Powers, Tom

Powers, Tom (1890–1955), actor and singer. The handsome, versatile performer was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his debut in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as Dave in In Mizzoura in 1911, came to New York in 1915, and the following year scored personal successes in two short‐lived plays, Mr. Lazarus and Mile‐a‐Minute Kendall. Turning to musical comedy, Powers enjoyed a long run as George Budd in Oh, Boy! (1917), in which he introduced “Till the Clouds Roll By.” Another success came as the mate‐swapping Leonard Chadwick in Why Not? (1922). Shortly thereafter, Powers joined the Theatre Guild, performing such roles as Gregers Werle in The Wild Duck (1925), the Captain in Androcles and the Lion (1925), Napoleon in The Man of Destiny (1926), and Bluntschli in Arms and the Man (1926). His other noteworthy roles included the street cleaner Archie Inch in White Wings (1926), the novelist Charles Marsden in Strange Interlude (1928), and King Magnus in The Apple Cart (1930). While Powers remained active until the mid‐1940s, the rest of his career was occupied largely either with failures, with road companies, or in replacing other performers, including Orson Welles, whom he succeeded as Brutus in the Mercury Theatre mounting of Julius Caesar in 1938.