Warren William
Warren William was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code". He was the first actor to play Perry Mason.
Early life
Warren William Krech's family originated in Bad Tennstedt, Thuringia, Germany. His grandfather, Ernst Wilhelm Krech, fled Germany in 1848 during the Revolution, going first to France and later emigrating 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 in New York City in October 1915.
As his senior year at AADA was coming to an end, the United States had entered the First World War, 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 older than he was. 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, who appeared in his first Broadway play in 1920, soon made a name for himself in New York, and appeared in more than 20 plays on Broadway between 1920 and 1931. During this period he also appeared in two silent films, The Town That Forgot God and Plunder.He moved from New York City to Hollywood in 1931. The Village Voice called him "The King of Pre-Code". 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, crafty lawyers, and outright charlatans. These roles were considered controversial, yet they were highly satisfying. This was the harshest period of the Great Depression, characterized by massive business failures and oppressive unemployment. Movie audiences jeered at the businessmen, who were often portrayed as predators.
William did play some sympathetic roles, including Dave the Dude in Frank Capra's Lady for a Day, and a loving father and husband cuckolded by Ann Dvorak's character in Three on a Match. He was a young songwriter's comically pompous older brother in Golddiggers of 1933. William was Julius Caesar in Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra, and with Colbert again the same year as her character's love interest in Imitation of Life. He played the swashbuckling musketeer d'Artagnan in The Man in the Iron Mask, directed by James Whale.
in The Case of the Lucky Legs, with Genevieve Tobin and Patricia Ellis
The studios capitalized on William's popularity by placing him in multiple "series" films, particularly as detectives and crime-solvers. 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, beginning with The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt, and appeared as Detective Philo Vance in two of the series films,The Dragon Murder Case and the comedic The Gracie Allen Murder Case . He also starred as Sam Spade in Satan Met a Lady, the second screen version of 'The Maltese Falcon'.
Other roles included Mae West's manager in Go West, Young Man, a jealous district attorney in another James Whale film, Wives Under Suspicion, copper-magnate Jesse Lewisohn in 1940's Lillian Russell, the evil Jefferson Carteret in Arizona, and sympathetic Dr. Lloyd in The Wolf Man. In 1945, he played Brett Curtis in cult director Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 modern-day version of Hamlet, called Strange Illusion. In what would be his last film, he played Laroche-Mathieu in The Private Affairs of Bel Ami in 1947.
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, "... 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
Stage
Note: The list below is limited to New York/Broadway theatrical productions; listed as Warren William, except where noted| Production run | Title | Role | Notes | |
| Mar 29, 1920 - May 1920 | Mrs. Jimmie Thompson | Edgar Blodgett | as Warren W. Krech | |
| Jan 24, 1921 - Jan 1921 | John Hawthorne | John Hawthorne | as Warren W. Krech | |
| Nov 09, 1921 - Nov 1921 | We Girls | Doctor Tom Brown | as Warren W. Krech | |
| Feb 12, 1924 - Apr 1924 | The Wonderful Visit | Sir John Gotch, K.B.E. | ||
| Apr 16, 1924 - Jun 1924 | Expressing Willie | George Cadwalader | ||
| Feb 16, 1925 - Feb 1925 | Nocturne | Keith Reddington | ||
| Mar 24, 1925 - Apr 1925 | The Blue Peter | David Hunter | ||
| May 05, 1925 - May 1925 | Rosmersholm | Johannes Rosmer | ||
| Nov 16, 1925 - Apr 1926 | Twelve Miles Out | Gerald Fey | ||
| Mar 18, 1926 - Apr 1926 | Easter One More Day | Elis | ||
| Sep 21, 1926 - Nov 1926 | Fanny | Joe White | Starring Fanny Brice | |
| Dec 26, 1927 - Jan 1928 | Paradise | Dr. Achilles Swain | ||
| Mar 13, 1928 - Mar 1928 | Veils | Mr. Robert Sloan | ||
| Apr 24, 1928 - Apr 1928 | The Golden Age | The Stranger | ||
| Dec 11, 1928 - Jan 1929 | Sign of the Leopard | Captain Leslie | ||
| Feb 19, 1929 - Dec 1929 | Let Us Be Gay | Bob Brown | Replaced by Barry O'Neill for unknown number of performances | |
| Oct 22, 1929 - Oct 1929 | Week-End | Brett Laney | ||
| Feb 08, 1930 - Feb 1930 | Out of a Blue Sky | Paul Rana | ||
| May 12, 1930 - May 1930 | The Vikings | Sigurd | ||
| Oct 06, 1930 - Oct 1930 | Stepdaughters of War | Geoffrey Hilder | ||
| Nov 19, 1930 - Jun 1931 | The Vinegar Tree | Max Lawrence |