (1975), Powell was portrayed by his son Dick Powell Jr..

Featured in "Bad Boys: The Actors of Film Noir" by Karen Burroughs Hannsberry (McFarland, 2003).

He was awarded 3 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard, for Television at 6745 Hollywood Boulevard, and for Radio at 1560 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

He was a lifelong member of the Republican party.


Mini Biography
In the 1930s , Dick Powell was the juvenile lead in the Warner backstage musicals opposite such rising stars as Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell. After his career in musicals, he was cast in private-eye roles and became a producer and director for both TV and movies.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Stephan Eichenberg

Personal Quotes
The best thing about switching from being an actor to being a director is that you don't have to shave or hold your stomach in anymore.

[observation, 1936] I'm not a kid anymore but I'm still playing boy scouts

Filmography

Director
1959 Woman on the Run (TV movie)
1958 The Hunters
1957 The Enemy Below
1956 You Can't Run Away from It
1956 The Conqueror
1953 Split Second

Actor
1962-1963 Ensign O'Toole (TV series)
– Operation Contest (1963)
– Operation: Benefit (1962) … Chief Richard E. Powell

1962 The Dick Powell Show (TV series) – In Search of a Son (1962) … Alex Harper
1961 The Law and Mr. Jones (TV series) – Everybody Versus Timmy Drayton (1961) … Colonel Drayton
1957-1961 Zane Grey Theater (TV series)
Ben Sanderson / Brenner / Col. Blackburn / …
– The Silent Sentry (1961) … Rebel
– Ambush (1961) … Col. Blackburn
– Desert Flight (1960) … Brenner
– A Small Town That Died (1960) … Dave Cameron
– Death in a Wood (1959) … Lawrence
In all 14 episodes
1959-1960 The DuPont Show with June Allyson (TV series)
Dr. Timothy McVey / Paul Martin
– The Doctor and the Redhead (1960) … Dr. Timothy McVey
– A Summer's Ending (1959) … Paul Martin
1958 Mr. Adams and Eve (TV series) – Backwash (1958)
1956 The Best in Mystery (TV series) -Willie Dante (1956)
1952-1956 Four Star Theatre (TV series)
Willie Dante / Andrew Ward / Bill 'Chris' Christopher / …
– Success Story (1956) … Dan Matson
– The Stacked Deck (1956) … Willie Dante
– Watch the Sunset (1956) … Philip Benton
– One Forty-Two (1956) … Father Gregory
– A Long Way from Texas (1956) … Willie Dante
In all 32 episodes »
1954 The Jack Benny Program (TV series) – The Jam Session Show (1954) … Dick Powell
1954 Climax! (TV series) – The Long Goodbye (1954) … Philip Marlowe
1954 Susan Slept Here ...Mark Christopher
1954 The Red Skelton Show (TV series) – Deadeye at the Golden Nugget (1954) … Cameo
1952 The Bad and the Beautiful ...James Lee Bartlow
1951 You Never Know ...Rex Shepherd
1951 The Tall Target ...John Kennedy
1951 Cry Danger ...Rocky
1950 Right Cross ...Rick Garvey
1950 The Reformer and the Redhead ...Andrew 'Andy' Rockton Hale
1949 Mrs. Mike ...Sgt. Mike Flannigan
1948 Rogues' Regiment ...Whit Corbett
1948 Station West ...Lt. John Martin Haven
1948 Pitfall ...John Forbes
1948 To the Ends of the Earth ...Commissioner Michael Barrows
1947 Johnny O'Clock ...Johnny O'Clock
1945 Cornered ...Laurence Gerard
1944 Farewell My Lovely ...Philip Marlowe
1944 Meet the People ...William 'Swanee' Swanson
1944 It Happened Tomorrow ...Lawrence 'Larry' Stevens
1943 True to Life ...Link Ferris
1943 Melody Inn ...Steve Baird
1943 Happy Go Lucky ...Pete Hamilton
1942 Star Spangled Rhythm ...Dick Powell - Hit the Road to Dreamland Number
1941 In the Navy ...Thomas Halstead
1941 Model Wife ...Fred Chambers
1940 Christmas in July ...Jimmy MacDonald
1940 The Tragedy of Divorce ...Alan MacNally
1939 Naughty But Nice ...Professor Donald 'Don' Hardwick
1938 Going Places ...Peter Mason
1938 Hard to Get ...Bill Davis
1938 Romance and Rhythm ...Elly Jordan, aka Wyoming Steve Gibson
1937 Hollywood Hotel ...Ronnie Bowers
1937 Varsity Show ...Charles 'Chuck' Daly
1937 The Singing Marine ...Pfc. Robert 'Bob'/'Arkansas' Brent
1937 On the Avenue ...Gary Blake
1936 Gold Diggers of 1937 ...Rosmer 'Rossi' Peck
1936 Stage Struck ...George Randall
1936 Hearts Divided ...Captain Jerome Bonaparte
1936 Colleen ...Donald Ames 3rd
1935 Thanks a Million ...Eric Land
1935 Shipmates Forever ...Richard John 'Dick' Melville III
1935 A Midsummer Night's Dream ...Lysander, In love with Hermia
1935 Page Miss Glory ...Bingo Nelson
1935 Broadway Gondolier ...Richard 'Dick' Purcell, aka Ricardo Purcelli
1935 Gold Diggers of 1935 ...Dick Curtis
1934 Flirtation Walk ...Richard Palmer Grant 'Canary' / 'Dick' / 'Dickie Boy' Dorcy
1934 Happiness Ahead ...Bob Lane
1934 Dames... James 'Jimmy' Higgens
1934 Twenty Million Sweethearts ...Buddy Clayton
1934 Wonder Bar ...Tommy
1933 Convention City ...Jerry Ford
1933 Football Coach ...Philip 'Phil'/'Sarge' Sargeant
1933 Footlight Parade ...Scott 'Scotty' Blair
1933 Gold Diggers of 1933 ...Brad
1933 42nd Street ...Billy Lawler
1933 The King's Vacation ...John Kent
1933 Just Around the Corner (short) ...Jerry
1933 The Road Is Open Again (short) ...The Songwriter
1932 Too Busy to Work ...Dan Hardy
1932 Big City Blues ...Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
1932 Blessed Event ...Bunny Harmon

Dare I say, 'thankfully. Dick Powell only directed 1 movie with Duke!!

The Conqueror (http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=1858)(1956)

He also starred in a very early movie that included Duke as an Uncredited walk on.

College Coach (http://www.dukewayne.com/showthread.php?t=5055)(1933) ...Philip 'Phil'/'Sarge' Sargeant

The Conqueror.

The screenplay was written before John Wayne became involved in the project. The writer had Marlon Brando in mind for the role. According to Harry Medved and Michael Medved's 1984 book "The Hollywood Hall of Shame", Wayne's casting in this film came about during a conversation with director Dick Powell. Wayne was about the make the last film of a three-picture deal for RKO Radio and Powell had been assigned to direct. They were going over various scripts in Powell's office when the latter was called away for a few minutes. When Powell returned, he found Wayne enthusiastically looking over a script that Powell had intended throwing in the waste basket. It was the screenplay for "The Conqueror". Powell tried to talk him out of it, but Wayne insisted that this was the film he wanted to make. As Powell later summed it up, "Who am I to turn down John Wayne?"

John Wayne regretted playing Temujin in The Conqueror (1956) so much that he visibly shuddered whenever anyone mentioned the film's name. He once remarked that the moral of the film was "not to make an ass of yourself trying to play parts you're not suited for.

He was yet another casualty of the film, filmed near a nuclear test site in Utah. Many of the people involved with the film, including Powell, who directed, eventually died of cancer, either caused by, or exacerbated by, working on it. Others included actors John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Ted de Corsia, and Agnes Moorehead

Was Dick Powell a heavy smoker too? I'd be curious to know how many ( if any ) died
of cancer who did not smoke.

I thought Dick Powell appeared in a film with John Wayne back in the 1930's?

I thought Dick Powell appeared in a film with John Wayne back in the 1930's?
Bob, you know I thought he did as well, and then forget to look.
On his IMDb data they use the title Football Coach
and it dawned on me, that we know it better as College Coach,
which indeed did include Duke.
Thanks for pointing this out and I have edited the opening post accordingly.