| Lee Powell (actor) | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 15, 1908 Long Beach, California |
| Died | July 30, 1944 (aged 36) Tinian, Mariana Islands |
| Occupation | Film actor |
Lee Powell (born Lee Berrian Powell on May 15, 1908 Long Beach, California - died July 30, 1944 Tinian) was a film actor famed for the leading roles in several serials. During World War II he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps seeing action on several Pacific Islands and died of alcohol poisoning.[1]
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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. 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]
Powell enlisted in the Corps on 17 August 1942 serving in the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, 18th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division. Sergeant Powell fought in the Battle of Tarawa and Battle of Saipan. Although widely reported to have been killed in action against the enemy, he died of alcohol poisoning on Tinian as the result of a concoction that also temporarily blinded another Marine.[1]
Initially buried on Tinian, Powell's remains were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.