born July 29, 1892, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.
died March 5, 1984, Palm Springs, Calif.
U.S. film actor.
He acted on Broadway from 1912 and made his screen debut in Sherlock Holmes (1922). Powell played villains in the silent movies, and with the coming of sound he moved into light mysteries, playing his first detective in The Canary Murder Case (1929). An intelligent, debonair leading man, he became a top star as the sophisticated, bemused detective Nick Charles, opposite Myrna Loy , in the hit The Thin Man (1934) and its successful sequels. His later notable films include The Great Ziegfeld (1936), My Man Godfrey (1936), and Life with Father (1947).