Warren William Krech (December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was an American stage and screen actor, who achieved Hollywood stardom during the early 1930s. Later earning the nickname the "King of Pre-Code", he typified the cunning, often-amoral leading men of early sound cinema. According to one critic, "no other actor embodied the classy mix of charm and sleaze that epitomized pre-Code Hollywood." He was also the first actor to portray fictional lawyer Perry Mason.
Early life William was born in Aitkin, Minnesota, in 1894, to parents of German ancestry. His family originated in Bad Tennstedt, Thuringia, Germany. His grandfather, Ernst Wilhelm Krech (born 1819), fled Germany during the first year of the German revolutions of 1848–49, going first to France and later emigrating to the United States. He wed Mathilde Grow in 1851, and had six children. Freeman E. Krech, Warren's father, was born in 1856. Around the age of 25, Freeman moved to Aitkin, a small town in Minnesota, where he bought a newspaper, The Aitkin Age, in 1885. He married Frances Potter, daughter of a merchant, September 18, 1890. Their son Warren was born December 2, 1894.
William's interest in acting began in 1903, when an opera house was built in Aitkin. He was an avid and lifelong amateur inventor and was personally involved in working his farm, pursuits that may have contributed to his death by exposing him to a variety of dangerous contaminants, ranging from sawdust to DDT, and held a patent on the first lawn vacuum. After high school, William auditioned for, and was enrolled in, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) in New York City in October 1915.
As his senior year at AADA was coming to an end, the United States had entered the First World War, and William enlisted in the United States Army. He was assigned from base to base, in charge of training new men at various locations, and in 1918 was assigned to Fort Dix, New Jersey, near New York City. During this period, he met his future wife, Helen Barbara Nelson, who was 17 years his elder. In October 1918, William's unit was deployed to the front in France, and the war ended one month later. William's military service ended in 1919, after which he embarked on an acting career. In 1923, he and Helen were married.
Career
William appeared in his first Broadway play in 1920, and soon made a name for himself in New York. Between 1920 and 1931 he appeared in more than 20 plays on Broadway, and in two silent films, The Town That Forgot God (1922) and Plunder (1923).
He moved from New York City to Hollywood in 1931. Looking back at his career in 2011, The Village Voice christened him "The King of Pre-Code". He began as a contract player at Warner Bros. and quickly became a star. He developed a reputation for portraying ruthless, amoral businessmen (Under 18, Skyscraper Souls, The Match King, Employees' Entrance), crafty lawyers (The Mouthpiece, Perry Mason), and outright charlatans (The Mind Reader). These roles were considered controversial, yet were highly satisfying. This was the harshest period of the Great Depression, characterized by massive business failures and oppressive unemployment. Movie audiences jeered at the businessmen, who were often portrayed as predators.
William did play some sympathetic roles, including Dave the Dude in Frank Capra's Lady for a Day, and a loving father and husband cuckolded by Ann Dvorak's character in Three on a Match (1932). He was a young songwriter's comically pompous older brother in Gold Diggers of 1933. William was Julius Caesar in Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra (1934; starring Claudette Colbert), and with Colbert again the same year as her character's love interest in Imitation of Life (1934). He played the swashbuckling musketeer d'Artagnan in The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), directed by James Whale.
The studios capitalized on William's popularity by placing him in multiple "series" films, particularly as detectives and crime solvers. William was the first to portray Erle Stanley Gardner's fictional defense attorney Perry Mason on the big screen, starring in four Perry Mason mysteries. He played a Raffles-like reformed jewel thief The Lone Wolf in nine films, beginning with The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939), and appeared as Detective Philo Vance in two of the series films, The Dragon Murder Case (1934) and the comedic The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939). He also starred as Sam Spade (renamed Ted Shane) in Satan Met a Lady (1936), the second screen version of The Maltese Falcon.
Other roles included Mae West's manager in Go West, Young Man (1936); a jealous district attorney in another James Whale film, Wives Under Suspicion (1938); copper magnate Jesse Lewisohn in 1940's Lillian Russell; the evil Jefferson Carteret in Arizona (also 1940); and the sympathetic Dr. Lloyd in The Wolf Man (1941). In 1945, he played Brett Curtis in cult director Edgar G. Ulmer's 1945 modern-day version of Hamlet, called Strange Illusion. In what would be his last film, he played Laroche-Mathieu in The Private Affairs of Bel Ami in 1947.
On radio, William starred in the transcribed series Strange Wills, which featured "stories behind strange wills that run the gamut of human emotion."
Personal life
Although on-screen William was an actor audiences loved to hate, off-screen he was a private man, and he and his wife Helen kept out of the limelight. She and Warren remained a couple throughout his entire adult life. He was often described as having been shy in real life. Co-star Joan Blondell once said, "[He] ... was an old man – even when he was a young man."
Death William died on September 24, 1948, from multiple myeloma, at age 53. His wife died a few months later. He was recognized for his contribution to motion pictures with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in February 1960.
Filmography +YearTitleRoleStudio/DistributorNotes 1923 The Town That Forgot God Eben, the carpenterFox Filmas 'Warren Krech' Plunder Mr. Jones George B. Seitz Productionsas 'Warren Krech'15-episode Pearl White silent serial1931 Honor of the Family Captain Boris BaronyFirst National Pictures Expensive Women Neil HartleyWarner Bros. Pictures1932 Three on a Match Robert KirkwoodFirst National Pictures Hal Samson Blake Skyscraper Souls David DwightMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Vincent DayWarner Bros. Pictures Paul KrollFirst National Pictures Beauty and the Boss Baron Josef von UllrichWarner Bros. Pictures The Woman from Monte Carlo Lieutenant d'OrtellesFirst National Pictures Under Eighteen Raymond HardingWarner Bros. Pictures1933 Goodbye Again Kenneth BixbyFirst National Pictures Lady for a Day Dave the DudeColumbia Pictures The Mind ReaderChandra ChandlerFirst National Pictures Gold Diggers of 1933 J. Lawrence BradfordWarner Bros. Pictures Employees' Entrance Kurt AndersonFirst National Pictures Just Around the Corner Mr. Sears General ElectricPromotional short1934 Robert SheldonWarner Bros. Pictures Cleopatra Julius CaesarParamount Pictures Dr. Monica John BradenWarner Bros. Pictures Smarty Tony Wallace Imitation of Life Stephen ArcherUniversal Pictures Perry MasonWarner Bros. PicturesFirst film depiction of Perry Mason Philo VanceFirst National Pictures Bedside Bob Brown Upperworld Alex StreamWarner Bros. Pictures1935 Living on Velvet Walter "Gibraltar" PritchamFirst National Pictures Don't Bet on Blondes Odds OwenWarner Bros. Pictures Perry MasonFirst National Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures1936 Satan Met a Lady Ted ShaneWarner Bros. Pictures Go West, Young Man MorganMajor Pictures Corp. Major Allan ChepstowWarner Bros. Pictures Perry MasonFirst National Pictures Times Square Playboy Vic ArnoldWarner Bros. Pictures Stage Struck Fred HarrisFirst National Pictures1937 Outcast Dr. Wendell Phillips JonesMajor Pictures Corp. Midnight Madonna Blackie Denbo Madame X Bernard FleuriotMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Major de Rouchemont1938 Wives Under Suspicion District Attorney Jim StowellUniversal Pictures Harry BordenMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Arsène Lupin Returns Steve Emerson1939 Philo VanceParamount Pictures Michael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Day-Time Wife Bernard Dexter20th Century Fox The Man in the Iron Mask d'ArtagnanEdward Small Productions1940 Lillian Russell Jesse Lewisohn20th Century Fox Trail of the Vigilantes Mark DawsonUniversal Pictures Michael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Arizona Jefferson Carteret1941 Dr. LloydUniversal Pictures Michael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Secrets of the Lone Wolf Wild Geese Calling Blackie Bedford20th Century Fox1942 Counter-EspionageMichael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Wild Bill Hickok Rides Harry FarrelWarner Bros. Pictures1943 One Dangerous NightMichael Lanyard / "The Lone Wolf"Columbia Pictures Passport to Suez1945 Strange Illusion Brett CurtisProducers Releasing Corporation1946 Fear Police Capt. BurkeMonogram Pictures1947 Laroche-MathieuUnited Artists
Partial stage credits Note: The list below is limited to New York/Broadway theatrical productions; listed as Warren William, except where noted
+ Broadway credits of Warren WilliamRunTitleRoleNotesMar 29, 1920 - May 1920Mrs. Jimmie ThompsonEdgar Blodgettas 'Warren W. Krech'Jan 24, 1921 - Jan 1921John HawthorneJohn HawthorneNov 09, 1921 - Nov 1921We GirlsDoctor Tom BrownFeb 12, 1924 - Apr 1924The Wonderful VisitSir John Gotch, K.B.E.Apr 16, 1924 - Jun 1924Expressing WillieGeorge CadwaladerFeb 16, 1925 - Feb 1925NocturneKeith ReddingtonMar 24, 1925 - Apr 1925The Blue PeterDavid HunterMay 5, 1925 - May 1925RosmersholmJohannes RosmerNov 16, 1925 - Apr 1926Twelve Miles OutGerald FeyMar 18, 1926 - Apr 1926Easter One More DayElisSep 21, 1926 - Nov 1926FannyJoe WhiteDec 26, 1927 - Jan 1928ParadiseDr. Achilles SwainMar 13, 1928 - Mar 1928VeilsMr. Robert SloanApr 24, 1928 - Apr 1928The Golden AgeThe StrangerDec 11, 1928 - Jan 1929Sign of the LeopardCaptain LeslieFeb 19, 1929 - Dec 1929Let Us Be GayBob BrownReplaced by Barry O'Neill for unknown number of performances; Oct 22, 1929 - Oct 1929Week-EndBrett LaneyFeb 08, 1930 - Feb 1930Out of a Blue SkyPaul RanaMay 12, 1930 - May 1930The VikingsSigurdOct 06, 1930 - Oct 1930Stepdaughters of WarGeoffrey HilderNov 19, 1930 - Jun 1931The Vinegar TreeMax Lawrence
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