Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell (14 November 1904 – 2 January 1963) was an American singer, actor, film producer, film director, and studio head. Born in Mountain View, Arkansas in 1904, he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, but he later transformed into a hardboiled leading man in dramatic projects. During the 1950s, he became a director, and, while filming The Conqueror near a nuclear test site in Utah, he and 91 other cast members developed cancer. He died in Los Angeles, California in 1963 at the age of 58. He was a notable Hollywood Republican.