Television: J. Pierpont Powell

Every town in the U.S. is famous for something—just go there and ask. Mountain View, Ark. (pop. 983), makes its proudest claim as the birthplace of three businesslike brothers who have long since fled Mountain View. Luther and Howard Powell are minor captains of industry, having hewed their way directly to vice-presidencies of International Harvester and the Illinois Central Railroad. Richard took a more circuitous route, first becoming a song-and-dance man, then a movie idol, next a bullet-voiced private eye, before settling down as one of the major—and sharpest—businessmen in U.S. television.

Few who remember the frail, baby-faced crooner who...