Lee Powell (actor)

Lee Powell (born Lee Berrian Powell; May 15, 1908 Long Beach, California – July 30, 1944 Tinian) was a film actor known for leading or other major roles in several serials and b-westerns. He was the first actor to portray The Lone Ranger on Film. During World War II he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and participated in combat on several Pacific Islands, on one of which he died.[1]

Lee Powell
Lobby card for Hi-Yo Silver starring Lee Powell as the Lone Ranger
Born(1908-05-15)May 15, 1908
Long Beach, California
DiedJuly 30, 1944 (aged 36)
Tinian, Mariana Islands
OccupationFilm actor

Film career

Powell attended the University of Montana with dramatics, football, and track as his main interests. After various stock work he tried his luck in Hollywood.[2]

Making his first appearance uncredited in Under Two Flags (1936), Powell gained fame for playing the suspect who turned out to be The Lone Ranger and one of The Fighting Devil Dogs in 1938 serials. He was the first actor to portray the Lone Ranger on film. In addition to making films for Republic Pictures, Powell also appeared in Universal Pictures Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe serial, made one Western for the soon-to-be-defunct Grand National Pictures and made the six Western programmer films of the Frontier Marshals series, in which each of the three leads (the others being Bill "Cowboy Rambler" Boyd and Art Davis) played a lawman bearing his own name, for Producers Releasing Corporation. Between films Powell also appeared in Barnett Brothers circus being billed as The Lone Ranger until litigation had him change his billing. Powell met and married Norma Rogers, a circus bareback rider and the daughter of the circus owner.[3]

Marine Corps career

Powell enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on 17 August 1942, serving in the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, 18th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. Achieving the rank of sergeant, Powell actively fought in the Battle of Tarawa and Battle of Saipan.

Excerpt from the US Marine Corps Muster Roll for 2nd Battalion of the 18th Marine Regiment, July 1944

Although he was widely reported to have been killed in action, one source claims he died of poisoning on Tinian, while celebrating the combat victory at that site, as the result of drinking an alcohol concoction that also temporarily blinded another Marine.[1] Another source, Fred Goerner, a CBS correspondent, while conducting research for his later best seller "The Search for Amelia Earhart,"[4] (1966) had a discussion with a former Marine who participated in the Battles of Saipan and Tinian. (June/July 1944) That Marine told Goerner that Lee Powell died after drinking poisoned sake. The monthly muster roll of his unit, the 2nd Battalion of the 18th Marines, notes that on July 30, 1944, Powell "died as a result of wood alcohol poisoning, not in line of duty, not result of own misconduct."[5]

Initially buried on Tinian, Powell's remains were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1936Under Two FlagsUncredited
1937Forlorn RiverDuke – Henchman
1937The Last GangsterFederal ManUncredited
1938The Lone RangerAllen KingSerial
1938The Fighting Devil DogsLieutenant Tom GraysonSerial
1938Come On, RangersRanger Earp
1939Trigger PalsStormy
1940Flash Gordon Conquers the UniverseCaptain RokaSerial
1941The Lone Rider Rides OnCurly Robbins
1941The Return of Daniel BooneTax Collector Fuller
1942Texas Man HuntMarshal Lee Clark
1942Raiders of the WestMarshal Lee Powell
1942I Was FramedUncredited
1942Rolling Down the Great DivideMarshal Lee Powell
1942Tumbleweed Trail
1942Secret EnemiesAgent Outside HotelUncredited
1942Prairie PalsMarshal Lee Powell
1942Along the Sundown Trail
1944The Adventures of Mark TwainCowboyUncredited, (final film role)

References
  1. "Lee Powell". b-westerns.com. Retrieved 2008-09-06., citing STARS IN THE CORPS – Movie Actors in the United States Marines by James E. Wise, Jr., and Anne Collier Rehill (ISBN 1557509492, Naval Institute Press, 1999), pages 164-165
  2. Rainey, Buck (2005). Serial Film Stars: A Biographical Dictionary 1912–1956. McFarland and Company. p. 595. ISBN 0-7864-2010-3.
  3. Elephants & The Lone Ranger In York
  4. Personal Notes of Fred Goerner, Goerner Collection, National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, TX
  5. Ancestry.com. U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
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