Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963)[1] was an American actor, singer, musician, producer, 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.

Back at Warner Bros., he supported George Arliss in The King's Vacation, then was in 42nd Street (both 1933), playing the love interest for Ruby Keeler.

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).

Back at WB, he appeared in The Singing Marine and 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 WB and went to work for Paramount Pictures.

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.

In 1944, 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, which was a box-office flop.

[7] 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 (1944), directed by Edward Dmytryk at RKO.

Also 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).

From 1949 to 1953, Powell played the lead role in the NBC radio theater production Richard Diamond, Private Detective.

Many episodes ended with Detective Diamond having an excuse to sing a little song to his date, showcasing Powell's vocal abilities.

Then he was back to tougher movies: Right Cross (1950), a boxing film with Allyson; Cry Danger (1951), as an ex-convict; The Tall Target (1951), at MGM directed by Anthony Mann, playing a detective who tries to prevent the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

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.

[12] The marker on Dick Powell's niche in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, incorrectly identifies his year of death as 1962.

[14] However, 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.