DICK POWELL COLLECTIONOLD TIME RADIO - 8 CD - 203 mp3 - Total Playtime: 100:04:15Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American singer, 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 hardbitten leading man starring in projects of a more dramatic nature.Born in Mountain View, the seat of Stone County in northern Arkansas, Powell attended the former Little Rock College in the state capital, before he started his entertainment career as a singer with the Charlie Davis Orchestra, based in the midwest. 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. He went on to star as a boyish crooner in movie musicals such as 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, Flirtation Walk, and On the Avenue, often appearing opposite Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell.Powell desperately wanted to expand his range but Warner Bros. wouldn't allow him to do so, although they did (mis)cast him in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) as Lysander. This was to be Powell's only Shakespearean role and one he did not want to play, feeling that he was completely wrong for the part. Inscrutably, the young actor felt that he was too old to play romantic leading men anymore, and 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.In 1944, Powell's career changed forever 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. 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 re-teamed to make the film Cornered, a gripping, post-WWII thriller that helped define the film noir style. He became a popular "tough guy" lead appearing in movies such as Johnny O'Clock and Cry Danger. But 1948 saw him step out of the brutish type when he starred in Pitfall, a film noir that sees a bored insurance company worker fall for an innocent but dangerous woman, played by Lizabeth Scott. 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 costar Debbie Reynolds.From 1949–1953, 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.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. 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's film The Enemy Below (1957), based on the novel by Denys Rayner, won the Academy Award For Special Effects.Powell also directed The Conqueror (1956), 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 Wayne. This cancer rate is about three times higher than one would expect in a group of this size and many have argued that radioactive fallout was the cause.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 growths on his neck and chest.Powell died from lymphoma at the age of fifty-eight on January 2, 1963, seven years after The Conqueror was made. His body was cremated and his remains were interred in the Columbarium of Honor at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.Dick Powell has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6915 Hollywood Blvd.Powell was the son of Ewing Powell and Sallie Rowena Thompson.He was married three times:Mildred Maund (1925–1927) — although most biographies say they were divorced in 1927, there are strong indications this is not true. They appear on the 1930 census in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he is working in a theater, and they appear on a 1931 passenger list where they are returning from Havana, Cuba aboard the SS Oriente.Joan Blondell (married September 19, 1936, divorced 1944), with whom he had two children, Ellen and adopted son NormanJune Allyson (August 19, 1945, until his death), with whom he had two children, Pamela (adopted) and Richard Powell, Jr.Powell's ranch-style house in Mandeville Canyon, Los Angeles, was used as the setting for the television show Hart to Hart. Robert Wagner, the actor who portrayed Jonathan Hart in the series, was a close friend of Powell's. Dick Powell also was a major television player with his own production company, Four Star Television, owning several network shows.EPISODES LISTDisc 1America Calling 41-02-08 A Salute to the Greek NationBill Stern Sports Newsreel 48-08-27 Guest - Dick PowellBing Crosby Show 50-11-08 Chest-Dick PowellCampana Serenade 43-09-04Cavalcade of America 440131 The Sailor Takes a WifeCavalcade of America 480913 GettysburgCavalcade of America 510612 The Silent ServiceChesterfield Show - 50-11-08 Guest - Dick PowellCommand Performance - 42-07-21 Pat O'Brien, Harold Peary, Dick PowellCommand Performance - 43-05-15 Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Martha TiltonCommand Performance - 49-06-21 Evelyn Knight, Dick PowellDave Garroway Show 50-01-09 Mel Torme & Dick PowellDick Powell BiographyEdgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy 49-11-13 Dick PowellEdgar Bergen and Charlie McCarty 54-02-28 June Allyson and Dick PowellFront and Center 47-07-13 Guests - Jack Carson, Dick PowellHollywood Calling 49-07-03 Host- Dick PowellHollywood Hotel 36-12-18 One In a MillionHollywood Is On The Air - Broadway GondolierHollywood Star Time 46-06-08 Murder, My SweetHollywood_Calling 49-07-03 Host Dick PowellLeo is on the Air - Dames (1934)Leo is on the Air - Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)Leo is on the Air - Reckless (1935)Disc 2Lux Radio Theater 36-12-21 The Gold DiggersLux Radio Theater 41-05-19 Model WifeLux Radio Theater 43-01-18 My Gal SalLux Radio Theater 44-05-22 Springtime in the RockiesLux Radio Theater 44-11-20 It Started with EveLux Radio Theater 45-06-11 Murder, My SweetLux Radio Theater 47-05-12 Johnny O'ClockLux Radio Theater 49-05-23 To the Ends of the EarthLux Radio Theater 50-04-24 Mrs MikeLux Radio Theater 55-01-11 Island in the SkyMail Call 43-07-15 Edward G Robinson, Dick Powell, Marion Hutton, Ann MillerMail Call 45-04-04 Jack CarsonMidnighters Club - Guest - Dick PowellPhilco Radio Time 48-03-31 Dick PowellRadio Hall of Fame 45-01-28 EvalinaRecollection at 30 - 561219 Red Skelton DebutRequest Performance 46-04-21 Spring Comes to Central Park - Dick Powell, George Raft, Abbott and CostelloRKO Radio Pictures Presents - Cornered - 46-02-27Sam Spade 50-12-01 The Dog Bed CaperScreen Directors Playhouse 49-10-17 PitfallScreen Guild Theater 39-06-04 Variety-End Gulf Screen Guild ShowScreen Guild Theater 44-04-03 Hello Frisco HelloScreen Guild Theater 44-09-25 It Happened TomorrowSealtest Variety Theater 48-10-21 Happy EndingSmokey the Bear and the Sons of the Pioneers 1959 Guest - Dick PowellSuspense 500223 Slow BurnSuspense 510531 Over DrawnThis I Believe - Dick PowellUN Radio 1953 The Korea Story 1.2 - The Korea StoryUN Radio 1953 The Korea Story 2.2 - The Quiet WarVirginia Gregg BiographyWarner Brothers Air Trailers 1935 Shipmates ForeverYours Truly, Johnny Doll