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timeless-hollywood-classics · 3 years

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Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American singer, actor, voice actor, film producer, film director and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into a hardboiled leading man starring in projects of a more dramatic nature. He was the first actor to portray the private detective Philip Marlowe on screen.

Powell was born the middle son of three boys in Mountain View, the seat of Stone County in northern Arkansas. His brothers were Luther (the eldest), and Howard (the youngest). The family moved the boys to Little Rock in 1914, where Powell sang in church choirs and with local orchestras, and started his own band. Powell attended the former Little Rock College, before he started his entertainment career as a singer with the Royal Peacock Band which toured throughout the Midwest.

During this time, he married Mildred Maund, a model, but she found being married to an entertainer not to her liking. After a final trip to Cuba together, Mildred moved to Hemphill, Texas, and the couple divorced in 1932. Later, Powell joined the Charlie Davis Orchestra, based in Indianapolis. He recorded a number of records with Davis and on his own, for the Vocalion label in the late 1920s.

Powell moved to Pittsburgh, where he found great local success as the Master of Ceremonies at the Enright Theater and the Stanley Theater.

In April 1930, Warner Bros. bought Brunswick Records, which at that time owned Vocalion. Warner Bros. was sufficiently impressed by Powell's singing and stage presence to offer him a film contract in 1932. He made his film debut as a singing bandleader in Blessed Event.[4]

He was borrowed by Fox Film to support Will Rogers in Too Busy to Work (1932). He was a boyish crooner, the sort of role he specialised in for the next few years. Back at Warners he supported George Arliss in The King's Vacation, then was in 42nd Street (both 1933), playing the love interest for Ruby Keeler. The film was a massive hit.

Warners got him to basically repeat the role in Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), another big success. So too was Footlight Parade (1933), with Keeler and James Cagney.

Powell was upped to star for College Coach (1933), then went back to more ensemble pieces including 42nd Street, Convention City (both 1933), Wonder Bar, Twenty Million Sweethearts, and Dames (all 1934).[3]

Happiness Ahead was more of a star vehicle for Powell, as was Flirtation Walk (both 1934). He was top-billed in Gold Diggers of 1935 and Broadway Gondolier (both 1935), both with Joan Blondell. He supported Marion Davies in Page Miss Glory (1935), made for Cosmopolitan Pictures, a production company financed by Davies' lover William Randolph Hearst, who released through Warners.

Warners gave him a change of pace, casting him as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935).

More typical was Shipmates Forever (1935) with Keeler. 20th Century Fox borrowed him for Thanks a Million (1935); back at Warners, he did Colleen (1936) with Keeler and Blondell. Powell was reunited with Marion Davies in another for Cosmopolitan, Hearts Divided (1936), playing Napoleon's brother.

He made two films with Blondell, Stage Struck (1936) and Gold Diggers of 1937 (1937). 20th Century Fox then borrowed him again for On the Avenue (1937).

Back at Warners, he appeared in The Singing Marine, Varsity Show (both 1937), Hollywood Hotel, Cowboy from Brooklyn, Hard to Get, Going Places (all 1938), and Naughty but Nice (1939). Fed up with the repetitive nature of these roles, Powell left Warner Bros and went to work for Paramount Pictures.

At Paramount, he and Blondell were cast together again, in the drama I Want a Divorce (1940). Then Powell got a chance to appear in another non-musical, Christmas in July (1940), a screwball comedy which was the second feature directed by Preston Sturges.

Universal borrowed him to support Abbott and Costello in In the Navy (1941), one of the most popular films of 1941. At Paramount he had a cameo in Star Spangled Rhythm and co-starred with Mary Martin in Happy Go Lucky (both 1943). He supported Dorothy Lamour in Riding High (1943).

He was in a fantasy comedy directed by René Clair, It Happened Tomorrow then went over to MGM to appear opposite Lucille Ball in Meet the People (both 1944), which was a box office flop.

During this period, Powell starred in the musical programme Campana Serenade, which was broadcast on NBC radio (1942–1943) and CBS radio (1943–1944).

By 1944, Powell felt he was too old to play romantic leading men anymore,[citation needed] so he lobbied to play the lead in Double Indemnity. He lost out to Fred MacMurray, another Hollywood nice guy. MacMurray's success, however, fueled Powell's resolve to pursue projects with greater range.

Powell's career changed dramatically when he was cast in the first of a series of films noir, as private detective Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet, directed by Edward Dmytryk at RKO. The film was a big hit, and Powell had successfully reinvented himself as a dramatic actor. He was the first actor to play Marlowe – by name – in motion pictures. (Hollywood had previously adapted some Marlowe novels, but with the lead character changed.) Later, Powell was the first actor to play Marlowe on radio, in 1944 and 1945, and on television, in a 1954 episode of Climax! Powell also played the slightly less hard-boiled detective Richard Rogue in the radio series Rogue's Gallery beginning in 1945.

In 1945, Dmytryk and Powell reteamed to make the film Cornered, a gripping, post-World War II thriller that helped define the film noir style.

For Columbia, he played a casino owner in Johnny O'Clock (1947) and made To the Ends of the Earth (1948). In 1948, he stepped out of the brutish type when he starred in Pitfall, a film noir in which a bored insurance company worker falls for an innocent but dangerous woman, played by Lizabeth Scott.

He broadened his range appearing in a Western, Station West (1948), and a French Foreign Legion tale, Rogues' Regiment (1949). He was a Mountie in Mrs. Mike (1950).

From 1949 to 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 likable private detective with a quick wit. Many episodes ended with Detective Diamond having an excuse to sing a little song to his date, showcasing Powell's vocal abilities. Many of the episodes were written by Blake Edwards. When Richard Diamond came to television in 1957, the lead role was portrayed by David Janssen, who did no singing in the series. Prior to the Richard Diamond series, he starred in Rogue's Gallery. He played Richard Rogue, private detective. The Richard Diamond tongue-in-cheek persona developed in the Rogue series.

Powell took a break from tough-guy roles in The Reformer and the Redhead (1950), opposite wife June Allyson. Then it was back to tougher movies: Right Cross (1950), a boxing film, with Allyson; Cry Danger (1951), as an ex con; The Tall Target (1951), at MGM directed by Anthony Mann, playing a detective who tries to prevent the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

He returned to comedy with You Never Can Tell (1951). He had a good role in MGM's popular melodrama, The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). His final film performance was in a romantic comedy Susan Slept Here (1954) for director Frank Tashlin.

Even when he appeared in lighter fare such as The Reformer and the Redhead and Susan Slept Here (1954), he never sang in his later roles. The latter, his final onscreen appearance in a feature film, did include a dance number with co-star Debbie Reynolds.

By this stage Powell had turned director. His feature debut was Split Second (1953) at RKO Pictures. He followed it with The Conqueror (1956), coproduced by Howard Hughes starring John Wayne as Genghis Khan. The exterior scenes were filmed in St. George, Utah, downwind of U.S. above-ground atomic tests. The cast and crew totaled 220, and of that number, 91 had developed some form of cancer by 1981, and 46 had died of cancer by then, including Powell and Wayne.

He directed Allyson opposite Jack Lemmon in You Can't Run Away from It (1956). Powell then made two war films at Fox with Robert Mitchum, The Enemy Below (1957) and The Hunters (1958).

In the 1950s, Powell was one of the founders of Four Star Television, along with Charles Boyer, David Niven, and Ida Lupino. He appeared in and supervised several shows for that company. Powell played the role of Willie Dante in Four Star Playhouse, in episodes entitled "Dante's Inferno" (1952), "The Squeeze" (1953), "The Hard Way" (1953), and "The House Always Wins" (1955). In 1961, Howard Duff, husband of Ida Lupino, assumed the Dante role in a short-lived NBC adventure series Dante, set at a San Francisco nightclub called "Dante's Inferno".

Powell guest-starred in numerous Four Star programs, including a 1958 appearance on the Duff-Lupino sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve. He appeared in 1961 on James Whitmore's legal drama The Law and Mr. Jones on ABC. In the episode "Everybody Versus Timmy Drayton", Powell played a colonel having problems with his son. Shortly before his death, Powell sang on camera for the final time in a guest-star appearance on Four Star's Ensign O'Toole, singing "The Song of the Marines", which he first sang in his 1937 film The Singing Marine. He hosted and occasionally starred in his Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater on CBS from 1956–1961, and his final anthology series, The Dick Powell Show on NBC from 1961 through 1963; after his death, the series continued through the end of its second season (as The Dick Powell Theater), with guest hosts.

Powell was the son of Ewing Powell and Sallie Rowena Thompson.

He married three times:

Mildred Evelyn Maund (b. 1906, d. 1967). The couple married in 1925, and appear on the 1930 census in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Powell was working in a theater, and on a 1931-passenger list for the SS Oriente, returning from Havana, Cuba. They divorced in 1932, although Mildred retained her married name.

Joan Blondell (married September 19, 1936, divorced 1944). He adopted her son from a previous marriage, Norman Powell, who later became a television producer; the couple also had one child together, Ellen Powell.

June Allyson (August 19, 1945, until his death, January 2, 1963), with whom he had two children, Pamela (adopted) and Richard Powell, Jr.

Powell's ranch-style house was used for exterior filming on the ABC TV series, Hart to Hart. Powell was a friend of Hart to Hart actor Robert Wagner and producer Aaron Spelling. The estate, known as Amber Hills, is on 48 acres in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles.

Powell enjoyed general aviation as a private pilot.

On September 27, 1962, Powell acknowledged rumors that he was undergoing treatment for cancer. The disease was originally diagnosed as an allergy, with Powell first experiencing symptoms while traveling East to promote his program. Upon his return to California, Powell's personal physician conducted tests and found malignant tumors on his neck and chest.

The marker on Dick Powell's niche in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California incorrectly identifies his year of death as 1962. Powell died at the age of 58 on January 2, 1963. His body was cremated and his remains were interred in the Columbarium of Honor at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. In a 2001 interview with Larry King, Powell's widow June Allyson stated that the cause of death was lung cancer due to his chain smoking.

It has been speculated that Powell developed cancer as a result of his participation in the film The Conqueror, which was filmed at St. George, Utah, near a site used by the U.S. military for nuclear testing. As well as Powell, who directed the film, about a third of the actors who participated in the film developed cancer, including John Wayne and Susan Hayward.

During the 15th Primetime Emmy Awards on May 26, 1963, the Television Academy presented a posthumous Television Academy Trustee Award to Dick Powell for his contributions to the industry. The award was accepted by two of his former partners in Four Star Television, Charles Boyer and David Niven.

Dick Powell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6915 Hollywood Blvd.

#dick powell #classic hollywood #classic movie stars #golden age of hollywood #old hollywood #singer #1930s hollywood #1940s hollywood #1950s hollywood #hollywood legend

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londontheatre · 7 years

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Tom and Danielle – Grease

Grease is the word! Full casting is announced for the hit 70s musical, which returns this year for a UK tour. Casting for the tour includes Tom Parker (The Wanted) who makes his musical theatre debut playing Danny Zuko, Danielle Hope (Over the Rainbow winner) who plays Sandy, Louisa Lytton (Strictly Come Dancing, EastEnders) who plays Rizzo and Darren Day* (Celebrity Big Brother) who returns to Grease to play Teen Angel seventeen years after playing Danny in the West End.

Completing the cast are Tom Senior as Kenickie, Michael Cortez as Sonny, Oliver Jacobson as Roger, Ryan Heenan as Doody, Callum Evans as Eugene, Lauren Atkins as Marty, Rosanna Harris as Jan, Rhiannon Chesterman as Frenchy, Gabriella Williams as Patty and Ailsa Davidson as Lynch. The ensemble includes Charlotte Coggin, Anthony Hughes, Alessia McDermott, Natasha Mould, Anna Murray, George Olney, Rory Phelan and Grant Thresh.

Since opening on Broadway in 1972 and the smash hit movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Netown-John, Grease’s place has been firmly established in the cultural Hall of Fame, having seduced the hearts of millions with its back-to-back sizzling tunes. It’s the original high-school musical featuring everyone’s favourite characters- Sandy, Danny, the groovy T Birds, the sassy Pink Ladies and the whole gang at Rydell High – and all the unforgettable songs from the hit movie including You’re The One That I Want, Grease Is The Word, Summer Nights, Hopelessly Devoted to You, Sandy, Greased Lightnin’ and many more.

Voted the “No 1 Greatest Musical”**, Grease has proved that a musical love story, bursting with denim, cheerleaders, slick hairstyles, rock’n’roll, 1950’s pop culture and an irresistible mix of teenage angst and young romance is timeless and universal. Grease is the ultimate feel-good, pick-me-up musical – an electrifying extravaganza, packed with fun, energy and vibrant physicality. The show is guaranteed to thrill audiences and leave everyone hand-jiving the night away with “A-wop-bop-a-loo-bop, a wop-bam-boom!”

This award-winning production originally opened in the West End in 1993 where it enjoyed a hugely successful run of 6 years at the Dominion and Cambridge Theatres. The show has since toured throughout the world playing to sell-out audiences and breaking box office records everywhere, having been seen by over 12 million people in the UK alone.

Tom Parker has amassed worldwide success with his band The Wanted, achieving two UK number 1s and 9 top 10 singles as well as 4 Billboard 100 singles, with Glad You Came placing in the top 5 and selling over 900,000 records. The band have had three platinum albums, two sold out arena tours, and 3 million singles sold in America. Tom is also a winner of BBC Radio 1’s Teen Choice Award and US People’s Choice Award with The Wanted.

Danielle Hope made her professional debut as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, after capturing the hearts of the country and winning the BBC’s smash hit Over The Rainbow having competed against over 9,000 girls. She went on to star as Eponine in the West End production of Les Miserables(Queen’s Theatre) – a role to which she most recently returned, Cathy in The Last Five Years (Greenwich Theatre & Warren Theatre, Brighton), Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (National Tour) and Maria Rainer in The Sound of Music (National Tour).

Louisa Lytton trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and secured her first professional role as the innocent schoolgirl Ruby Allen in EastEnders. Following this Louisa joined The Bill, playing the inexperienced and shy police officer Beth Green. She has since enjoyed a host of varied roles, from parts in the internationally successful American Pie franchise, to the British Shakespeare Company’s productions of both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Much Ado About Nothing. Most recently she has appeared in the new prime-time ITV comedy drama The Edge of Heaven, filmed a thriller due to be released in Oct 2017 called Fractured, appeared in the Canadian period drama Murdoch Mysteries and starred in the touring production of Swap!. Aside from acting, Louisa reached the quarter-finals in the fourth series of Strictly Come Dancing, and subsequently toured the country as part of the sold-out Strictly Come Dancing arena tour. She also represented the UK in the 2008 Eurovision Dance Contest. Louisa recently took park in Channel 4’s The Jump.

Darren Day made his stage debut playing Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in the West End and on tour internationally establishing him as a star of the stage. His many other leading West End credits include Don in Summer Holiday and Tony in Copacabana. On tour he has played the title role in Alfie, Billy Bigelow in Carousel, Pip in Great Expectations, Jesus in Godspell, Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Cornelius Hackle in Hello Dolly and Khashoggi in We Will Rock You. Darren is also a recognised recording artist and a prominent face on television both as an actor and presenter. His television credits include Holby City, Crime Stories, Doctors, The Bill, Mile High, Harry Hill’s Extreme Soap and French and Saunders. He is also known for his role as Hollyoaks bad-guy Danny Houston and won the hearts of viewers when he became a finalist in the 2016 series of Celebrity Big Brother.

Written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey, directed by David Gilmore (Daisy Pulls It Off, Happy Days, Song & Dance, Footloose) and choreographed by Arlene Phillips (Starlight Express, Saturday Night Fever, Flashdance The Musical & BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing), designed by Terry Parsons, with costumes by Andreane Neofitou. Grease is presented by Paul Nicholas and David Ian.

TOUR DETAILS Palace Theatre, Manchester 10 March – 25 March 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 3019

New Theatre, Oxford 28 March – 1 April 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 3020

Liverpool Empire, Liverpool 3 April – 8 April 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 3017

Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea 11 April – 15 April 2017 Website: http://ift.tt/1MwTxRZ Box Office: 01702 351135

New Wimbledon Theatre, Wimbledon 24 April – 29 April 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 7646

Sunderland Empire, Sunderland 1 May – 6 May 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 3022

King’s Theatre, Glasgow 9 May – 20 May 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 7648

Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent 22 May – 27 May 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 7649

Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham 29 May – 3 June 2017 Website: http://ift.tt/14iJTzX Box Office: 0844 338 5000

Bristol Hippodrome, Bristol 5 June – 10 June 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 3012

Mayflower Theatre, Southampton 27 June – 8 July 2017 Website: www.mayflower.org.uk Box Office: 02380 711811

New Victoria Theatre, Woking 10 July – 15 July 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 7645

Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff 17 July – 29 July 2017 Website: www.wmc.org.uk Box Office: 029 2063 6464

Bord Gáis Energey Theatre, Dublin 1 August – 12 August 2017 Website: http://ift.tt/RbxcU5 Box Office: +353 (1) 677 7999

Venue Cymru, Llandudno 14 August – 19 August 2017 Website: www.venuecymru.co.uk Box Office: 01492 872000

Princess Theatre, Torquay 21 August – 26 August 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 3023

Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes 28 August – 2 September 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 7652

Edinburgh Playhouse, Edinburgh 11 September – 16 September 2017 Website: www.atgtickets.com Box Office: 0844 871 3014

Regent Theatre, Ipswich 2 October – 7 October 2017 Website: http://ift.tt/2jpVQ5j Box Office: 01473 433100

His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen 13 November – 18 November 2017 Website: http://ift.tt/1jmKzrs Box Office: 01224 641 122

Orchard Theatre, Dartford 21 November – 25 November 2017 Website: http://ift.tt/2g26dbf Box Office: 01322 220 000

Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton 27 November – 2 December 2017 Website: http://ift.tt/13yobvr Box Office: 01902 429 212

Further tour dates to be announced. *Darren will be playing all venues up until 29 April 2017. ** (100 Greatest Musicals, Channel 4)

http://ift.tt/2jpZHiW LondonTheatre1.com

#IFTTT #LondonTheatre1.com

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