Want to know the best William Powell movies? How about the worst William Powell movies? Curious about William Powell’s box office grosses or which William Powell movie picked up the most Oscar® nominations? Need to know which William Powell movie got the best reviews from critics and audiences and which got the worst reviews? Well you have come to the right place….because we have all of that information.
William Powell (1892-1984) seems to be only remembered for two film roles: Nick Charles in 6 Thin Man movies (1934-1947) and as the good-hearted father in 1947’s Life With Father. Those are only two of many great movie performances in movie career that lasted almost 35 years and produced almost 100 movies. It is hard not to mention Myrna Loy when discussing Powell. He and Loy appeared in 14 movies together….their screen partnership was one of the most successful screen duos ever!
His IMDb page shows 96 acting credits 1922-1955. This page will rank William Powell movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, his many shorts and cameos were not included in the rankings.
William Powell Movies Ranked In Chronological Order With Ultimate Movie Rankings Score (1 to 5 UMR Tickets) *Best combo of box office, reviews and awards.
William Powell Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort William Powell movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort William Powell movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost
- Sort William Powell movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort William Powell movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each William Powell movie received and how many Oscar® wins each William Powell movie won.
- Sort William Powell movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
Adjusted Worldwide Box Office Grosses – William Powell Movies
Hi, Bruce.
Some trivia for you to include:
William Powell was married to Carole Lombard and was already divorced from her when they made My Man Godfrey together. He asked for her specifically as his costar, showing he was a high class man who was interested in movies being the best they can be.
Because of his large number of films costarring Myrna Loy,people assumed they were a real life couple and during the making and publicity of Libeled Lady ,the hotels would register them in bedrooms next to each other. But it was actually Jean Harlow who was dating William Powell. They were planning to get married, but she died. He went into a deep depression after that.
He battled and survived lung cancer.
I have to say that I have never really cared for Life For Father. I think it is because his character reminds me of men I have actually known I can’t stand to be around them. However, I must say that any movie William Powell is in is worth seeing at least once.
Regarding The Ex Mrs. Bradford, this is one film that I have only seen once. I cannot watch it. However, the reason has nothing to do with the quality of the film. It is because there is a black widow spider in it. I am terrified of spiders. The only movie with a big spider I can watch is Badlands and that is because I know exactly when it is coming and I can look at the ceiling. I cannot do this somehow with the Powell movie. One of the few pre-Craig Bond films I have not seen is due entirely to this problem. I have not seen Dr. No. I have tried.
My top five films are:
The Thin Man
Libeled Lady
My Man Godfrey
How To Marry a Millionaire
The Kennel Murder Case
The first two The Thin Man movies are better than the last two. Every movie he made with Loy outside the series is worth multiple viewings with perhaps Manhatten Melodrama which is more notorious than well made. But because of Dillinger seeing it, it made big bucks.
Other movie titles that should be included if you can find the money made are:
His Philo Vance movies were a popular series:
The Canary Murder Case
The Green Murder Case
The Benson Murder Case
Paramount on Parade
I’ve seen most of these
and finally. consider adding::
The Girl Who Had Everything. He plays Elizabeth Taylor’s father.
Cheers, Flora
Hey Flora.
1. I will be including that trivia….when I return to this page. His career was so long….and with so many movies…..it seems I might never get to a point that I am happy with the page.
2. Sorry you did not enjoy Life With Father. Compared to his roles in the 1930s…..he almost seemed to be a different actor in that one.
3. Thanks for the heads up on The Ex-Mrs. Bradford. Dr. No has a very famous spider scene.
4. I have only seen 2 of your Top 5…The Thin Man and My Man Godfrey. I will have to make sure I see the other three. Somehow I was not even aware that he was in How To Marry A Millionaire. That should be the easiest one to track down.
5. I agree with you about Manhattan Melodrama….it seems only famous because of Dillenger….not sure I have ever heard that it was a good movie. Kind of sad that Dillenger’s last movie was a weak one. He went out with a bang ….but not when it comes to his last movie.
6. I will try and find the movies you listed…..on the first few checks…..there appears to be very little on his Philo Vance movies……but the search will continue.
7. The Girl Who Had Everything…is on the table….all the way down in 35th place.
8. Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions….as always they are greatly appreciated.
Hope all is going well this holiday season for you.
Hi, Bruce.
I will write more about Powell, one of my all-time favourites later as I am behind and do want to spend a lot of time on him. I will say that I have seen 30 of these 36 films.
Flora
Hey Flora. 30 out of 36…pretty impressive. Seeing you are such a Powell fan…which movies are ones missing…that I need to include. Look forward to your return. Thanks for stopping by.
It’s an excellent idea.In addition, I love william powell. I’m a big fan of the thin man, and his its association with myrna loy was awesome.
Hey laurent. Glad you like this idea….I should be able to triple my output by doing it this way….and if people start commenting heavily on a subject…then I can go back and do the rest of the missing movies. Thanks for stopping by.
Looks good to me. This might be only a partial list, but I think it is the best Powell page out there. 36 movies is a career to me. As for your question. Either way works for me. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the thoughts S & S. 36 movies is a decent total. I just write this pages for the casual fan and the serious fan. I like the fact that almost all the time the movie can be found on my page. Then again researching movies that I have never heard of before and made very little impact on the movie world is not a ton of fun.
A good rundown of William Powell’s best known films, with facts and stats, what more can you want? I’ve seen 13 of the 32 films you’ve listed. I bought all the Thin Man movies on DVD a couple of years ago. An enjoyable series of films. I think you’ve done a page on Myrna Loy already.
I was expecting to see Mister Roberts top the moviescore, instead I see Life With Father, okay its one of Powell’s most famous films but Mister Roberts was acclaimed and a bit hit too. Has Powell won any Oscars? Nice work Bruce, no need to add more films. Voted up.
Hey Steve…..thanks for checking out my Powell demo….fighting the urge to finish the page….which was not the reason for doing it this way. Of the Powell movies listed I am at 9 movies watched. Powell was nominated 3 times but he did not win. Life With Father was the pinnacle of his career. It got him box office glory, great reviews, an Oscar nomination and was one of the biggest hits of the 1940s. I love Mister Roberts…but his role is a supporting one….but it still finished 2nd in the rankings….ultimately it was a great way for Powell to end his movie career. Powell lived another 29 years after making Mister Roberts…I wonder if he thought about returning at some point. As always I appreciate your comments and suggestions.