Tyrone Power
Encyclopedia
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958), usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage
actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler
roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro
, Blood and Sand
, The Black Swan
, Prince of Foxes
, The Black Rose
, and Captain from Castile
.
Though renowned for his dark, classically handsome looks that made him a matinee idol
from his first film appearance, Power played a wide range of roles, from film noir
to light romantic comedy
. In the 1950s, he began placing limits on the number of movies he would make in order to have time for the stage. He received his biggest accolades as a stage actor in John Brown's Body
and Mister Roberts
. Power died from a heart attack at the age of 44.
, in 1914, the only son of the English-born American stage and screen actor Tyrone Power, Sr.
, and Helen Emma "Patia" Reaume, Power was descended from a long theatrical line going back to his great-grandfather, the Irish
-born actor and comedian Tyrone Power (1795-1841)
. He had French blood from both his parents, being descended from Catholic French Canadians through his mother's Reaume family, and from Protestant Huguenot
s through his paternal grandmother's Lavenu and Blossett ancestors. Through his paternal great grandmother, Anne Gilbert, Power was related to the actor Laurence Olivier
; through his paternal grandmother, Ethel Lavenu
, he was related by marriage to author Evelyn Waugh
and through his father's first cousin, Norah Emily Gorman Power, he was related to the theatrical director Sir (William) Tyrone Guthrie
, founder of the Stratford Festival (now the Stratford Shakespeare Festival) in Canada
and the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota
.
During the first year of Power's life, he lived in Cincinnati. His father was absent for long periods due to his stage commitments in New York. Young Power was a sickly child, and his doctor advised his family that the climate in California
might be better for his health. The family moved there in 1915, and Power's sister Anne was born there on August 26, 1915. The parents appeared together on stage and, in 1917, their movie, The Planter, was released. Tyrone Power, Sr., as he later became known, found himself away from home more frequently, as his stage career took him to New York. The Powers drifted apart, and they divorced around 1920.
After the divorce, Patia Power worked as a stage actress. In 1921, at the age of 7, young Tyrone appeared with his mother in the mission play, La Golondrina, at San Gabriel, California. A couple of years later the family moved back to Cincinnati, where they lived with the family of Patia's aunt, Helen Schuster Martin, founder of the Schuster-Martin School of Drama. Power's mother supported her family as a drama and voice coach at the Schuster-Martin School. For several years she coached her son in voice and dramatics during her spare time. Power grew up in the Martin household with his mother's aunt Helen, her husband William, and their two children, his cousins, Roberta and William [Bill].
Power went to Cincinnati-area Catholic schools and graduated from Purcell High School
in 1931. Upon his graduation, he opted to join his father to learn what he could about acting from one of the stage's most respected actors.
Power joined his father for the summer of 1931, after being separated from him for some years due to his parents' divorce. His father suffered a heart attack in December 1931, dying in his son's arms, while preparing to perform in The Miracle Man. Tyrone Power, Jr., as he was then known, decided to continue his pursuit of an acting career. He went door to door, trying to get work as an actor, and, while many contacts knew his father well, they offered praise for his father but no work for him. He appeared in a bit part in 1932 in Tom Brown of Culver, a movie starring actor Tom Brown. Power's experience in that movie didn’t open any other doors, however, and, except for what amounted to little more than a job as an extra in Flirtation Walk, he found himself frozen out of the movies but making some appearances in community theater. Discouraged, he took the advice of a friend, Arthur Caesar, to go to New York to get experience as a stage actor.
Power went to Hollywood in 1936. The director Henry King
was impressed with his looks and poise, and he insisted that Power be tested for the lead role in Lloyd's of London, a role thought already to belong to Don Ameche
. Despite Darryl F. Zanuck
's reservations, he decided to go ahead and give Power the role, once King and Fox editor, Barbara McLean
, convinced him that Power had a greater screen presence than Ameche. Power was fourth billed in the movie, but he had by far the most screen time of any actor. He walked into the premiere of the movie an unknown, and he walked out a star, which he stayed for the remainder of his career.
Power racked up hit after hit from 1936 until 1943, when his career was interrupted for military service. In these years, he starred in romantic comedies such as Thin Ice and Day-Time Wife; in dramas such as Suez, Blood and Sand
, Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
,The Rains Came
, and In Old Chicago
; in the musicals, Alexander's Ragtime Band
, Second Fiddle
, and Rose of Washington Square
; in the westerns, Jesse James (1939) and Brigham Young
; in the war films, Yank in the R.A.F. and This Above All; and, of course, the swashbucklers, The Mark of Zorro
and The Black Swan
. Jesse James was a very big hit at the box office, but it did receive some criticism for fictionalizing and glamorizing the famous outlaw. The movie was shot in and around the Pineville, Missouri
area and was Power's first location shoot and his first Technicolor
movie. Before his career was over, he would have filmed a total of 16 movies in color, including the movie he was filming when he died. He was loaned out once, for MGM for 1938's Marie Antoinette
. Darryl F. Zanuck
was angry that MGM used Fox's biggest star in what was, despite billing, a supporting role, and he vowed to never again loan him out. Though Power's services were requested for the role of Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind
, Joe Bonaparte in Golden Boy
, Paris in King's Row, by Harry Cohn for several films throughout the years, and by Norma Shearer
herself for her planned production of The Last Tycoon to play Irving Thalberg, Zanuck stuck by his original decision.
He was named the second biggest box office draw in 1939, surpassed by only Mickey Rooney
.
In 1940 the direction of Tyrone Power's career took a dramatic turn when his movie The Mark of Zorro
was released. Power played the role of Don Diego Vega/Zorro, fop by day, bandit hero by night. The role had been made famous by Douglas Fairbanks in the 1920 movie by the same title. Power's performance was excellent, and 20th Century Fox often cast him in swashbucklers in the years that followed. Power was actually a superb swordsman, and the dueling scene in The Mark of Zorro is considered one of the finest in screen history. The great Hollywood swordsman, Basil Rathbone
, who starred with him in The Mark of Zorro, commented, "Power was the most agile man with a sword I’ve ever faced before a camera. Tyrone could have fenced Errol Flynn
into a cocked hat."
Despite being kept busy making movies at 20th Century-Fox, Tyrone Power found time to do radio and stage work.
Tyrone Power's career was interrupted in 1943 by military service. He reported to the U.S. Marines for training in late 1942, but he was sent back, at the request of 20th Century-Fox, to complete one more film, 1943's Crash Dive
, a patriotic war movie. He was credited in the movie as Tyrone Power, U.S.M.C.R., and the movie served as much as anything as a recruiting film. Anne Baxter
would become a leading lady of his, both on the screen and on stage. Other than re-releases of his films, he wasn’t seen on screen again until 1946, when he co-starred with Gene Tierney
in The Razor's Edge
, an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham
's novel
of the same name.
Next up for release was a movie that Tyrone Power had to fight hard to make – the film noir
, Nightmare Alley
. Darryl F. Zanuck was reluctant to allow Power to make the movie; his handsome appearance and charming manner had been a marketable asset to the studio and Zanuck feared that the dark role might hurt Power's image. Zanuck eventually agreed, giving him A-list production values for what normally would be a B film. The movie was directed by Edmund Goulding
, and, though the film died at the box office (Zanuck did not publicize it and removed it from release), Power received some of the best reviews of his career. The film was released on DVD in 2005 after years of legal battles, and Power once again received favorable reviews from 21st century critics.
Power's venture into gritty drama was short lived, as he was next seen in a costume movie, Captain from Castile
, directed by Henry King, who directed Tyrone Power in eleven movies. After making a couple of light romantic comedies, That Wonderful Urge
(with Gene Tierney, his co-star from The Razor's Edge) and The Luck of the Irish
(with Anne Baxter), Power found himself once again in swashbucklers – The Black Rose
and Prince of Foxes
.
and Pony Soldier
, so in 1950 he traveled to England to play the title role in Mister Roberts
to sellout crowds, for twenty-three weeks, at the London Coliseum.
His movies had been very profitable for Fox and, as an enticement to renew his contract, they offered him the lead role in The Robe
. He turned it down (the job ultimately went to Richard Burton
) and, on 1 November 1952, left on a ten week national tour with John Brown's Body
, a three-person dramatic reading of Stephen Vincent Benét
's narrative poem, adapted and directed by Charles Laughton
, and featuring Power, Judith Anderson
and Raymond Massey
; which culminated in a run of 65 shows between February and April 1953 at the New Century Theater on Broadway.
His studio had granted him permission to seek his own roles outside 20th Century-Fox, with the understanding that he would fulfill his fourteen-film commitment to them in between his other projects. In 1953 he made The Mississippi Gambler
for Universal Studios, negotiating a deal entitling him to a percentage of the profits, and earned a million dollars from the movie.
The critics had applauded his performances in "John Brown's Body" earlier in the year, a second national tour with the show followed in October 1953, this time for four months, with Raymond Massey and Anne Baxter
.
In 1953, actress and producer Katharine Cornell
cast Power as her love interest in The Dark is Light Enough
, a verse drama by British dramatist Christopher Fry
. The play was set in Austria in 1848. Between November 1954 and April 1955, he toured in that role in the USA and Canada ending with 12 weeks at the ANTA Theater, New York and two weeks at the Colonial Theater, Boston. His performance in Julian Claman's A Quiet Place, staged at the National Theater, Washington, at the end of 1955 was warmly received by the critics.
Untamed, Tyrone Power's last movie made under his contract with 20th Century-Fox, was released in 1955, and same year saw the release of The Long Gray Line
, a successful John Ford
film for Columbia Pictures
.
In 1956, the year Columbia released The Eddy Duchin Story
, another great success for the star, he returned to England to play the rake, Dick Dudgeon, in a revival of Shaw
's The Devil's Disciple
for one week at the Opera House
in Manchester
and nineteen weeks at the Winter Garden, London.
His old boss, Darryl F. Zanuck, persuaded him to play the lead role in The Sun Also Rises
(1957), adapted from the Hemingway
novel. Released that same year were Abandon Ship and John Ford's Rising of the Moon (narrator only). Tyrone Power's last film role turned out to be one of his most highly regarded, cast against type as the accused murderer, Leonard Vole, in Agatha Christie
's Witness for the Prosecution, directed by Billy Wilder
. The critic for The National Post, Robert Fulford, commented on the "superb performance" of Power as "the seedy, stop-at-nothing exploiter of women" which was in sharp contrast to his earlier swashbuckling roles and romantic heroes. The movie was well received and a success at the box office. Power returned to the stage in March, 1958 to play the lead in Arnold Moss's adaptation of Shaw
's 1921 play, Back to Methuselah
.
, to be directed by King Vidor
. He had filmed about 75 per cent of his scenes when he was stricken with a massive heart attack, as he was filming a dueling scene with his frequent co-star and friend, George Sanders
. He died en route to the hospital. Yul Brynner
was brought in to take over the role of Solomon. The filmmakers used some of the long shots that Tyrone Power had filmed, and an observant fan can see him in some of the scenes, particularly in the middle of the duel.
Tyrone Power's last movie, fittingly, was to be in a familiar role, with sword in hand. He is perhaps best remembered as a swashbuckler, and, indeed, he was one of the finest swordsmen in Hollywood. Director Henry King
said, "People always seem to remember Ty with sword in hand, although he once told me he wanted to be a character actor. He actually was quite good – among the best swordsmen in films."
Tyrone Power was one of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors when he married French actress, Annabella (born Suzanne Georgette Charpentier) on April 23, 1939. They met on the 20th Century-Fox lot, around the time they starred together in the movie Suez. Zanuck offered to give Annabella plum roles in movies to be filmed abroad, in order to get her out of the country and away from one of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs. When Power and Annabella went against Zanuck's wishes and married, Annabella's career at 20th Century Fox suffered greatly. After the marriage, Zanuck refused to assign her to movies for the studio, in punishment for their disobedience. After her marriage, she had to wait until after Tyrone Power had left the studio for military service to make another movie. This lack of movie work caused the very talented actress to seek stage work in order to help satisfy her desire to act. In an A&E biography, Annabella said that Zanuck "could not stop Tyrone's love for me, or my love for Tyrone." Their marriage, by all accounts at the time, was a happy one for the first couple of years, but it was on rocky ground by the time Tyrone left for the U.S. Marines in 1943.
His extramarital affair with Judy Garland
is said to have contributed to the failure of their marriage. However, those close to the couple say that there were also other reasons for the marriage failure. J. Watson Webb
, close friend and an editor at 20th Century Fox, maintained, in the A&E Biography, that one of the reasons the marriage fell apart was the inability of Annabella to give him a child. He said that there was no bitterness between the couple. In a March 1947 issue of Photoplay, Power was interviewed and said that he wanted a home and children. Annabella shed some light on the situation in an interview that she did for Movieland magazine in 1948. She said, "Our troubles began because the war started earlier for me, a French-born woman, than it did for Americans." She explained that the war clouds over Europe made her unhappy and irritable and, to get her mind off her troubles, she began accepting stage work, which often took her away from home, for weeks, or in one case, months at a time. "It is always difficult to put one's finger exactly on the place and time where a marriage starts to break up," she said. "But I think it began then. We were terribly sad about it, both of us, but we knew we were drifting apart. I didn’t think then - and I don’t think now - that it was his fault, or mine." The couple tried to make their marriage work when Power returned from military service, but they were unable to do so. Annabella claimed that he had changed too much during the war. They were legally separated in the fall of 1946 and divorced a couple of years later. Despite the divorce, they remained close until his death.
Following his separation from Annabella, Power entered into a love affair with Lana Turner
which lasted for a couple of years. In the fall of 1948, however, he went on a good-will trip to Europe and South Africa. On that trip, he saw and fell in love with Linda Christian
, in Rome. Upon his return to the U.S., he broke the news to Lana Turner that their romance was over. In her autobiography, Turner said that MGM, her home studio, and 20th Century Fox, Power's studio, conspired to break up their romance. Each studio feared that they would lose their star to the other studio, if they were to marry. Turner claimed that, when Power made his goodwill trip to Europe and South Africa, the story of her dining out with Frank Sinatra
, a friend, was leaked to Power, who became very upset with her "dating" another man, in his absence. Turner also claimed that there was just too much coincidence in Linda Christian's being at the same hotel as Tyrone Power, and she implied that Christian had obtained Power's itinerary from 20th Century Fox.
Power and Christian were married on January 27, 1949, in the Church of Santa Francesca, with an estimated 8,000–10,000 screaming fans outside the church. Christian miscarried three times before finally giving birth to a baby girl, Romina Francesca Power
, on October 2, 1951. A second daughter, Taryn Stephanie Power
, was born September 13, 1953. Around the time of Taryn's birth, the Power marriage was rocky. In her autobiography, Christian blamed the breakup of her marriage on her husband's extramarital affairs. However, she acknowledged that she had an affair with Edmund Purdom
, which created great tension between Christian and her husband. They divorced in 1955.
After his divorce from Christian, Power had a long-lasting love affair with Mai Zetterling
, whom he had met on the set of Abandon Ship. At this point in time, however, he vowed that he would never marry again, because he had been twice burned financially from his previous marriages. He also entered into an affair with a British actress, Thelma Ruby. In 1957, however, he met Deborah Ann Montgomery Minardos. They were married on May 7, 1958, and she became pregnant soon after. She accompanied her husband to Madrid
in September 1958, for the filming of Solomon and Sheba
. She was worried about his health and asked him to slow down, but he pushed ahead with the movie. On November 15, 1958, while filming a strenuous dueling scene for the movie, he had a heart attack
and died. His wife gave birth to his son, Tyrone Power IV, on January 22, 1959.
. He attended boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego
and then attended Officer's Candidate School
at Marine Corps Base Quantico
, where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on June 2, 1943. Because he had already logged 180 solo hours as a pilot prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps, Tyrone Power was able to go through a short, intense flight training program at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
, Texas
, where he earned his wings and was promoted to First Lieutenant. Power arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point
, North Carolina
in July, 1944 and was assigned to VMR-352 as an R5C
transport copilot. The squadron moved to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
in California in October 1944. Power was reassigned to VMR-353 and joined them on Kwajalein
in February 1945. He flew cargo in to and wounded Marines out during the Battle of Iwo Jima
and the Battle of Okinawa
. He returned to the United States in November 1945 and he was released from active duty in January 1946. He was promoted to Captain in the reserves on May 8, 1951 but was not recalled for service in the Korean War
.
In the June 2001 Marine Air Transporter newsletter, Jerry Taylor, a retired Marine Corps flight instructor, recalls memories of World War II
. He speaks of training Tyrone Power as a pilot, saying, "He was an excellent student, never forgot a procedure I showed him or anything I told him." Others who served with him have commented that he was well respected by those with whom he served.
, on the occasion of the premiere of their movie Cafe Metropole. At the time of the ceremony, Tyrone was just 23 years old and had been a major star for only six months. He signed the cement block, "To Sid - Following in my father's footsteps", which was a tribute to his father, stage and film star Tyrone Power, Sr.
Tyrone Power's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
can be found at 6747 Hollywood Blvd.
Tyrone Power was buried at Hollywood Cemetery, now known as Hollywood Forever Cemetery
, Hollywood, California, at noon, on November 21, 1958, in a military service.
Flying over the service was Henry King
, who directed him in eleven movies. Almost 20 years before, Tyrone had flown with King, in King's plane, to the set of Jesse James in Missouri. It was then that Tyrone Power got his first experience with flying, which would become such a big part of his life, both in the U.S. Marines and in his private life. In the foreword to Dennis Belafonte's The Films of Tyrone Power, King said, "Knowing his love for flying and feeling that I had started it, I flew over his funeral procession and memorial park during his burial, and felt that he was with me." Tyrone Power was laid to rest, by a small lake, in one of the most beautiful parts of the cemetery. His grave is marked by a unique tombstone, in the form of a marble bench. On the tombstone are the masks of comedy and tragedy, with the transcription, "Good night, sweet prince." At his grave Laurence Olivier
read the poem "High Flight"
Tyrone Power's will, filed on December 8, 1958, contained an unusual provision. It stated his wish that, upon his death, his eyes would be donated to the Estelle Doheny Eye Foundation, for such purposes as the trustees of the foundation should deem advisable, including transplantation of the cornea to the eyes of a living person or retinal study.
On the 50th anniversary of his death, Power was honored by American Cinematheque with a weekend of films and remembrances by co-stars and family, and a memorabilia display. The event was held at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles from November 14–16, 2008.
claimed that he had rejected advances from Power. The fashion critic Mr. Blackwell
, in his 1995 autobiography From Rags to Bitches claimed that he met Power when a young actor for "romantic moments in his dressing room and took long rides speeding down Sunset
to Malibu". In his book, Errol Flynn: The Untold Story, author Charles Higham
alleges Power had a sexual relationship with Tasmanian actor Errol Flynn
. According to William J. Mann
, in his book Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969, Power was involved in homosexual
relationships.
, Sonja Henie
, Judy Garland
, Anita Ekberg
and Mary Roblee, an editor. People who knew Power as a close friend have refuted the claims of bisexuality
: Bob Buck, a pilot who served as Power's co-pilot on a trip to Europe and South Africa
in 1947, stated (in responding to rumors that he had read) "And while talking of Ty, I want to make this clear...he was not a homosexual..." .
William Martin, Tyrone's cousin and close boyhood friend, who also lived with Power in Hollywood from 1936 to 1939, always maintained that such rumours were false, stating "If Ty became bisexual, it happened after 1939." His daughter Romina states: "Tyrone Power was not gay or bi-sexual. It's too easy to make a fast buck off of someone who is not around anymore to tell the true story." Further references to Power's heterosexual relationships can be found in the following: Investigation Hollywood by Fred Otash, The Gift Horse by Hildegard Knef, Whisper magazine, 1954, Debbie: My Life by Debbie Reynolds, People Will Talk by John Kobal
, Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows: The Unsuspected Life of Sonja Henie by Raymond Strait, Self-Portrait by Gene Tierney and Mickey Herskowitz, and In Spite of Myself: A Memoir by Christopher Plummer.
Dorothy Kilgallen
, whom Power once dated, claimed his height at 6' (as did Power and John Daly) on an episode of What's My Line in 1955. While blindfolds were on, Kilgallen asked, "Are you over 6 feet?" Power answered in his fake voice, "No". When Arlene Francis
correctly guessed that it was Power, Kilgallen was upset. "What do you mean Tyrone you're not six feet tall?" she wanted to know. Both Daly and Power corrected her together, "You said over 6 feet".
Other sources cite his height as 5' 10" (1.78m).
Power's passport states that he was 5'11-1/2" tall.
Cartoon artist C.C. Beck has stated that the character Ibis the Invincible
, who was featured in every issue of Whiz Comics
, was based on Tyrone Power as he appeared in The Rains Came
(1939).
Power appears on the cover of the book The Star Machine with Loretta Young
.
When romance novelist Barbara Cartland
was asked how she could write such steamy books while still a virgin, she answered, "We didn't need sex. We had Tyrone Power".
The upscale men's clothing store, Tyrone, on Long Island, New York, was named after Tyrone Power.
' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
on the third row, 8th from the left.
The song "My Baby Just Cares for Me
" includes the lyric, "My baby don't care for Tyrone Power/She'd rather be with me by the hour."
One of the many verses from "Zip!" in the show Pal Joey: "Rip Van Winkle on the screen would be smart. Zip! Tyrone Power will be cast in the part."
"Hooray for Hollywood" includes the lyric "Within a half an hour, you'll look like Tyrone Power."
In the song "Mr. Right" from the musical production Love Life, there is a line saying "he'll look like Tyrone Power."
(1950): Joe Gillis: "Can you see Ty Power as a shortstop?";
All About Eve
(1950): Bill: "What shall I tell Tyrone Power?";
Flags of Our Fathers
(2006): The character of Rene Gagnon is referred to as "Tyrone Power" because of his good looks.
The cover of Power's 1938 issue of Photoplay
magazine is the first shot in the film Enter Laughing
(1967).
In Dreamboat
(1952), a large photo of Tyrone Power is prominently displayed on the wall of the agency Clifton Webb
and Anne Francis
enter in New York City.
titled "Lucy and John Wayne", Ethel Mertz
points out Tyrone Power's footprints in cement at Graumann's Chinese Theater. Later, a policeman puts his feet into Tyrone's footprints, and his partner says, "Well, Tyrone..."
In Season 3, Episode 1 of Mad Men
, the protagonist, Don Draper
, is told that he looks "like Ty Power. Remember him?"
In Season 2, Episode 4
of The Simpsons
, when Homer
is having his eyebrows drawn on, the campaign manager tells him "We want John Q. Public
, not Tyrone Power."
In a 1972 Jockey underwear commercial, Wally Cox
states, "I may look like Wally Cox, but, inside, I'm Tyrone Power".
Tyrone POWER : Biographie, filmographie, galerie, etc.
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler
Swashbuckler
Swashbuckler or swasher is a term that emerged in the 16th century and has been used for rough, noisy and boastful swordsmen ever since. A possible explanation for this term is that it derives from a fighting style using a side-sword with a buckler in the off-hand, which was applied with much...
roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro
The Mark of Zorro (1940 film)
The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox. The action movie stars Tyrone Power as Don Diego Vega , Linda Darnell as his love interest, and Basil Rathbone as the villain...
, Blood and Sand
Blood and Sand (1941 film)
Blood and Sand is a Technicolor film produced by 20th Century Fox, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, and Alla Nazimova...
, The Black Swan
The Black Swan (film)
The Black Swan is a 1942 swashbuckler Technicolor film by Henry King, based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini, and starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won one for Best Cinematography, Color.-Plot:...
, Prince of Foxes
Prince of Foxes (film)
Prince of Foxes is a 1949 film based on the Samuel Shellabarger novel Prince of Foxes. The movie starred Tyrone Power as Orsini and Orson Welles as Cesare Borgia.-Plot:...
, The Black Rose
The Black Rose
The Black Rose is a 1950 20th Century-Fox film starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, loosely based on Thomas B. Costain's book. It was filmed partly on location in England and Morocco which substitutes for the Gobi Desert of China...
, and Captain from Castile
Captain from Castile
Captain from Castile is an action historical drama and swashbuckler film released by 20th Century Fox in 1947. Directed by Henry King, the Technicolor film starred Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, and Cesar Romero. Shot on location in Michoacán, Mexico, the film includes scenes of the Parícutin...
.
Though renowned for his dark, classically handsome looks that made him a matinee idol
Matinee idol
Matinée idol is a term used mainly to describe film or theatre stars who are adored to the point of adulation by their fans.The term almost exclusively refers to male actors. Invariably the adulation was fixated on the actor's looks rather than performance...
from his first film appearance, Power played a wide range of roles, from film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
to light romantic comedy
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy can refer to* Romantic Comedy , a 1979 play written by Bernard Slade* Romantic Comedy , a 1983 film adapted from the play and starring Dudley Moore and Mary Steenburgen...
. In the 1950s, he began placing limits on the number of movies he would make in order to have time for the stage. He received his biggest accolades as a stage actor in John Brown's Body
John Brown's Body (poem)
John Brown's Body is an epic American poem written by Stephen Vincent Benet. Its title references the radical abolitionist John Brown, who raided Harpers Ferry in West Virginia in the fall of 1859. He was captured and hanged later that year, and his name and rebellion inspired the civil war song...
and Mister Roberts
Mister Roberts (play)
Mister Roberts is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen novel of the same name.The novel began as a collection of short stories about Heggen's experiences aboard the USS Virgo in the South Pacific during World War II...
. Power died from a heart attack at the age of 44.
Early life
Born in Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, in 1914, the only son of the English-born American stage and screen actor Tyrone Power, Sr.
Tyrone Power, Sr.
Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power was an English-born American stage and screen actor, who acted under the name Tyrone Power.-Early life:Power was born in London in 1869, the son of Harold Littledale Power and Ethel Lavenu...
, and Helen Emma "Patia" Reaume, Power was descended from a long theatrical line going back to his great-grandfather, the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
-born actor and comedian Tyrone Power (1795-1841)
Tyrone Power (1795-1841)
William Grattan Tyrone Power , known professionally as Tyrone Power, was an Irish stage actor, comedian, author and theatrical manager....
. He had French blood from both his parents, being descended from Catholic French Canadians through his mother's Reaume family, and from Protestant Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
s through his paternal grandmother's Lavenu and Blossett ancestors. Through his paternal great grandmother, Anne Gilbert, Power was related to the actor Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
; through his paternal grandmother, Ethel Lavenu
Ethel Lavenu
Ethel Lavenu was a British stage actress. She was the mother of stage and silent screen actor Tyrone Power, Sr., and grandmother of the Hollywood film star Tyrone Power....
, he was related by marriage to author Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
and through his father's first cousin, Norah Emily Gorman Power, he was related to the theatrical director Sir (William) Tyrone Guthrie
Tyrone Guthrie
Sir William Tyrone Guthrie was an English theatrical director instrumental in the founding of the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, at his family's home, Annaghmakerrig, in County Monaghan, Ireland.-Life and career:Guthrie...
, founder of the Stratford Festival (now the Stratford Shakespeare Festival) in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
.
During the first year of Power's life, he lived in Cincinnati. His father was absent for long periods due to his stage commitments in New York. Young Power was a sickly child, and his doctor advised his family that the climate in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
might be better for his health. The family moved there in 1915, and Power's sister Anne was born there on August 26, 1915. The parents appeared together on stage and, in 1917, their movie, The Planter, was released. Tyrone Power, Sr., as he later became known, found himself away from home more frequently, as his stage career took him to New York. The Powers drifted apart, and they divorced around 1920.
After the divorce, Patia Power worked as a stage actress. In 1921, at the age of 7, young Tyrone appeared with his mother in the mission play, La Golondrina, at San Gabriel, California. A couple of years later the family moved back to Cincinnati, where they lived with the family of Patia's aunt, Helen Schuster Martin, founder of the Schuster-Martin School of Drama. Power's mother supported her family as a drama and voice coach at the Schuster-Martin School. For several years she coached her son in voice and dramatics during her spare time. Power grew up in the Martin household with his mother's aunt Helen, her husband William, and their two children, his cousins, Roberta and William [Bill].
Power went to Cincinnati-area Catholic schools and graduated from Purcell High School
Purcell Marian High School
Purcell Marian High School is a parochial high school in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood Cincinnati, Ohio, United States based in the Marianist Tradition...
in 1931. Upon his graduation, he opted to join his father to learn what he could about acting from one of the stage's most respected actors.
1930s
Henry King (director)
Henry King was an American film director.Before coming to film, King worked as an actor in various repertoire theatres, and first started to take small film roles in 1912. He directed for the first time in 1915, and grew to become one of the most commercially successful Hollywood directors of the...
was impressed with his looks and poise, and he insisted that Power be tested for the lead role in Lloyd's of London, a role thought already to belong to Don Ameche
Don Ameche
Don Ameche was an Academy Award winning American actor with a career spanning almost sixty years.-Personal life:...
. Despite Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
's reservations, he decided to go ahead and give Power the role, once King and Fox editor, Barbara McLean
Barbara McLean
Barbara McLean was an American film editor with 62 film credits. In the period Darryl F. Zanuck was dominant at the 20th Century Fox Studio, from the 1930s through the 1960s, McLean was the Studio's most conspicuous editor and ultimately the head of its editing department.She won the 1944 Academy...
, convinced him that Power had a greater screen presence than Ameche. Power was fourth billed in the movie, but he had by far the most screen time of any actor. He walked into the premiere of the movie an unknown, and he walked out a star, which he stayed for the remainder of his career.
Blood and Sand (1941 film)
Blood and Sand is a Technicolor film produced by 20th Century Fox, directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, and Alla Nazimova...
, Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake is a 1942 adventure film directed by John Cromwell, starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney. The film was adapted from Edison Marshall's 1941 historical novel Benjamin Blake.-Plot:...
,The Rains Came
The Rains Came
The Rains Came is the title of a novel by Louis Bromfield, published in 1937, as well as the 1939 20th Century Fox film version which followed it...
, and In Old Chicago
In Old Chicago
In Old Chicago is a 1937 American drama film directed by Henry King. The screenplay by Sonya Levien and Lamar Trotti was based on the Niven Busch story, "We the O'Learys." The film is a fictionalized account about the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and stars Alice Brady as Mrs. O'Leary, the owner of...
; in the musicals, Alexander's Ragtime Band
Alexander's Ragtime Band (film)
Alexander's Ragtime Band is a film released by Twentieth Century Fox that takes its name from the 1911 Irving Berlin song "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to tell a story of a society boy who scandalizes his family by pursuing a career in Ragtime instead of in "serious" music...
, Second Fiddle
Second Fiddle (1939 film)
Second Fiddle is a 1939 American musical romance film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Sonja Henie, Tyrone Power, Rudy Vallee and Lyle Talbot. The score was composed by Irving Berlin. A Hollywood publicity agent falls in love with a new actress he helped to discover. The film parodies the...
, and Rose of Washington Square
Rose of Washington Square
Rose of Washington Square is a 1939 American musical drama film. Set in 1920s New York City, it focuses on singer Rose Sargent and her turbulent relationship with con artist Barton DeWitt Clinton, whose criminal activities threaten her professional success in the Ziegfeld Follies.Although the names...
; in the westerns, Jesse James (1939) and Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
; in the war films, Yank in the R.A.F. and This Above All; and, of course, the swashbucklers, The Mark of Zorro
The Mark of Zorro (1940 film)
The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox. The action movie stars Tyrone Power as Don Diego Vega , Linda Darnell as his love interest, and Basil Rathbone as the villain...
and The Black Swan
The Black Swan (film)
The Black Swan is a 1942 swashbuckler Technicolor film by Henry King, based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini, and starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. It was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won one for Best Cinematography, Color.-Plot:...
. Jesse James was a very big hit at the box office, but it did receive some criticism for fictionalizing and glamorizing the famous outlaw. The movie was shot in and around the Pineville, Missouri
Pineville, Missouri
Pineville is a city in and the county seat of McDonald County, Missouri, United States. The population was 916 at the 2009 census, at which time it was a town. It is part of the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers, AR-MO Metropolitan Statistical Area....
area and was Power's first location shoot and his first Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
movie. Before his career was over, he would have filmed a total of 16 movies in color, including the movie he was filming when he died. He was loaned out once, for MGM for 1938's Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (1938 film)
Marie Antoinette is a 1938 film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starred Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette...
. Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
was angry that MGM used Fox's biggest star in what was, despite billing, a supporting role, and he vowed to never again loan him out. Though Power's services were requested for the role of Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
, Joe Bonaparte in Golden Boy
Golden Boy (film)
Golden Boy is a 1939 black-and-white Columbia Pictures drama film based on the Clifford Odets play of the same name. It features William Holden in the role that made him a star: a promising violinist who wants to be a boxer. Barbara Stanwyck plays his love interest. The supporting cast included Lee J...
, Paris in King's Row, by Harry Cohn for several films throughout the years, and by Norma Shearer
Norma Shearer
Edith Norma Shearer was a Canadian-American actress. Shearer was one of the most popular actresses in North America from the mid-1920s through the 1930s...
herself for her planned production of The Last Tycoon to play Irving Thalberg, Zanuck stuck by his original decision.
He was named the second biggest box office draw in 1939, surpassed by only Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
.
1940s
The Mark of Zorro (1940 film)
The Mark of Zorro is a 1940 American adventure film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox. The action movie stars Tyrone Power as Don Diego Vega , Linda Darnell as his love interest, and Basil Rathbone as the villain...
was released. Power played the role of Don Diego Vega/Zorro, fop by day, bandit hero by night. The role had been made famous by Douglas Fairbanks in the 1920 movie by the same title. Power's performance was excellent, and 20th Century Fox often cast him in swashbucklers in the years that followed. Power was actually a superb swordsman, and the dueling scene in The Mark of Zorro is considered one of the finest in screen history. The great Hollywood swordsman, Basil Rathbone
Basil Rathbone
Sir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
, who starred with him in The Mark of Zorro, commented, "Power was the most agile man with a sword I’ve ever faced before a camera. Tyrone could have fenced Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
into a cocked hat."
Despite being kept busy making movies at 20th Century-Fox, Tyrone Power found time to do radio and stage work.
Tyrone Power's career was interrupted in 1943 by military service. He reported to the U.S. Marines for training in late 1942, but he was sent back, at the request of 20th Century-Fox, to complete one more film, 1943's Crash Dive
Crash Dive
Crash Dive is a World War II film in Technicolor released in 1943. It was directed by Archie Mayo, written by Jo Swerling and W.R. Burnett, and starred Tyrone Power, Dana Andrews and Anne Baxter...
, a patriotic war movie. He was credited in the movie as Tyrone Power, U.S.M.C.R., and the movie served as much as anything as a recruiting film. Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:...
would become a leading lady of his, both on the screen and on stage. Other than re-releases of his films, he wasn’t seen on screen again until 1946, when he co-starred with Gene Tierney
Gene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
in The Razor's Edge
The Razor's Edge (1946 film)
The Razor's Edge is the first film version of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel. It was released in 1946 and stars Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, John Payne, Anne Baxter, Clifton Webb, Herbert Marshall, supporting cast Lucile Watson, Frank Latimore and Elsa Lanchester. Marshall plays Somerset Maugham....
, an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...
's novel
The Razor's Edge
The Razor’s Edge is a book by W. Somerset Maugham published in 1944. Its epigraph reads, "The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard." taken from a verse in the Katha-Upanishad....
of the same name.
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, Nightmare Alley
Nightmare Alley (1947 film)
Nightmare Alley is a 20th Century Fox film noir starring Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell, and directed by Edmund Goulding. The movie rights for the 1946 novel of the same name, written by William Lindsay Gresham, were bought by Power, who planned on starring in the film...
. Darryl F. Zanuck was reluctant to allow Power to make the movie; his handsome appearance and charming manner had been a marketable asset to the studio and Zanuck feared that the dark role might hurt Power's image. Zanuck eventually agreed, giving him A-list production values for what normally would be a B film. The movie was directed by Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding
Edmund Goulding was a British film writer and director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 British made Paramount silent Three Live Ghosts alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwick. Also in the early 20s he wrote several screenplays for star Mae Murray and...
, and, though the film died at the box office (Zanuck did not publicize it and removed it from release), Power received some of the best reviews of his career. The film was released on DVD in 2005 after years of legal battles, and Power once again received favorable reviews from 21st century critics.
Power's venture into gritty drama was short lived, as he was next seen in a costume movie, Captain from Castile
Captain from Castile
Captain from Castile is an action historical drama and swashbuckler film released by 20th Century Fox in 1947. Directed by Henry King, the Technicolor film starred Tyrone Power, Jean Peters, and Cesar Romero. Shot on location in Michoacán, Mexico, the film includes scenes of the Parícutin...
, directed by Henry King, who directed Tyrone Power in eleven movies. After making a couple of light romantic comedies, That Wonderful Urge
That Wonderful Urge
That Wonderful Urge is a 1948 20th Century Fox screwball comedy film, a remake of Love is News , directed by Robert Sinclair starring Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney.- Plot :...
(with Gene Tierney, his co-star from The Razor's Edge) and The Luck of the Irish
The Luck of the Irish (1948 film)
The Luck of the Irish is a 1948 film with Tyrone Power, Anne Baxter, Lee J. Cobb, Cecil Kellaway, and Jayne Meadows.-Plot:Stephen Fitzgerald , a newspaper reporter from New York, meets a leprechaun and a beautiful young woman while traveling in Ireland...
(with Anne Baxter), Power found himself once again in swashbucklers – The Black Rose
The Black Rose
The Black Rose is a 1950 20th Century-Fox film starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, loosely based on Thomas B. Costain's book. It was filmed partly on location in England and Morocco which substitutes for the Gobi Desert of China...
and Prince of Foxes
Prince of Foxes (film)
Prince of Foxes is a 1949 film based on the Samuel Shellabarger novel Prince of Foxes. The movie starred Tyrone Power as Orsini and Orson Welles as Cesare Borgia.-Plot:...
.
1950s
As the 1950s rolled around, Power was becoming increasingly unhappy with his movie assignments, with such movies as American Guerrilla in the PhilippinesAmerican Guerrilla in the Philippines
American Guerrilla in the Philippines is a 1950 war film starring Tyrone Power as a U.S. Navy ensign stranded by the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II...
and Pony Soldier
Pony Soldier
Pony Soldier is a 1952 Technicolor Northern Western set in Canada but filmed in Sedona, Arizona. It is based on a 1951 Saturday Evening Post story Mounted Patrol by Garnett Weston...
, so in 1950 he traveled to England to play the title role in Mister Roberts
Mister Roberts (play)
Mister Roberts is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen novel of the same name.The novel began as a collection of short stories about Heggen's experiences aboard the USS Virgo in the South Pacific during World War II...
to sellout crowds, for twenty-three weeks, at the London Coliseum.
His movies had been very profitable for Fox and, as an enticement to renew his contract, they offered him the lead role in The Robe
The Robe (film)
The Robe is a 1953 American Biblical epic film that tells the story of a Roman military tribune who commands the unit that crucifies Jesus. The film was made by 20th Century Fox and is notable for being the first film released in the widescreen process CinemaScope.It was directed by Henry Koster...
. He turned it down (the job ultimately went to Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
) and, on 1 November 1952, left on a ten week national tour with John Brown's Body
John Brown's Body (poem)
John Brown's Body is an epic American poem written by Stephen Vincent Benet. Its title references the radical abolitionist John Brown, who raided Harpers Ferry in West Virginia in the fall of 1859. He was captured and hanged later that year, and his name and rebellion inspired the civil war song...
, a three-person dramatic reading of Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét was an American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist. Benét is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body , for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "By...
's narrative poem, adapted and directed by Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
, and featuring Power, Judith Anderson
Judith Anderson
Dame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born American-based actress of stage, film and television. She won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award.-Early life:...
and Raymond Massey
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
; which culminated in a run of 65 shows between February and April 1953 at the New Century Theater on Broadway.
His studio had granted him permission to seek his own roles outside 20th Century-Fox, with the understanding that he would fulfill his fourteen-film commitment to them in between his other projects. In 1953 he made The Mississippi Gambler
The Mississippi Gambler (1953 film)
The Mississippi Gambler is a 1953 adventure film directed by Rudolph Maté. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Recording The Mississippi Gambler is a 1953 adventure film directed by Rudolph Maté. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Sound Recording The Mississippi...
for Universal Studios, negotiating a deal entitling him to a percentage of the profits, and earned a million dollars from the movie.
The critics had applauded his performances in "John Brown's Body" earlier in the year, a second national tour with the show followed in October 1953, this time for four months, with Raymond Massey and Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:...
.
In 1953, actress and producer Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.Cornell is known as the greatest American stage actress of the 20th century...
cast Power as her love interest in The Dark is Light Enough
The Dark is Light Enough (play)
The Dark is Light Enough is a 1954 play by Christopher Fry, which he wrote for Dame Edith Evans and set during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848...
, a verse drama by British dramatist Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry
Christopher Fry was an English playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, notably The Lady's Not for Burning, which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s.-Early life:...
. The play was set in Austria in 1848. Between November 1954 and April 1955, he toured in that role in the USA and Canada ending with 12 weeks at the ANTA Theater, New York and two weeks at the Colonial Theater, Boston. His performance in Julian Claman's A Quiet Place, staged at the National Theater, Washington, at the end of 1955 was warmly received by the critics.
Untamed, Tyrone Power's last movie made under his contract with 20th Century-Fox, was released in 1955, and same year saw the release of The Long Gray Line
The Long Gray Line
The Long Gray Line is a 1955 American drama film directed by John Ford based on the life of Marty Maher. Tyrone Power stars as the scrappy Irish immigrant whose 50-year career at West Point took him from dishwasher to non-commissioned officer and athletic instructor.Maureen O'Hara, one of Ford's...
, a successful John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
film for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
.
In 1956, the year Columbia released The Eddy Duchin Story
The Eddy Duchin Story
The Eddy Duchin Story is a 1956 biopic of band leader and pianist Eddy Duchin. It was directed by George Sidney-helmed film, written by Samuel A. Taylor, and starred Tyrone Power and Kim Novak. The musical soundtrack recording, imitating Duchin's style, was performed by pianist Carmen Cavallaro....
, another great success for the star, he returned to England to play the rake, Dick Dudgeon, in a revival of Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's The Devil's Disciple
The Devil's Disciple
The Devil's Disciple is an 1897 play written by Irish dramatist, George Bernard Shaw. The play is Shaw's eighth, and after Richard Mansfield's original 1897 American production it was his first financial success, which helped to affirm his career as a playwright...
for one week at the Opera House
Manchester Opera House
The Opera House in Quay Street, Manchester, England is a 1,920 seater commercial touring theatre which plays host to touring musicals, ballet, concerts and a Christmas pantomime. It is the sister to the Palace Theatre which is a similar venue in nearby Oxford Street at its junction with Whitworth...
in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and nineteen weeks at the Winter Garden, London.
The Sun Also Rises
The Sun Also Rises is a 1926 novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway about a group of American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received...
(1957), adapted from the Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
novel. Released that same year were Abandon Ship and John Ford's Rising of the Moon (narrator only). Tyrone Power's last film role turned out to be one of his most highly regarded, cast against type as the accused murderer, Leonard Vole, in Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's Witness for the Prosecution, directed by Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
. The critic for The National Post, Robert Fulford, commented on the "superb performance" of Power as "the seedy, stop-at-nothing exploiter of women" which was in sharp contrast to his earlier swashbuckling roles and romantic heroes. The movie was well received and a success at the box office. Power returned to the stage in March, 1958 to play the lead in Arnold Moss's adaptation of Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
's 1921 play, Back to Methuselah
Back to Methuselah
Back to Methuselah , by George Bernard Shaw consists of a preface and a series of five plays: In the Beginning: B.C. 4004 , The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day, The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170, Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000, and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D...
.
Death
In September 1958, Tyrone Power went to Madrid and Valdespartera, Spain, to film the epic, Solomon and ShebaSolomon and Sheba
Solomon and Sheba is a 1959 Biblical epic film made by Edward Small Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film stars Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida, George Sanders and Marisa Pavan, with David Farrar, Harry Andrews, Jack Gwillim, Laurence Naismith, William Devlin, Jean Anderson and...
, to be directed by King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
. He had filmed about 75 per cent of his scenes when he was stricken with a massive heart attack, as he was filming a dueling scene with his frequent co-star and friend, George Sanders
George Sanders
George Sanders was a British actor.George Sanders may also refer to:*George Sanders , Victoria Cross recipient in World War I...
. He died en route to the hospital. Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner
Yul Brynner was a Russian-born actor of stage and film. He was best known for his portrayal of Mongkut, king of Siam, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor for the film version; he also played the role more than 4,500 times on...
was brought in to take over the role of Solomon. The filmmakers used some of the long shots that Tyrone Power had filmed, and an observant fan can see him in some of the scenes, particularly in the middle of the duel.
Tyrone Power's last movie, fittingly, was to be in a familiar role, with sword in hand. He is perhaps best remembered as a swashbuckler, and, indeed, he was one of the finest swordsmen in Hollywood. Director Henry King
Henry King (director)
Henry King was an American film director.Before coming to film, King worked as an actor in various repertoire theatres, and first started to take small film roles in 1912. He directed for the first time in 1915, and grew to become one of the most commercially successful Hollywood directors of the...
said, "People always seem to remember Ty with sword in hand, although he once told me he wanted to be a character actor. He actually was quite good – among the best swordsmen in films."
Personal life
His extramarital affair with Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
is said to have contributed to the failure of their marriage. However, those close to the couple say that there were also other reasons for the marriage failure. J. Watson Webb
J. Watson Webb, Jr.
James Watson Webb, Jr. was an American film editor and heir to both the Havemeyer and Vanderbilt families.-Biography:...
, close friend and an editor at 20th Century Fox, maintained, in the A&E Biography, that one of the reasons the marriage fell apart was the inability of Annabella to give him a child. He said that there was no bitterness between the couple. In a March 1947 issue of Photoplay, Power was interviewed and said that he wanted a home and children. Annabella shed some light on the situation in an interview that she did for Movieland magazine in 1948. She said, "Our troubles began because the war started earlier for me, a French-born woman, than it did for Americans." She explained that the war clouds over Europe made her unhappy and irritable and, to get her mind off her troubles, she began accepting stage work, which often took her away from home, for weeks, or in one case, months at a time. "It is always difficult to put one's finger exactly on the place and time where a marriage starts to break up," she said. "But I think it began then. We were terribly sad about it, both of us, but we knew we were drifting apart. I didn’t think then - and I don’t think now - that it was his fault, or mine." The couple tried to make their marriage work when Power returned from military service, but they were unable to do so. Annabella claimed that he had changed too much during the war. They were legally separated in the fall of 1946 and divorced a couple of years later. Despite the divorce, they remained close until his death.
Following his separation from Annabella, Power entered into a love affair with Lana Turner
Lana Turner
Lana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
which lasted for a couple of years. In the fall of 1948, however, he went on a good-will trip to Europe and South Africa. On that trip, he saw and fell in love with Linda Christian
Linda Christian
Linda Christian was a Mexican movie actress, who appeared in Mexican and Hollywood films. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara in the last Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan film Tarzan and The Mermaids...
, in Rome. Upon his return to the U.S., he broke the news to Lana Turner that their romance was over. In her autobiography, Turner said that MGM, her home studio, and 20th Century Fox, Power's studio, conspired to break up their romance. Each studio feared that they would lose their star to the other studio, if they were to marry. Turner claimed that, when Power made his goodwill trip to Europe and South Africa, the story of her dining out with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, a friend, was leaked to Power, who became very upset with her "dating" another man, in his absence. Turner also claimed that there was just too much coincidence in Linda Christian's being at the same hotel as Tyrone Power, and she implied that Christian had obtained Power's itinerary from 20th Century Fox.
Romina Power
Romina Francesca Power is an American-born singer and actress.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Romina Power is the eldest daughter of American actor Tyrone Power and his second wife, actress Linda Christian....
, on October 2, 1951. A second daughter, Taryn Stephanie Power
Taryn Power
Taryn Stephanie Power is an American actress and the younger daughter of the actor Tyrone Power and his second wife, Mexican actress Linda Christian.Deutsch, Linda . , Lewiston Evening Journal...
, was born September 13, 1953. Around the time of Taryn's birth, the Power marriage was rocky. In her autobiography, Christian blamed the breakup of her marriage on her husband's extramarital affairs. However, she acknowledged that she had an affair with Edmund Purdom
Edmund Purdom
Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom was a British actor.-Early life:Purdom was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England and educated at St. Augustine's Abbey School, Ramsgate, then by the Jesuits at St. Ignatius Grammar School and Welwyn Garden City Grammar School...
, which created great tension between Christian and her husband. They divorced in 1955.
After his divorce from Christian, Power had a long-lasting love affair with Mai Zetterling
Mai Zetterling
-Early life:Zetterling was born in Västerås, Västmanland, Sweden to a working class family. She started her career as an actress by the age of seventeen at Dramaten, the Swedish national theater, and appeared in war-era film starting in her teens.-Career:...
, whom he had met on the set of Abandon Ship. At this point in time, however, he vowed that he would never marry again, because he had been twice burned financially from his previous marriages. He also entered into an affair with a British actress, Thelma Ruby. In 1957, however, he met Deborah Ann Montgomery Minardos. They were married on May 7, 1958, and she became pregnant soon after. She accompanied her husband to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
in September 1958, for the filming of Solomon and Sheba
Solomon and Sheba
Solomon and Sheba is a 1959 Biblical epic film made by Edward Small Productions and distributed by United Artists. The film stars Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida, George Sanders and Marisa Pavan, with David Farrar, Harry Andrews, Jack Gwillim, Laurence Naismith, William Devlin, Jean Anderson and...
. She was worried about his health and asked him to slow down, but he pushed ahead with the movie. On November 15, 1958, while filming a strenuous dueling scene for the movie, he had a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
and died. His wife gave birth to his son, Tyrone Power IV, on January 22, 1959.
Military service
In August 1942, he enlisted in the Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
. He attended boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego
Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego
Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego is a United States Marine Corps military installation in San Diego, California. It lies between San Diego Bay and Interstate 5, adjacent to San Diego International Airport and the former Naval Training Center San Diego...
and then attended Officer's Candidate School
Officer Candidate School (U.S. Marine Corps)
The United States Marine Corps Officer Candidates School is the entry-level training for Marine officers, equivalent to recruit training for enlisted Marines. Located at Marine Corps Base Quantico, the school trains, screens, and evaluates potential Marine Corps officers...
at Marine Corps Base Quantico
Marine Corps Base Quantico
Marine Corps Base Quantico, sometimes abbreviated MCB Quantico, is a major United States Marine Corps training base located near Triangle, Virginia, covering nearly in southern Prince William County, northern Stafford County, and southeastern Fauquier County...
, where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on June 2, 1943. Because he had already logged 180 solo hours as a pilot prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps, Tyrone Power was able to go through a short, intense flight training program at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi , also known as Truax Field, is a naval base located six miles southeast of the central business district of Corpus Christi, in Nueces County, Texas, USA.-History:...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, where he earned his wings and was promoted to First Lieutenant. Power arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, USA, in the eastern part of the state...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
in July, 1944 and was assigned to VMR-352 as an R5C
C-46 Commando
The Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando was a transport aircraft originally derived from a commercial high-altitude airliner design. It was instead used as a military transport during World War II by the United States Army Air Forces as well as the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps under the designation R5C...
transport copilot. The squadron moved to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
Marine Corps Air Station El Toro
Marine Corps Air Station El Toro was a United States Marine Corps Air Station located near Irvine, California.Before it was decommissioned in 1999, it was the home of Marine Corps aviation on the West Coast. Designated as a Master Jet Station, its four runways could handle the largest aircraft...
in California in October 1944. Power was reassigned to VMR-353 and joined them on Kwajalein
Kwajalein
Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...
in February 1945. He flew cargo in to and wounded Marines out during the Battle of Iwo Jima
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima , or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Empire of Japan. The U.S...
and the Battle of Okinawa
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945...
. He returned to the United States in November 1945 and he was released from active duty in January 1946. He was promoted to Captain in the reserves on May 8, 1951 but was not recalled for service in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
.
In the June 2001 Marine Air Transporter newsletter, Jerry Taylor, a retired Marine Corps flight instructor, recalls memories of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He speaks of training Tyrone Power as a pilot, saying, "He was an excellent student, never forgot a procedure I showed him or anything I told him." Others who served with him have commented that he was well respected by those with whom he served.
Honors
Tyrone Power was honored with having his handprints and footprints put in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater on May 31, 1937. He was honored in a joint ceremony with Loretta YoungLoretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
, on the occasion of the premiere of their movie Cafe Metropole. At the time of the ceremony, Tyrone was just 23 years old and had been a major star for only six months. He signed the cement block, "To Sid - Following in my father's footsteps", which was a tribute to his father, stage and film star Tyrone Power, Sr.
Tyrone Power, Sr.
Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power was an English-born American stage and screen actor, who acted under the name Tyrone Power.-Early life:Power was born in London in 1869, the son of Harold Littledale Power and Ethel Lavenu...
Tyrone Power's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
can be found at 6747 Hollywood Blvd.
Epilogue
Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood...
, Hollywood, California, at noon, on November 21, 1958, in a military service.
Flying over the service was Henry King
Henry King (director)
Henry King was an American film director.Before coming to film, King worked as an actor in various repertoire theatres, and first started to take small film roles in 1912. He directed for the first time in 1915, and grew to become one of the most commercially successful Hollywood directors of the...
, who directed him in eleven movies. Almost 20 years before, Tyrone had flown with King, in King's plane, to the set of Jesse James in Missouri. It was then that Tyrone Power got his first experience with flying, which would become such a big part of his life, both in the U.S. Marines and in his private life. In the foreword to Dennis Belafonte's The Films of Tyrone Power, King said, "Knowing his love for flying and feeling that I had started it, I flew over his funeral procession and memorial park during his burial, and felt that he was with me." Tyrone Power was laid to rest, by a small lake, in one of the most beautiful parts of the cemetery. His grave is marked by a unique tombstone, in the form of a marble bench. On the tombstone are the masks of comedy and tragedy, with the transcription, "Good night, sweet prince." At his grave Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
read the poem "High Flight"
Tyrone Power's will, filed on December 8, 1958, contained an unusual provision. It stated his wish that, upon his death, his eyes would be donated to the Estelle Doheny Eye Foundation, for such purposes as the trustees of the foundation should deem advisable, including transplantation of the cornea to the eyes of a living person or retinal study.
On the 50th anniversary of his death, Power was honored by American Cinematheque with a weekend of films and remembrances by co-stars and family, and a memorabilia display. The event was held at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles from November 14–16, 2008.
Posthumous sexuality controversy
More than 20 years after Tyrone Power's death, Hector Arce cited anonymous sources to support his claim that Power was bisexual. Up until that time, no published claims to this effect had been made.Other sources
Since that time, other writers have come forward with similar information. In his 1994 autobiography Crying With Laughter, the British comedian and actor Bob MonkhouseBob Monkhouse
Robert Alan "Bob" Monkhouse, OBE was an English entertainer. He was a successful comedy writer, comedian and actor and was also well known on British television as a presenter and game show host...
claimed that he had rejected advances from Power. The fashion critic Mr. Blackwell
Mr. Blackwell
Richard Blackwell was an American fashion critic, journalist, television and radio personality, artist, former child actor and former fashion designer, sometimes known just as Mr. Blackwell. He was the creator of the "Ten Worst Dressed Women List", an annual awards presentation he unveiled in...
, in his 1995 autobiography From Rags to Bitches claimed that he met Power when a young actor for "romantic moments in his dressing room and took long rides speeding down Sunset
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...
to Malibu". In his book, Errol Flynn: The Untold Story, author Charles Higham
Charles Higham (biographer)
Charles Higham is an author, editor and poet. Higham is a recipient of the Prix des Créateurs of the Académie Française and the Poetry Society of London Prize.-Biography:...
alleges Power had a sexual relationship with Tasmanian actor Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
. According to William J. Mann
William J. Mann
William J. Mann is an American novelist, biographer, and Hollywood historian best known for his 2006 biography of Katharine Hepburn, Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn...
, in his book Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969, Power was involved in homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
relationships.
Conflicting sources
However, women with whom Power was married or had relationships have denied any knowledge of homosexual leanings. His second wife, Linda Christian, asserts that she and Power shared an intense love and described his affairs with other women. In their biographies, Lana Turner and Mai Zetterling describe their affairs with Power. Other women with whom he was involved include Gene TierneyGene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
, Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie
Sonja Henie was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic Champion in Ladies Singles, a ten-time World Champion and a six-time European Champion . Henie won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies figure skater...
, Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, Anita Ekberg
Anita Ekberg
Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg is a Swedish model, actress and cult sex symbol. She is best known for her role as Sylvia in the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita which features the legendary scene of her cavorting in Trevi Fountain alongside Marcello Mastroianni.-Biography:Ekberg was born in...
and Mary Roblee, an editor. People who knew Power as a close friend have refuted the claims of bisexuality
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
: Bob Buck, a pilot who served as Power's co-pilot on a trip to Europe and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
in 1947, stated (in responding to rumors that he had read) "And while talking of Ty, I want to make this clear...he was not a homosexual..." .
William Martin, Tyrone's cousin and close boyhood friend, who also lived with Power in Hollywood from 1936 to 1939, always maintained that such rumours were false, stating "If Ty became bisexual, it happened after 1939." His daughter Romina states: "Tyrone Power was not gay or bi-sexual. It's too easy to make a fast buck off of someone who is not around anymore to tell the true story." Further references to Power's heterosexual relationships can be found in the following: Investigation Hollywood by Fred Otash, The Gift Horse by Hildegard Knef, Whisper magazine, 1954, Debbie: My Life by Debbie Reynolds, People Will Talk by John Kobal
John Kobal
John Kobal was an Austrian-born British based film historian responsible for The Kobal Collection, a commercial photograph library related to the film industry....
, Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows: The Unsuspected Life of Sonja Henie by Raymond Strait, Self-Portrait by Gene Tierney and Mickey Herskowitz, and In Spite of Myself: A Memoir by Christopher Plummer.
Height
There have been conflicting claims as to what his height was. According to military record and television transcripts of What's My Line, he was 6' (1.83m).Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Mae Kilgallen was an American journalist and television game show panelist. She started her career early as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's New York Evening Journal after spending only two semesters at The College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, New York...
, whom Power once dated, claimed his height at 6' (as did Power and John Daly) on an episode of What's My Line in 1955. While blindfolds were on, Kilgallen asked, "Are you over 6 feet?" Power answered in his fake voice, "No". When Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
correctly guessed that it was Power, Kilgallen was upset. "What do you mean Tyrone you're not six feet tall?" she wanted to know. Both Daly and Power corrected her together, "You said over 6 feet".
Other sources cite his height as 5' 10" (1.78m).
Power's passport states that he was 5'11-1/2" tall.
Wives and children
- Annabella, married April 23, 1939 and divorced January 26, 1948
- One daughter Anne Power (Annabella's daughter, adopted by Tyrone Power). Anne was the second wife of actor Oskar WernerOskar Werner-Early life:Born Oskar Josef Bschließmayer in Vienna, Werner spent much of his childhood in the care of his grandmother, who entertained him with stories about the Burgtheater, the Austrian state theatre, where he was accepted at the age of eighteen by Lothar Müthel. He was the youngest person ever...
- One daughter Anne Power (Annabella's daughter, adopted by Tyrone Power). Anne was the second wife of actor Oskar Werner
- Linda ChristianLinda ChristianLinda Christian was a Mexican movie actress, who appeared in Mexican and Hollywood films. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara in the last Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan film Tarzan and The Mermaids...
, married January 27, 1949 and divorced August 7, 1956- Two daughters Romina Francesca PowerRomina PowerRomina Francesca Power is an American-born singer and actress.-Biography:Born in Los Angeles, California, Romina Power is the eldest daughter of American actor Tyrone Power and his second wife, actress Linda Christian....
, born 1951 and Taryn Stephanie PowerTaryn PowerTaryn Stephanie Power is an American actress and the younger daughter of the actor Tyrone Power and his second wife, Mexican actress Linda Christian.Deutsch, Linda . , Lewiston Evening Journal...
, born 1953
- Two daughters Romina Francesca Power
- Deborah Ann Montgomery Minardos, married May 7, 1958
- One son Tyrone William Power IV, born 1959
In popular culture
A character named Tyrone Power appears in three plays: Gossip (1977), Filthy Rich (1979), and The Art of War (1983), though Filthy Rich, a film-noir parody, is most often performed. Written by George F. Walker, the main character is named after the actor, he states in Filthy Rich, "because my mother is an incurable romantic."Cartoon artist C.C. Beck has stated that the character Ibis the Invincible
Ibis the Invincible
Ibis the Invincible is a fictional character, a comic book superhero originally published by Fawcett Comics in the 1940s and then by DC Comics beginning in the 1970s. Like many magician superheroes introduced in the Golden Age of Comics, Ibis owes much to the popular comic strip character Mandrake...
, who was featured in every issue of Whiz Comics
Whiz Comics
Whiz Comics was a monthly ongoing comic book anthology series, which was published by Fawcett Comics from February 1940 with issue #2 and stopping at issue #155 in June 1953, best known for introducing Captain Marvel. The first issue published of Whiz Comics was issue #2...
, was based on Tyrone Power as he appeared in The Rains Came
The Rains Came
The Rains Came is the title of a novel by Louis Bromfield, published in 1937, as well as the 1939 20th Century Fox film version which followed it...
(1939).
Power appears on the cover of the book The Star Machine with Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
.
When romance novelist Barbara Cartland
Barbara Cartland
Dame Barbara Hamilton Cartland, DBE, CStJ , was an English author, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century...
was asked how she could write such steamy books while still a virgin, she answered, "We didn't need sex. We had Tyrone Power".
The upscale men's clothing store, Tyrone, on Long Island, New York, was named after Tyrone Power.
In music
He appears on the famous cover of The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
on the third row, 8th from the left.
The song "My Baby Just Cares for Me
My Baby Just Cares for Me
"My Baby Just Cares for Me" is a jazz standard written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was written for the 1930 film version of the 1928 Ziegfeld musical comedy Whoopee!, starring Eddie Cantor. It is known as the signature tune of singer and pianist Nina Simone.-Nina Simone...
" includes the lyric, "My baby don't care for Tyrone Power/She'd rather be with me by the hour."
One of the many verses from "Zip!" in the show Pal Joey: "Rip Van Winkle on the screen would be smart. Zip! Tyrone Power will be cast in the part."
"Hooray for Hollywood" includes the lyric "Within a half an hour, you'll look like Tyrone Power."
In the song "Mr. Right" from the musical production Love Life, there is a line saying "he'll look like Tyrone Power."
In film
Sunset Blvd.Sunset Boulevard (film)
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 American film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett...
(1950): Joe Gillis: "Can you see Ty Power as a shortstop?";
All About Eve
All About Eve
All About Eve is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve", by Mary Orr.The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star...
(1950): Bill: "What shall I tell Tyrone Power?";
Flags of Our Fathers
Flags of Our Fathers (film)
is a 2006 American war film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood and written by William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis. It is based on the book of the same name written by James Bradley and Ron Powers about the Battle of Iwo Jima, the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who were involved...
(2006): The character of Rene Gagnon is referred to as "Tyrone Power" because of his good looks.
The cover of Power's 1938 issue of Photoplay
Photoplay
Photoplay was one of the first American film fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded a similar magazine entitled Motion Picture Story...
magazine is the first shot in the film Enter Laughing
Enter Laughing (film)
Enter Laughing is a 1967 comedy film, directed by Carl Reiner, based on his autobiographical novel and the stage play of the same name.The film stars Jose Ferrer, Shelly Winters and Elaine May...
(1967).
In Dreamboat
Dreamboat (film)
Dreamboat is a 1952 comedy film starring Clifton Webb as a college professor with a mysterious past.-Plot:The respectable lives of Professor of English literature Thornton Sayre and his daughter Carol are severely disrupted when it is revealed that he was once a matinee idol known as "Dreamboat"...
(1952), a large photo of Tyrone Power is prominently displayed on the wall of the agency Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb
Clifton Webb was an American actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in such films as Laura, The Razor's Edge, and Sitting Pretty...
and Anne Francis
Anne Francis
Anne Lloyd Francis was an American actress, best known for her role in the science fiction film classic Forbidden Planet , and as the female private detective in the television series Honey West . She won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy award for her role in Honey West...
enter in New York City.
On television
In the 1955 episode of I Love LucyI Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...
titled "Lucy and John Wayne", Ethel Mertz
Ethel Mertz
Ethel Roberta Louise Mae Mertz is one of the four main fictional characters in the highly popular 1950s and 1960s American television sitcom I Love Lucy, played by Vivian Vance. Ethel is the main character Lucy's middle-aged landlady - supposed to have been born about 1905, and raised in New Mexico...
points out Tyrone Power's footprints in cement at Graumann's Chinese Theater. Later, a policeman puts his feet into Tyrone's footprints, and his partner says, "Well, Tyrone..."
In Season 3, Episode 1 of Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
, the protagonist, Don Draper
Don Draper
Donald "Don" Draper is a fictional character and the protagonist of AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by 2008 Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm. Until the third season finale, Draper was Creative Director of Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper...
, is told that he looks "like Ty Power. Remember him?"
In Season 2, Episode 4
Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish
"Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 1, 1990. In the episode, Bart catches a three-eyed fish in a river downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant...
of The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, when Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
is having his eyebrows drawn on, the campaign manager tells him "We want John Q. Public
John Q. Public
John Q. Public is a generic name in the United States to denote a hypothetical member of society deemed a "common man." He is presumed to represent the randomly selected "man on the street."...
, not Tyrone Power."
In a 1972 Jockey underwear commercial, Wally Cox
Wally Cox
Wallace Maynard Cox was an American comedian and actor, particularly associated with the early years of television in the United States. He appeared in the U.S. TV series Mr. Peepers , plus several other popular shows, and as a character actor in over 20 films...
states, "I may look like Wally Cox, but, inside, I'm Tyrone Power".
External links
Tyrone POWER : Biographie, filmographie, galerie, etc.