POWERS, TOM

(1890-1955)

Owensboro, Kentucky-born Tom Powers attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA), after which he appeared in a Pennsylvania production ofIn Mizzoura(1911). He gained notice in two New York productions,Mr. LazarusandMile-a-Minute Kendall, both in 1916, then made an auspicious debut in musicals, introducing Jerome Kern's "Till the Clouds Roll By" inOh, Boy! (1917). Most of his subsequent work was in nonmusicals, with notable performances inWhy Not? (1922) and in Theatre Guild productions of Henrik Ibsen'sThe Wild Duck(1925) and three George Bernard Shaw plays:Androcles and the Lion(1925),The Man of Destiny(1926), andArms and the Man(1926). Powers scored later successes in Philip Barry's comedyWhite Wings(1926) and in Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer PRizE-winning dramaStrange Interlude(1928). He replaced Orson Welles* in the Mercury Theatre* production ofJulius Caesar(1938). He also had a lengthy motion picture career, appearing most memorably as the victim inDouble Indemnity(1944).