Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was a film actor, producer, director, and singer, born in 1904 to Ewing Powell and Sallie Thompson. He began his career as a singer and band leader in the early 1920s; in 1932 Warner Brothers offered him a contract and his first film role. In 1940, after appearing in many romantic comedies, Powell signed with Paramount Pictures. In 1944, he was cast as the detective Philip Marlowe in the first of a series of film noir productions that cemented his reputation as a dramatic actor.