In the 1930s , Dick Powell was the juvenile lead in the Warner backstage musicals opposite such rising stars as Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell. After his career in musicals, he was cast in private-eye roles and became a producer and director for both TV and movies. He was a vocalist with Charlie Davis's orchestra before entering film. Interned at Desert Memorial Park, Palm Springs, California. Father of Ellen Powell, from his marriage to Joan Blondell. He adopted Joan's son, Norman S. Powell in February 1938. Died on the same day as Jack Carson. They had different forms of cancer. Father of Dick Powell Jr. from his marriage to June Allyson. His parents were Ewing and Sallie Rowena Thompson Powell. His brother Luther Powell was born October 30, 1906, and died August 15, 1996. His brother Howard Smith Powell was born October 13, 1899, and died in January, 1986. He was yet another casualty of the 1956 film The Conqueror (1956) filmed near a nuclear test site in Utah. Many of the people involved with the film, including Powell, who directed, eventually died of cancer, either caused by, or exacerbated by, working on it. Others included actors John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Ted de Corsia, and Agnes Moorehead. His daughter Pamela Powell was adopted during his marriage to June Allyson. As of early 2007, his birthplace in the small town of Mountain View, AR still stands on the north side of Main Street. It's a modest circa 1895 house (sadly in a state of benign neglect) with a wraparound porch with a small historical marker and a badly weathered display out in front that details his 1936 engagement to Joan Blondell, marriage to June Allyson and more recent death of his brother.
