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Warren William
Broadway and Hollywood actor

Warren William

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
Broadway and Hollywood actor
A.K.A.
King of Pre-Code Warren William Krech
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Aitkin, Aitkin County, Minnesota, U.S.A.
Place of death
Encino, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California
Age
53 years
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code".

Early life

Warren William Krech's family originated in Tennstedt, Saxony, Germany. His grandfather, Ernst Wilhelm Krech (born 1819), fled Germany in 1848 during the Revolution, going first to France and later immigrating to the United States. He wed Mathilde Grow in 1851, and had six children. Freeman E. Krech, Warren's father, was born in 1856.

Around the age of 25, Freeman moved to Aitkin, a small town in Minnesota, where he bought a newspaper, The Aitkin Age, in 1885. He married Frances Potter, daughter of a merchant, September 18, 1890. Their son Warren was born December 2, 1894.

Warren William's interest in acting began in 1903, when an opera house was built in Aitkin. He was also an avid and lifelong amateur inventor, a pursuit that may have contributed to his death. After high school, William auditioned for, and was enrolled in, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) in New York City in October 1915.

As his senior year at AADA was coming to an end, the First World War had begun, and William enlisted in the United States Army. He was assigned from base to base, in charge of training new men at various locations, and in 1918, was assigned to Fort Dix near New York City, in New Jersey. While in New York, he met his future wife, Helen Barbara Nelson, who was 17 years his senior. In October 1918 he left for France, to enter the war. William left the army in early 1919, after which he began working on his acting career. In 1923, he and Helen were married.

Career

William appeared in his first Broadway play in 1920, and had soon made a name for himself in New York. William appeared in 22 plays on Broadway between 1920 and 1931. During this period he also appeared in two silent films, The Town That Forgot God (1922) and Plunder (1923).

William moved from New York City to Hollywood in 1931. He began as a contract player at Warner Bros. and quickly became a star during what is now known as the 'Pre-Code' period. He developed a reputation for portraying ruthless, amoral businessmen (Under 18, Skyscraper Souls, The Match King, Employees Entrance), crafty lawyers (The Mouthpiece, Perry Mason), and outright charlatans (The Mind Reader). These roles were considered controversial yet they were highly satisfying, as this was the harshest period of the Great Depression, characterised by massive business failures and oppressive unemployment; hence audiences tended to jeer the businessmen, who were portrayed as predators.

William did play some sympathetic roles, including "Dave The Dude" in Frank Capra's Lady for a Day, a loving father and husband cuckolded by Ann Dvorak's character in Three on a Match (1932), a young songwriter's comically pompous older brother in Golddiggers of 1933, Julius Caesar in Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra (1934; starring Claudette Colbert in the title role), and with Colbert again the same year as her character's love interest in Imitation of Life (1934). He played the swashbuckling musketeer d'Artagnan in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), directed by James Whale. William was the first to portray Erle Stanley Gardner's fictional defense attorney Perry Mason on the big screen and starred in four Perry Mason mysteries. He played Raffles-like reformed jewel thief The Lone Wolf in nine films for beginning with The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939), and appeared as Detective Philo Vance in two of the series films, The Dragon Murder Case (1934) and the comedic The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939). He also starred as Sam Spade (renamed Ted Shane) in Satan Met a Lady (1936), the second screen version of The Maltese Falcon.

Other roles include Mae West's manager in Go West, Young Man (1936), a jealous District Attorney in another James Whale film, Wives Under Suspicion (1938), copper-magnate Jesse Lewisohn in 1940's Lillian Russell, the evil Jefferson Carteret in Arizona (also 1940), sympathetic Dr. Lloyd in The Wolf Man (1941), Brett Curtis in cult director Edgar G. Ulmer's modern-day version of Hamlet, 1945's Strange Illusion, and as Laroche-Mathieu in The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947), which would be William's last film.

On radio, William starred in the transcribed series Strange Wills, which featured "stories behind strange wills that run the gamut of human emotion."

Death

Although on-screen William was an actor audiences loved to hate, off-screen William was a private man, and he and his wife, Helen, kept out of the limelight. Warren and Helen remained a couple throughout his entire adult life. He was often described as having been shy in real life. Co-star Joan Blondell once said, "[He] ... was an old man – even when he was a young man."

Warren William died on September 24, 1948, from multiple myeloma, at age 53. His wife would die a few months later. He was recognized for his contribution to motion pictures with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February 1960.

Filmography

YearTitleRole
1922town that !The Town that Forgot GodEben
1923Plunder (serial)Mr. Jones
1931Honor of the FamilyCaptain Boris Barony
Expensive WomenNeil Hartley
Under EighteenRaymond Harding
1932woman !The Woman from Monte CarloLieutenant d'Ortelles
Beauty and the BossBaron Josef von Ullrich
mouth !The MouthpieceVincent "Vince" Day
dark !The Dark HorseHal Samson Blake
Skyscraper SoulsDavid "Dave" Dwight
Three on a MatchRobert Kirkwood
match !The Match KingPaul Kroll
1933Just Around the Corner (short film)Mr. Sears
Employees' EntranceKurt Anderson
The Mind Reader"Chandra" Chandler
Gold Diggers of 1933J. Lawrence Bradford
Goodbye AgainKenneth L. "Ken" Bixby
Lady for a DayDave the Dude
1934BedsideBob Brown
Upper WorldAlexander "Alex" Stream
SmartyTony Wallace
Dr. MonicaJohn Braden
dragon !The Dragon Murder CasePhilo Vance
case !The Case of the Howling DogPerry Mason
CleopatraJulius Caesar
Imitation of LifeStephen "Steve" Archer
sectret !The Secret BrideRobert "Bob" Sheldon
1935Living on VelvetWalter "Gibraltar" Pritcham
case !The Case of the Curious BridePerry Mason
Don't Bet on BlondesOscar "Odds" Owen
case !The Case of the Lucky LegsPerry Mason
widow !The Widow from Monte CarloMajor Allan Chepstow
1936Times Square PlayboyVictor "Vic" Arnold
Satan Met a LadyTed Shane
case !The Case of the Velvet ClawsPerry Mason
Stage StruckFred Harris
Go West, Young ManMorgan
1937OutcastDr. Wendell Phillips / Phil Jones
Midnight MadonnaBlackie Denbo
firefly !The FireflyColonel de Rouchemont
Madame XBernard Fleuriot
1938Arsène Lupin ReturnsSteve Emerson
wives !The First Hundred YearsHarry Borden
Wives Under SuspicionDistrict Attorney Jim Stowell
1939lone wolf !The Lone Wolf Spy HuntMichael Lanyard/"The Lone Wolf"
gracie !The Gracie Allen Murder CasePhilo Vance
man in !The Man in the Iron Maskd'Artagnan
Day-Time WifeBernard "Barney" Dexter
1940lone wolf !The Lone Wolf Meets a LadyMichael Lanyard
Lillian RussellJesse Lewisohn
lone wolf !The Lone Wolf StrikesMichael Lanyard
ArizonaJefferson Carteret
lone wolf !The Lone Wolf Keeps a DateMichael Lanyard
1941Trail of the VigilantesMark Dawson / George Trent
lone wolf !The Lone Wolf Takes a ChanceMichael Lanyard
Wild Geese CallingBlackie Bedford
Secrets of the Lone WolfMichael Lanyard
wolf !The Wolf ManDr. Lloyd
1942Wild Bill Hickok RidesHarry Farrel
Counter-EspionageMichael Lanyard
1943One Dangerous NightMichael Lanyard
Passport to SuezMichael Lanyard
1945Strange IllusionBrett Curtis
1946FearPolice Capt. Burke
1947private !The Private Affairs of Bel AmiLaroche-Mathieu

Broadway performances

YearTitleRole
1920Mrs. Jimmie ThompsonEdgar Blodgett
1921John HawthorneJohn Hawthorne
We GirlsDoctor Tom Brown
1924The Wonderful VisitSir John Gotch, K.B.E.
Expressing WillieGeorge Cadwalder
1925NoctureKeith Reddington
The Blue PeterDavid Hunter
RosmersholmJohannes Rosmer
1926Twelve Miles OutGerald Fey
Easter One More DayElis
FannyJoe White
1928ParadiseDr. Achilles Swain
VeilsMr. Robert Sloan
The Golden AgeThe Stranger
1929Sign of the LeopardCaptain Leslie
Let Us Be GayBob Brown
Week-EndBrett Laney
1930Out of a Blue SkyPaul Rana
The VikingsSigurd
Stepdaughters of WarGeoffrey Hilder
1931The Vinegar TreeMax Lawrence
The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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