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Loco Dempsey played by Betty Grable
One of the most famous of Hollywood's blonde superwomen, best known as WWII's most pinned up pin-up. Grable's luxurious legs (insured by Lloyd's of London for upwards of $1 million) and surprisingly wholesome appeal brightened a number of bland but successful light musicals and dramas lensed in glowing Technicolor for Twentieth Century-Fox in the 1940s and early 50s. She had began in features at age 13 and worked steadily for a decade in mostly small roles in films including the Wheeler and Woolsey comedy "Hips Hips Hooray" (1934) and the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical "Follow the Fleet" (1936, as one of Rogers's backup singers). Broadway success in the late 1930s led to a leading role in "Down Argentine Way" (1940) when reigning Fox musical queen Alice Faye proved recalcitrant, and if Grable was never quite exceptional as actress, singer or dancer, her incredible athletic vivacity, eager-to-entertain professionalism, and sexy peaches-and-cream personality still register strongly today.
Some of Grable's films ("Song of the Island" 1942, "Pin Up Girl" 1944, "That Lady in Ermine" 1948) seem either interchangeable or downright mediocre today, but she was by far the most popular female star of the 1940s (and third overall behind only Bing Crosby and Bob Hope). Her better films still make for rousing entertainment, and include "Moon Over Miami" (1941), "Springtime in the Rockies" (1942), "Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe" (1945), "Mother Wore Tights" (1947) and "Meet Me After the Show" (1951). She more than held her own opposite Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall in "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953) and when her film career abruptly petered out as she neared 40, Grable worked on an intermittent basis on stage, TV and the straw hat and nightclub circuits. In the late 1960s she joined Carol Channing, Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Phyllis Diller and Pearl Bailey as one of the many middle-aged stars who played on Broadway and on tour in the musical "Hello, Dolly!". Married to actor Jackie Coogan from 1937 to 1940 and bandleader Harry James from 1943 to 1965.
Schatze Page played by Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall was one of those movie stars who were so original and iconic that the molecular structure of the audience seemed to shift when she was on screen. Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Greta Garbo – they too possessed an ineffable power to dominate the screen by their physical presence alone. But what made Bacall unique was that she demonstrated this authority at such a young age. She was only 19 years old when she stood toe-to-toe with the formidable Humphrey Bogart in “To Have and Have Not” (1944), director Howard Hawks’ film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s novel. Her husky voice and sultry eyes were more than a match for Bogie, both on screen and off. He would go on to marry his much younger co-star and together they began one of Hollywood’s most famed personal and professional partnerships. But Bacall was not dependent upon Bogart for her later success. She continued to be a movie star and Broadway diva long after Bogart died in 1957, establishing herself as one of the greatest female entertainers of her generation – not to mention, one tough broad.
Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on Sept. 16, 1924, in New York City, NY. Unlike Bogart, who came from a wealthy Manhattan family, Bacall’s upbringing was strictly middle-class; her father was a salesman and her mother was a secretary. Her parents divorced when she was five, leaving Bacall to live with her mother, to whom she was extremely close. She had no contact with her father after her parents split, but strong father figures like Hawks and Bogart would play key roles in her early success. After studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and working as a model to pay the bills, Bacall appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar magazine. Slim Keith, Hawks’ socialite wife, saw the cover and was so taken with Bacall’s beauty that she convinced her husband to give the young model a screen test for his next film, “To Have and Have Not” – the film which would make Bacall an overnight sensation and spawn one of the most famous lines in film history, voiced by the husky-voiced actress to her future husband: “You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow.” One look at the Bazaar cover, and Hawk’s acquiesced to auditioning the unknown.It was a test in more ways than one. Bacall, who was Jewish, had heard that Hawks was anti-Semitic. Intimidated and inexperienced, she allowed her agent to conceal her religious background from Hawks and offered no resistance when Hawks suggested she change her name from “Betty” to “Lauren.” Additionally, what became known as Bacall’s alluring “look” –chin down; smoldering eyes looking up – was created by the actress out of necessity. She literally was so nervous that keeping her chin closer to her chest was the only way to prevent her head from shaking once the camera started rolling.
Things did not get easier for Bacall when the actual “To Have and Have Not” production began, as apart from being totally green, she began to fall in love with her seasoned, gruff leading man. Bogart’s third and often violent marriage to actress Mayo Methot was breaking up and he was miserable. An admirable man not prone to cheating on wives, he nonetheless grew more smitten each day with his young co-star, setting his sights on her despite their 25-year age difference. They started a clandestine affair after several weeks of shooting – mainly to prevent the unhinged Methot from wreaking havoc on either one of them. However, soon after the film was released, not only did Bacall become an overnight movie star with her first film role, she became – more importantly to her – Mrs. Humphrey Bogart. On May 21, 1945, the couple tied the knot during a modest Connecticut ceremony, with the supposed tough guy crying unashamedly at the sight of his “Baby” (as he called her) walking up the aisle.
Coming off such heady stuff, Warner Bros. was anxious to showcase their new vixen quickly, unfortunately choosing the spy drama “Confidential Agent” (1945) and miscasting her opposite refined French actor, Charles Boyer. The film garnered her the worst reviews of her career. She wisely decided to recreate the magic of her debut by appearing in three movies with Bogart back-to-back-to-back. “The Big Sleep” (1946), based on the Raymond Chandler novel with a screenplay by the legendary writer William Faulkner, earned critical raves and box office success, despite everyone involved professing that they did not understand the convoluted plot. Directed by Hawks, the film showcased Bacall’s smoldering sexuality and Bogart’s genuine infatuation with his wife and co-star. Despite the incomprehensible storyline, Bacall’s and Bogart’s chemistry was electric and the film was a smash for post-war audiences looking for grit and reality.
Thee couple followed it up with the thriller “Dark Passage” – the least memorable of their four flicks – with Bogart playing a man who escapes from prison to prove his innocence and Bacall essaying the beautiful, young artist sympathetic to his cause. A complex film noir like “The Big Sleep,” the sizzling heat generated between its two stars more than compensated for the movie’s shortcomings. “Key Largo” (1948), their fourth and final film, again featured the familiar formula of Bogart as the vulnerable anti-hero and Bacall as the tough but tender woman who helps him uncover the courage beneath his hard shell – all set against the backdrop of a Florida hotel under siege by both a hurricane and the notorious gangster, Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson). Directed by John Huston, “Key Largo” was a worldwide success and cemented Bacall and Bogart as one of the greatest film partnerships ever.
At the peak of her popularity, Bacall turned her attention beyond movies to more personal interests. She and Bogart started a family – which could include son Stephen and daughter Leslie – and with her husband’s influence, she became an outspoken proponent of progressive politics, with the couple criticizing the anti-Communist attacks of the House Un-American Activities Committee and befriending President Harry Truman. The Life magazine image of Bacall draped seductively on top of Truman’s piano while he played became an instant sensation and one of the most indelible photo-ops of the post-war era. Despite being a full-time mother and passionate politico, she continued to work, but very selectively. She was superb as a femme fatale in “Young Man with a Horn” (1950) opposite Kirk Douglas, proving that she did not need her husband’s star power to ignite sparks on screen. The romantic romp “How to Marry a Millionaire” (1953) showcased Bacall’s comedic talents and contrasted her sharp-witted sultriness against the baby-doll sexuality of Marilyn Monroe. She provided a shot of vinegar to the sugary Douglas Sirk melodrama “Written on the Wind” (1956), proving more than a match for her co-stars Rock Hudson and Robert Stack. She also showed her mettle by taking on some of Hollywood’s biggest power players, engaging in a long-running feud with Jack Warner, the head of Warner Brothers, over the quality of scripts sent to her. Since Bogart was Warner’s biggest star and, even then, an American institution, Warner backed down before the increasingly ballsy Bacall did.
But the actress could not win every battle. After little over a decade of married bliss, the epic love story took a decidingly tragic turn. During the 1950s, Bogart’s health started a long, slow decline – due, it turned out, to his massive cigarette habit. Diagnosed with throat cancer, he became increasingly weak and unable to work. To make matters worse, his cancer was not discussed in polite company – as was the etiquette of the time. Bacall – only 30 odd years old – made the decision to put career aside so she could nurse her ailing husband and spend time with their children. This gave her an unfair reputation for being difficult, but Bacall could have cared less when it came to her beloved Bogie – the one man who had shaped her entire life up until that point. It was a tribute to her professionalism that she shot one of her best comedies, “Designing Women” (1957), during Bogart’s last, sad days.
When Bogart died on Jan. 14, 1957, Bacall was on her own for the first time in her adult life. She had more than a few personal and professional missteps in the wake of her loss. An affair with Frank Sinatra, Bogart’s good friend and a member of the Bogie-founded Holmby Hills Rat Pack, ended badly, as it was more a fling of two people united in grief. However, Bacall was ill- prepared to deal with womanizing men like Sinatra, so was traumatized when Sinatra coldly dumped her. Without her husband’s clout in her corner, she struggled to find good roles, as well. The tepid drama “The Gift of Love” (1958) was beneath her and the British War film “North West Frontier” (1959) was better, but did nothing to erase the power of her early work.
Approaching age 40, Bacall married again; this time to the distinguished actor Jason Robards, whom many thought resembled Bogie in both looks and temperament. In 1961, Bacall had a child with Robards, Sam, and once again seemed more focused on family than films. She worked sparingly throughout the 1960s, dabbling in TV and appearing in just three films: “Shock Treatment” (1964); “Sex and the Single Girl” (1964); and “Harper” (1966). By 1969, her marriage to Robards was over, done in by his alcoholism. Bacall was now middle-aged and on her own again. Amazingly, it marked the beginning of one of the most triumphant periods of her career.
Bacall shifted focus, training to be a stage actress and had found success in the play “Cactus Flower” during the mid-60s. But in 1970, she threw caution to the wind and took on the role of aging stage diva, Margo Channing, in the Broadway musical, “Applause” (1970). The play was a musical version of the classic film “All About Eve” (1950), in which Bette Davis – Bacall’s idol – had created the Channing role. Although she was not much of a singer, Bacall threw herself into the play and it became a fantastic success. Bacall won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and powered the play through a national tour and a London staging. Adapted for TV, “Applause” (CBS, 1973) earned Bacall more rave reviews and an Emmy nomination.
Rejuvenated by her Broadway success, the comeback kid returned to movies after an eight-year hiatus, lending class and elegance to the all-star ensemble cast in “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974). She backed up John Wayne in his last movie, the western “The Shootist” (1976). She and Wayne lived on opposite sides of the political spectrum but they were good friends; both exemplifying tough-talking but fair-minded individualism. Those traits certainly enlivened any film she appeared in, whether it was Robert Altman’s sickly comedy “H.E.A.L.T.H.” (1980) or the psychodrama misfire “The Fan” (1981). Bacall had more success and better material to work with when she returned to the stage. In 1981, she re-invented the role made famous by old pal Katherine Hepburn in the stage version of the movie “Woman of the Year” (1942). As with “Applause,” the play was a smash and garnered Bacall more lavish reviews.
The actress took most of the 1980s off, but picked up again at the end of the decade. Now in her sixties, she found good parts as hard to come by as ever, but she soldiered on in roles that seemed interesting to her. She appeared in “Mr. North” (1988), a comedy notable primarily because it was directed by Danny Huston, the son of her late friend and director John Huston. She did a nice, quick turn in the horror thriller “Misery” (1990) and re-teamed with director Robert Altman for “Ready to Wear” (1994). Barbra Streisand – another smart, tough and talented Jewish girl from New York – directed Bacall in “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (1996), guiding her to her only Oscar nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.
As Bacall entered her eighties, her appetite for the avant-garde seemed to increase. She made two unusual movies in supporting roles to Nicole Kidman. The experimental drama “Dogville” (2003) and the intriguing but unsatisfying thriller “Birth” (2004) were not box office hits, but were at least ambitious. Lars Van Trier, the Danish director of “Dogville,” then cast her in his next film “Manderlay” (2005). An unconventional story of racism in the American South, “Manderlay” also failed to reach a wide audience, but allowed Bacall to work with some top-notch actors like Danny Glover and Willem Dafoe. She lent her acerbically witty charm to Paul Schrader’s “The Walker” (2007), another fascinating failure featuring Lily Tomlin, Ned Beatty and Kristin Scott Thomas. Unconcerned about box office projections or production budgets – including her own salary – Bacall embraced the experience of working with interesting actors and directors.
Pola Debevoise played by Marilyn Monroe
An illegitimate child whose father (Edward Mortensen) had deserted her mother (Gladys Baker, nee Monroe) before she was born, Norma Jean endured a childhood of poverty and misery, sexual abuse (at the age of eight) and years in foster homes and orphanages after her mother suffered a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized. Escape from this cycle came at the age of sixteen with an arranged marriage to a 21-year-old aircraft plant worker.
While working at the Radio Plane Company factory in Burbank, she had her picture taken by a visiting Army photographer. Norma Jean then began modeling bathing suits and, after bleaching her hair blonde, began posing for pinups and glamour photos. Howard Hughes saw some of her photographs and expressed an interest in giving her a screen test for RKO, but Ben Lyon of 20th Century-Fox beat Hughes to the punch, signing Norma Jean Baker to a contract and changing her name to Marilyn Monroe.
After appearing in small parts in films including "Love Happy" (1949) and "All About Eve" (1950), Monroe achieved celebrity with starring roles in three 1953 features--"Niagara," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" and "How To Marry a Millionaire"--as well as a series of nude calendar photos, taken in 1948, which appeared in the December 1953 debut issue of Playboy magazine. By the end of the year, Monroe had been voted the top star of 1953 by American film distributors.
In all her film roles, from "Niagara" to "The Misfits" (1961), Monroe portrayed an object of desire and exhibition. Her basic character grew out of the dumb blonde archetype, but Monroe's dumb blonde could not be pinned down to any particular origin or social class. She was defined only by what was shown on the screen, with neither a previous history nor seemingly a future. Frequently her characters were namelesss ("Love Happy," 1955's "The Seven Year Itch"), further accentuating her status as an object. She usually had no discernable job and when she did, it was a female-relegated profession such as chorus girl, actress or secretary.
But to the dumb blonde stereotype, Monroe added a sense of innocence, naturalism and overt sexuality. Her sexuality was never seen as a threat, but as something harmless and benevolent. Time magazine's sanguine response to Monroe's Playboy centerfold summed up her appeal: "Marilyn believes in doing what comes naturally."
Along with this kindly, innocent sexuality went a vulnerability; Monroe's characters were often humiliated at the expense of a voyeuristic pleasure, whether being lassoed like a cow in "Bus Stop" (1956) or exposing herself unknowingly in "Some Like It Hot" (1959). At the height of her fame, Monroe sensed the limited range of her screen persona and clearly desired to change it: "To put it bluntly, I seem to be a whole superstructure without a foundation." Forming Marilyn Monroe Productions in 1956, she produced "Bus Stop" and "The Prince and The Showgirl" (1957). But her personal problems, with failed marriages to baseball star Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller and increasing reliance on drugs to combat depression and physical ailments, served to forestall any serious change in her career.
The public wanted Marilyn as they had discovered her in 1953, and that was what they got in "Let's Make Love" (1960). She was still capable of memorable work, especially with top directors like Billy Wilder ("Some Like It Hot") and John Huston ("The Misfits"), but her personal demons, or precarious involvement with people in high places, eventually overwhelmed her. On August 5, 1962, she was found dead of an overdose of sleeping pills. Monroe's was a tragedy in which her public, the media and the Hollywood power brokers all share blame. As Laurence Olivier once remarked, "Popular opinion and all that goes to promote it is a horribly unsteady conveyance for life, and she was exploited beyond anyone's means."
Freddie Denmark played by David Wayne
The son of an insurance salesman, David Wayne attended Western Michigan University. While working as a statistician in Cleveland, Wayne became attracted to the local theatrical activity. Auditioning for a Shakespearean repertory company, he won the role of Touchstone in As You Like It, which he performed before an audience for the first time at the 1935 Cleveland Exposition. In 1938, he made his first New York stage appearance in Escape This Night. Classified 4F at the outbreak of World War II, Wayne volunteered for the ambulance corps, subsequently serving as a Red Cross driver in North Africa. His theatrical career really began to pick up steam after the war: cast as Og the Leprechaun in the 1947 musical hit Finian's Rainbow, he became the first actor ever to win a Tony Award. The following year, he created the role of Ensign Pulver in Mister Roberts, and in 1955 he was seen as Okinawan interpreter Sakini in Teahouse of the August Moon.
While all of his major stage roles went to other actors in the film versions, Wayne enjoyed a substantial movie career of his own. Though he made his screen debut in 1947's Portrait of Jennie, Wayne was given "and introducing" billing in the Tracy/Hepburn comedy Adam's Rib (1949), in which he played capricious composer Kip Lurie. After playing Joe, cartoonist Bill Mauldin's mud-caked infantryman, in Universal's Up Front (1951), Wayne spent most of his screen time at 20th Century-Fox, where, among other things, he did two co-starring stints with Marilyn Monroe (1952's We're Not Married, 1953's How to Marry a Millionaire), played theatrical impresario Sol Hurok in Tonight We Sing (1953), starred as a tragedy-plagued small-town barber in the underrated Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie (1953) and portrayed schizophrenic Joanne Woodward's long-suffering husband in Three Faces of Eve (1957). One of Wayne's co-stars during his Fox years was Una Merkel, who once remarked "I loved David Wayne. I think he's one of the finest actors we have. He's so good they don't know what to do with him."
One place where they evidently did know what to do with Wayne was television, where he worked steadily from 1948 onward. Besides playing such prominent personages as Andrew Carnegie, Mark Twain and even "Old Scratch" (in a 1961 telecast of The Devil and Daniel Webster), he appeared in classic individual episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Twilight Zone, played "special guest villain" The Mad Hatter on Batman, and was a regular on the weekly series Norby (1955), The Good Life (1973), Ellery Queen (1975, as Inspector Queen), Dallas (1978), and House Calls (1980). In addition, Wayne appeared with New York's Lincoln Center Repertory, and was one of the hosts of the NBC weekend radio potpourri Monitor. Curtailing his activities in the late 1980s, David Wayne retired altogether in 1993, after the death of his wife of 51 years. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Eben played by Rory Calhoun
A chance meeting with Alan Ladd led to a film career for Rory Calhoun, a rangy, likable leading man who started out billed as Frank McCown before settling on his permanent moniker. Best remembered for his work in the Westerns and action pictures, he acted in a wide variety of movies, portraying eligible bachelors in modern-day comedies like "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953) and "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1955), as well as venturing into period fare for "The Colossus of Rhodes" (1961) and the title role in "Marco Polo" (1962). Calhoun's cowboy credits included the comedy-Western, "A Ticket to Tomahawk" (1950) and a series of films that he produced (with Victor Orsatti) and starred in, "Domino Kid", "The Hired Gun" (both 1957) and "Apache Territory" (1958), all directed by Ray Nazarro. He solidified his Western standing as star of the CBS series, "The Texan" (1958-60), which he also produced with Orsatti. Calhoun has acted in some laughers like "The Night of the Lepus" (1972) and "Angel" (1984), but has balanced those with appearances in the popular CBS miniseries, "The Blue and the Gray" (1982), and features like "Bad Jim" (1990) and "Pure Country" (1992). During the 80s, he also ventured into the realm of daytime drama, playing a judge with political connections on the CBS series "Capitol".
Tom Brookman played by Cameron Mitchell
Burly, tough-guy leading man and character actor famous as the hard-drinking, hardworking Buck Cannon on the TV series "High Chaparral". Mitchum began appearing in films in 1945 and, after playing many character roles and occasional leads in B action films and Westerns, began to make some headway after playing Happy, one of Willy Loman's (Fredric March) sons in a film adaptation of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" (1951). A breakthrough into big-budget, big-star films came when he was one of the three male consorts paired up with Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall in "How to Marry a Millionaire" (1953). (He got Grable.) Prominent leads--as in "Love Me or Leave Me" (1955), opposite Doris Day and James Cagney--continued for a number of years, though Mitchell also frequently played second lead, romantic rival, supportive chum or sometime supporting villain in many films as well.
Although he never fully achieved star status in features, Mitchell remained prolific until the early 1990s, with nearly 100 feature credits to his name. As with many other aging leading man, he began to make films in Europe during the 1960s, and played more character roles as the years passed. Some of Mitchell's more notable films during the latter part of his career include Monte Hellman's unusual Western, "Ride in the Whirlwind" (1966) and other features including "Buck and the Preacher" (1972), "The Swarm" (1978), "My Favorite Year" (1982) and "Code Name Vengeance" (1989). Though many of his credits are decidedly minor fare--29 of them during his last decade of work alone--Mitchell brought intelligence, grit and commitment to his roles, appearing in action films, horror thrillers and other similar items until shortly before his death.
J. Stewart Merrill played by Alexander D'Arcy
Egyptian actor Alex D'Arcy made his first film in Europe in 1928, and shortly thereafter appeared in Hitchcock's Champagne (1928). Frequently cast as urbane gentleman or smooth rogues, D'Arcy appeared prominently in such French films as A Nous a Liberte (1931) and Carnival in Flanders (1937) before crossing the ocean to make movies in Hollywood. D'Arcy's best English-speaking screen role of the '30s was as Irene Dunne's amorous music teacher in The Awful Truth (1937), in which he was hilariously beaten to a pulp by jealous husband Cary Grant. After his turn as Marilyn Monroe's "dream husband" in How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), D'Arcy's roles lessened in importance; perhaps his gigolo image was out of step with the more down-to-Earth '50s. By 1962, he was more often cast in tiny roles in Hollywood comedies like Jerry Lewis' Way...Way Out (1967) and character parts in such European sleaze as Fanny Hill (1964). He also showed up in horror films, notably It's Hot in Paradise (1962) and in the title role of Blood of Dracula's Castle (1969). Evidently a favorite of such cult directors as Roger Corman, Russ Meyer and Sam Fuller, D'Arcy was given a few shining moments in Corman's St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1967), Meyer's The Seven Minutes (1971) and Fuller's Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1972). Alex D'Arcy was married several times during his long career; one of his wives was '30s leading lady Arleen Whelan. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Waldo Brewster played by Fred Clark
Bald, dour character player from the Broadway stage, who first played heavies but soon established himself as a comic actor. Famous for his slow burn, his air of authority and exasperation, Clark often played irrascible businessmen. He also co-starred on TV as pompous neighbor Harry Morton on "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" (1951-53).
J.D. Hanley played by William Powell
Best remembered as Nick Charles of the "Thin Man" series, the usually mustachioed Powell was the epitome of the suave, urbane yet streetwise Hollywood leading man. He first appeared on screen in 1922's "Sherlock Holmes", opposite Basil Rathbone, and played a variety of roles in silent days, a sizable number of them as villains in Westerns and many of them "ethnic" in nature, before he began playing leading roles near the end of the silent period (as in Josef von Sternberg's "The Last Command" 1928).
William Powell really became an important new star (and, not coincidentally, fully "Americanized" in a mainstream way) though, after the advent of talkies. A key player of his era, always most comfortable wearing a dinner jacket and brandishing a martini, Powell represented a midway point between the tough-talking Lower East side grittiness of James Cagney and the smooth, upper class sophistication of Fred Astaire and Noel Coward. With his crisp, staccato line delivery, Powell made a very smooth transition to sound, stardom and a full-fledged star persona alike with successes at Paramount as roguish but often honorable playboys and roues in films like "Street of Chance" (1930) and "Ladies Man" (1931). A brief stay at Warner Bros., meanwhile, played up his debonair side in "Jewel Robbery" (1932), his wisecracking ability in "Lawyer Man" (1932), and his surprisingly romantic sincerity in the brisk but moving "One Way Passage" (1932).
With MGM for most of his career after 1934, Powell starred opposite some of Hollywood's most glamorous leading ladies, including Joan Crawford ("The Last of Mrs. Cheyney" 1937), Marilyn Monroe ("How to Marry a Millionaire" 1953), Jean Harlow ("Libeled Lady" 1936) and Hedy Lamarr ("Crossroads" 1942). An especially well-remembered landmark came when he co-starred with Carole Lombard, to whom he had been married from 1931 to 1933, in the influential if slightly overrated screwball comedy, "My Man Godfrey" (1936), with Powell in fine form as a sane butler mixed up with a family of wealthy lunatics.
Powell's most famous screen teaming, though, was of course with ideal co-star Myrna Loy, who played Nora Charles, descended from money but eager for adventure, and always pushing ex-detective Nick into murder cases. The duo made 13 joint appearances between 1933 and 1947; besides getting tipsy while solving mysteries as Nick and Nora, the team shared credits including such non-"Thin Man" comedies as "I Love You Again" (1940) and "Love Crazy" (1941) and the solid drama "Evelyn Prentice" (1934). Great friends off the set as well, Powell and Loy brought an intelligently wry, offhandedly affectionate nature to their romantic banter. Their maturity (Powell was nearly 40 before he became a major star) often led to their being cast as a married couple, and together they delightfully suggested that wedlock need not be mutual henpecking or mere plot resolution but rather something bracing, romantic and fun in and of itself.
One of Powell's most notable performances came late in his prolific and durable star reign, as the crusty, authoritative yet affectionate father in the sweetly nostalgic but not cutesy "Life with Father" (1947). It brought him his third Oscar nomination as Best Actor (after "The Thin Man" and "My Man Godfrey") and reaffirmed just how good an actor Powell was, much more than a man with a patented snappy delivery and a sharp demeanor who sometimes got good dialogue to recite. Powell continued in films into the mid-1950s with important roles in "The Girl Who Had Everything" (1953) and "Mister Roberts" (1955) and subsequently led a very quiet retired life with wife Diana Lewis.