Paul Powell (director)

{{Infobox person

| name = Paul Powell

| image = Paul Powell - Dec 1922 ETR.jpg

| image_size = 125px

| caption = Powell in 1922

| birth_name = Paul Mahlon Powell

| birth_date = {{birth date|1881|09|06|mf=yes}}

| birth_place = Peoria, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1944|07|02|1881|09|06|mf=yes}}

| death_place = Pasadena, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale

| alma_mater = Bradley Polytechnic Institute

| othername = Paul M. Powell

| occupation = Journalist, director, producer, screenwriter and actor

| yearsactive = 1914–1930

| spouse = {{marriage|Valerie Smith|1903|1944}}

| children = 1

}}

Paul Mahlon Powell (September 6, 1881 – July 2, 1944) was an American journalist, director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Powell was most active during the silent film era and is best known for directing Mary Pickford in Pollyanna (1920).

Career

Born in Peoria, Illinois, Powell was one of six children of Charles Henry and Anna Clara Powell (née von Schoenheider). His father was a publisher who founded the Peoria Evening Star. Powell was educated in Peoria and later attended Bradley Polytechnic Institute. After graduation, he worked at his father's newspaper as a typesetter and editor before becoming a reporter.{{cite book|last1=Derby|first1=George |last2=White|first2=James Terry|title=The National Cyclopædia of American Biography|volume=33|year=1947|publisher=J. T. White|page=348}}

In the early 1900s, Powell worked as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Express. In 1910, he quit his job as a reporter to work in the film industry. The following year, he became the assistant of director and screenwriter Wilbert Melville. In 1914, D. W. Griffith hired Powell to be the director of Mutual Film Corporation films. Two years later, Griffith hired Powell to direct features for Triangle-Fine Arts Film Corporation. While working for Triangle-Fine Arts, Powell directed Mary Pickford in the film adaptation of the 1913 novel Pollyanna. The film was a tremendous success and grossed $1.1 million upon its release.{{cite book|editor=Fischer, Lucy|title=American Cinema of the 1920s: Themes and Variations|year=2009|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-813-54485-4|page=38}}{{cite book|last=Forster|first=Merna|title=100 Canadian Heroines: Famous and Forgotten Faces|year=2004|publisher=Dundurn Press|isbn=1-459-71431-8|page=206}} Powell also supported a young Rudolph Valentino while working on films such as A Society Sensation and All Night, who later recalled "He was the first to say, 'Stick to it and you'll make a name for yourself.'"{{cite journal |last=Valentino |first=Rudolph |date=April 1923 |title=My Life Story |url=https://archive.org/stream/photoplayjanjune00chic_1#page/n177/mode/2up |journal=Photoplay |location=New York |publisher=Photoplay Publishing Company |access-date=August 21, 2015 }} Valentino later became one of the silent era's most cherished stars.

Powell's final films in the late 1920s and 1930 were musical comedy shorts for Pathé Exchange.

Death

He died in Pasadena, California, on July 2, 1944.{{cite book|last=Slide|first=Anthony|authorlink=Anthony Slide|title=The Kindergarten Of the Movies: A History Of the Fine Arts Company|year=1980|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=0-810-81358-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/kindergartenofmo0000slid/page/157 157]|url=https://archive.org/details/kindergartenofmo0000slid/page/157}} He was survived by his wife Valerie Smith (whom he married in 1903), and their daughter Janice. His remains are interred at the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of Providence at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.