Warren William

Warren William Krech (December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was an American stage and screen actor, who achieved Hollywood stardom during the early 1930s. Later earning the nickname the "King of Pre-Code", According to one critic, "no other actor embodied the classy mix of charm and sleaze that epitomized pre-Code Hollywood." He began as a contract player at Warner Bros. and quickly became a star. He developed a reputation for portraying ruthless, amoral businessmen (Under 18, Skyscraper Souls, The Match King, Employees' Entrance), crafty lawyers (The Mouthpiece, Perry Mason), and outright charlatans (The Mind Reader). These roles were considered controversial, yet 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 (1932). He was a young songwriter's comically pompous older brother in Gold Diggers of 1933. William was Julius Caesar in Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra (1934; starring Claudette Colbert), and with Colbert again the same year as her character's love interest in Imitation of Life (1934). He played the swashbuckling musketeer d'Artagnan in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), directed by James Whale.

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, starring in four Perry Mason mysteries. He played a Raffles-like reformed jewel thief The Lone Wolf in nine films, beginning with The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939), and appeared as Detective Philo Vance in two of the series films, The Dragon Murder Case (1934) and the comedic The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939). He also starred as Sam Spade (renamed Ted Shane) in Satan Met a Lady (1936), the second screen version of The Maltese Falcon.

Other roles included Mae West's manager in Go West, Young Man (1936); a jealous district attorney in another James Whale film, Wives Under Suspicion (1938); copper magnate Jesse Lewisohn in 1940's Lillian Russell; the evil Jefferson Carteret in Arizona (also 1940); and the sympathetic Dr. Lloyd in The Wolf Man (1941). 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."

Personal life

Although on-screen William was an actor audiences loved to hate, off-screen he was a private man, and he and his wife Helen kept out of the limelight. She and Warren 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, "[He] ... was an old man – even when he was a young man."

Filmography +YearTitleRoleStudio/DistributorNotes 1923 The Town That Forgot God Eben, the carpenterFox Filmas 'Warren Krech' Plunder Mr. Jones George B. Seitz Productionsas 'Warren Krech'15-episode Pearl White silent serial 1931 Honor of the Family Captain Boris BaronyFirst National Pictures Expensive Women Neil HartleyWarner Bros. Pictures 1932 Three on a Match Robert KirkwoodFirst National Pictures Hal Samson Blake Skyscraper Souls David DwightMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Vincent DayWarner Bros. Pictures Paul KrollFirst National Pictures Beauty and the Boss Baron Josef von UllrichWarner Bros. Pictures The Woman from Monte Carlo Lieutenant d'OrtellesFirst National Pictures Under Eighteen Raymond HardingWarner Bros. Pictures 1933 Goodbye Again Kenneth BixbyFirst National Pictures Lady for a Day Dave the DudeColumbia Pictures The Mind ReaderChandra ChandlerFirst National Pictures Gold Diggers of 1933 J. Lawrence BradfordWarner Bros. Pictures Employees' Entrance Kurt AndersonFirst National Pictures Just Around the Corner Mr. Sears General ElectricPromotional short 1934 Robert SheldonWarner Bros. Pictures Cleopatra Julius CaesarParamount Pictures Dr. Monica John BradenWarner Bros. Pictures Smarty Tony Wallace Imitation of Life Stephen ArcherUniversal Pictures Perry MasonWarner Bros. PicturesFirst film depiction of Perry Mason Philo VanceFirst National Pictures Bedside Bob Brown Upper World Alex StreamWarner Bros. Pictures 1935 Living on Velvet Walter "Gibraltar" PritchamFirst National Pictures Don't Bet on Blondes Odds OwenWarner Bros. Pictures Perry MasonFirst National Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures 1936 Satan Met a Lady Ted ShaneWarner Bros. Pictures Go West, Young Man MorganMajor Pictures Corp. Major Allan ChepstowWarner Bros. Pictures Perry MasonFirst National Pictures Times Square Playboy Vic ArnoldWarner Bros. Pictures Stage Struck Fred HarrisFirst National Pictures 1937 Outcast Dr. Wendell Phillips JonesMajor Pictures Corp. Midnight Madonna Blackie Denbo Madame X Bernard FleuriotMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Major de Rouchemont 1938 Wives Under Suspicion District Attorney Jim StowellUniversal Pictures Harry BordenMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Arsène Lupin Returns Steve Emerson 1939 Philo VanceParamount Pictures Michael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Day-Time Wife Bernard Dexter20th Century Fox The Man in the Iron Mask d'ArtagnanEdward Small Productions 1940 Lillian Russell Jesse Lewisohn20th Century Fox Trail of the Vigilantes Mark DawsonUniversal Pictures Michael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Arizona Jefferson Carteret 1941 Dr. LloydUniversal Pictures Michael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Secrets of the Lone Wolf Wild Geese Calling Blackie Bedford20th Century Fox 1942 Counter-EspionageMichael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Wild Bill Hickok Rides Harry FarrelWarner Bros. Pictures 1943 One Dangerous NightMichael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Passport to Suez 1945 Strange Illusion Brett CurtisProducers Releasing Corporation 1946 Fear Police Capt. BurkeMonogram Pictures 1947 Laroche-MathieuUnited Artists

Partial stage credits Note: The list below is limited to New York/Broadway theatrical productions; listed as Warren William, except where noted