This wonderful couple made an astounding 14 films together, making them one of Hollywood's most prolific couples. They first paired up in 1934's Manhattan Melodrama, alongside Clark Gable. Their scenes together showed natural born chemistry and MGM quickly paired them up for the classic film The Thin Man. Their witty banter as fun loving couple Nick and Nora Charles was such a huge hit, they made 5 more sequels over the next 13 years. And it's one of the most beloved film series of all time. You see them progress from recently married to Nora giving birth to Nick Jr to meeting Nick's family and so on. And you cared about them through-out the entire series.
In between The Thin Man films, Powell and Loy would make several other films including Best Picture winner of 1936 The Great Ziegeld, Evelyn Prentice, Love Crazy, Double Wedding and the classic screwball farce Libeled Lady, co-starring Spencer Tracy and Jean Harlow. For their last film together, Loy turned up in a cameo as Powell's wife in the final scene of The Senator Was Indiscreet (1947). For her one day of work, Loy received a brand new cadillac and the final screen pairing of her and Powell was done.
Powell and Loy made 13 of their 14 films for MGM and one for Universal. Their 13 films at MGM are a record a screen team making major studio pictures. And they set the standard for fun loving married couples that would grace the big and small screens for years to come. Powell himself tried different variations of Nick Charles with other actresses such as Ginger Rogers in Star Of Midnight (1935) and Jean Arthur in The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936). And while those are two good films with solid leading women, they are no Thin Man and no Myrna Loy. It just shows that the chemistry Powell and Loy had together was amazing. And it's no slam toward Rogers or Arthur. I mean Ginger and Fred would dance circles around Powell and Loy in a musical because that was their strength. And Jean was positively sensational when paired with Jimmy Stewart. Anyway, I would rank Powell and Loy as my 2nd favorite screen couple of all time, right behind Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. Good company to be in.
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