"Debonair" is a word as alien in describing 99.9 percent of today's movie heroes as are the adjectives "clean-shaven," "gentlemanly" and "polished." But there was a time in the world of motion pictures when "debonair"--which, according to Webster means "gracious and charming, carefree and jaunty, of good disposition"-- was not only a highly prized image but one sought after by most actors, a quality of immense appeal to the majority of people who bought movie tickets. The hearts of women, particularly in the pre-Brando/Clift/Dean era of the 1950s, beat fastest over middle-aged fellows up on the silver screen who were classically debonair--making them idealized romantic objects as popular at the time as today's edgier, younger Brad Pitts, Matt Damons, George Clooneys and Ryan Goslings.

Among the favorites of that bygone time were sturdy, unthreatening, seemingly sensible fellows such as Walter Pidgeon, Melvyn Douglas, George Brent, Joel McCrea, Herbert Marshall, Leslie Howard, Ray Milland, Brian Aherne, Warren William, Joseph Cotten and their innumerable peers. Now and then a more danger-induced mass of muscles would come along and make hearts flutter at least temporarily (think: Victor Mature, John Payne, Wayne Morris). But the sturdy fellows "of a certain age" with politeness and polish were the ones who, long ago and far away, were appreciated most as movie heroes.

Two in particular always seem to stand out in leading the pack of the debonairs. One is Fred Astaire, the master of movie musicals who did the impossible: he managed to look totally comfortable even when dancing in a tuxedo. The other standout is our TCM Star of the Month for December, the suave and extremely classy William Powell, most famous today as Nick Charles, the martini-guzzling super-sleuth hero of the popular The Thin Man movie series (1934-1947), but someone whose film career began back in the silent screen days of 1922 before he triumphed equally well in sound films, where twice he played legendary Broadway impressario Florenz Ziegfeld (in 1936's The Great Ziegfeld and 1946's Ziegfeld Follies). Five times he also made big points as another private eye, Philo Vance.

He costarred in 14 films with the magnificent Myrna Loy and could boast of having worked with a great mix of leading ladies who ran the gamut from Jean Harlow in the 1930s to Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s, and also included Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Hedy Lamarr and Carole Lombard (the last being the lady with whom he starred in the great 1936 screwball comedy classic My Man Godfrey, two years after they were divorced in real life).

This month on TCM we'll be bringing you Powell in 39 films, including all six Thin Man adventures on Dec. 22, most of the aforementioned movies, the delightful 1947 ode to the papas of the world, Life with Father, as well as Powell's very last film, 1955's Mister Roberts, in which he ended his illustrious career on a high note at age 63 before retiring to Palm Springs. He lived there graciously until the age of 91--debonair to the very end.

by Robert Osborne