Tom Powers(1890-1955)
- Actor
- Writer
After attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Kentucky-born
Tom Powers signed with Vitagraph Pictures at 21 years of age, in 1911.
He stayed there for two years, then shortly thereafter traveled to
England, appearing there in both stage productions and films. When he
returned to the US he made a few more pictures, but stopped making
movies in 1917 and concentrated exclusively on stage work. He didn't
appear onscreen again until 1944, when he acceded to
Billy Wilder's request to play Mr.
Dietrichson, Barbara Stanwyck's doomed
husband, in
Assurance sur la mort (1944). He made
up for lost time over the next 12 years, appearing in dozens of
pictures--often as a detective, army officer, District Attorney or
other authority figure--until 1955, when he died of heart failure in
November of that year (his last film,
The Go-Getter (1956), was released
after his death).
