Dick Powell was one of the most versatile and talented performers to emerge during the "studio" system of Hollywood's golden age. He began as a hopeful big-band singer, but came to fame in Warner Bros. Busby Berkeley musicals, as a cheap alternative to Bing Crosby. Between 1932-1939, he starred in thirty-one of them. Tired of being trapped in films where he repeatedly played the same character, Powell broke out of musicals and into film noir as the first actor to portray Philip Marlowe in "Murder, My Sweet" in 1944. He parleyed this success into forays into film direction in the 50s, and then television direction and production. He ended up as one of the most influential men in television. This volume presents the life and the accomplishments of one of the most interesting men in the American entertainment industry.