Romantic singing lead of Warner Bros. musicals of the 1930s who brought his ringing tenor and his cherubic, boyish looks to such Busby Berkeley-choreographed extravaganzas as "42nd Street", "Footlight Parade" (both 1933) and "Dames" (1934), forming a popular romantic team opposite Ruby Keeler. Powell later moved into straight comedies such as Preston Sturges' witty and charming "Christmas in July" (1940) and had a few lean career years before becoming a key interpreter of tough-guy film noir roles in the mid-40s. Powell's definitive "hard-boiled" role was as Raymond Chandler's private eye