Although Tyrone Power did not know his father for most of his early life, their life experiences were often extraordinarily similar. Sharing more than the name Tyrone Power, the two were both actors who often struggled to obtain roles that would reveal their illustrious acting abilities. But the most tragic parallel between the two was in the startlingly similar way each of them died. When Tyrone Power, Sr. passed away of a heart attack on the set of his latest project in 1935, no one could have guessed that over twenty years later, his son would suffer the same fate.

Before his premature death, Tyrone Power was one of Hollywood’s most popular and enduring stars. He came from an acting dynasty—his great-grandfather was a popular Irish actor, and his father was a successful theatre star. Although his parents‘ marriage fell apart when he was young, Tyrone seemed destined to continue the family tradition of becoming an actor, making his theatrical debut at the age of seven.

Soon after he graduated from high school, Tyrone went to Quebec, Canada, where he joined his father on the stage. Unfortunately, their partnership was tragically cut short soon after when Power, Sr. died of a heart attack, reportedly in his son’s arms.

Nevertheless, Tryone continued to pursue his dream of becoming a successful actor. His film career began in 1932, when was given a part in the William Wyler film Tom Brown of Culver. However, he grew increasingly frustated with the lack of roles he was offered, and in 1934 he moved to New York. He worked for a time in theatres and on the radio, but he was soon back in Hollywood where he found steady work as a character actor for the newly founded Twentieth Century Fox studio. Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck finally cast Tyrone in a starring role in Lloyds of London (1936). The film was a huge success, due in no small part to Tyrone’s outstanding performance as the leading man.

Tyrone was next cast in the Twentieth Century Fox production In Old Chicago, released in 1937, which teamed him up with popular co-stars Alice Faye and Don Ameche for the first time. He later co-starred with Faye and Ameche again in the critically-acclaimed musical Alexander’s Ragtime Band in 1938. By 1939, he was the second most popular star in Hollywood. In that same year he wed his first wife, French actress Annabella.

For the next several years, Tyrone started in numerous movies that cemented his position as one of Hollywood’s most popular stars. He was featured in westerns such as Jesse James (1939, his first Technicolor film); war movies, including Crash Dive (1943) and A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941); and romantic comedies, like Love is News (1937) and Café Metropole (1937) . He also revealed excellent fencing skills in several extremely enjoyable swashbuckler classics , including The Mark of Zorro (1940), Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942), and The Black Swan(1942).

During World War II, Tyrone served as a pilot in the Marine Corps. He logged eleven hundred hours of flying time during his time in the Marines between 1942 and 1945, with a considerable amount of it under enemy fire. When he was discharged in 1946, he had attained the rank of first lieutenant.

Following his military service, Tyrone returned to his film work. His first comeback vehicle was a highly successful drama based on a work by W. Somerset Maughum, The Razor’s Edge (1946). His success was followed with another popular swashbuckler, Captain from Castile (1946). He then successfully lobbied for the leading role in the film noir Nightmare Alley (1947). His role in Nightmare Alley was his personal favorite, and is widely considered to be his finest performance.

In 1949, following a highly publicized romance with Lana Turner, Tyrone married his second wife, MGM actress Linda Christian. The wedding, held in Rome, Italy, was dubbed „The Wedding of the Century“ by the press, and attracted over 10,000 spectators. The marriage lasted for only seven years, but produced two daughters, Romina and Taryn.

After leaving Twentieth Century Fox in the mid-1950s, Tyrone started his own production company, Copa Productions. The first Copa Productions release, Abandon Ship, was received with public and critical acclaim, and Tyrone soon embarked on a successful second phase to his career.

During the late 1950s, Tyrone starred in some of the most popular movies of his career, including Witness for the Prosecution and The Eddy Duchin Story. His role in Witness for the Prosecution finally proved that Tyrone had a tremendous acting range, if he was given the kind of roles that demanded it.

Unfortunately, when it finally seemed that Tyrone was going to get the chance to prove himself as an actor, his life was tragically cut short when he suffered a fatal heart attack on the set of his newest project, Solomon and Sheba. A few months before he had married for the third time to Debbie Minardos. A mere two months after his death, the son he had wanted for so long, Tyrone Power IV, was born.

At his funeral, his lifelong friend Caesar Romero remembered Tyrone in his eulogy as „A man who gave freely of himself... I shall always remember Tyrone Power as a man who gave more of himself than it was wise for him to give. Until in the end he gave his life.”

Birth Name: Tyrone Edmund Power III
Nicknames: Ty, “The King of Twentieth Century Fox”
Birth Date: May 5, 1914
Star Sign: Taurus
Birth Place: Cincinnati, Ohio
Death Date: November 15, 1958
Death Place: Madrid, Spain
Cause of Death: Heart Attack
Burial Location: Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, California




Height: 5’10”
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Schools: Attended Sisters of Mercy Academy and St. Xavier Academy, both in Cincinnati; Preparatory School of the University of Dayton, 1928-29; Purcell High School, 1929-31.
Parents: Frederick Tyrone Power and Helen Emma Reaume

 


Siblings: Younger sister, Anne




Wives and Children:

* Annabella (1939-1948), adopted daughter, Anne



* Linda Christian (1949-1955), daughters, Romina and Taryn

  

* Debbie Ann Minardos (1958, his death), son Tyrone Power IV

 


Essential Movies:

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Nightmare Alley (1947)
The Razor’s Edge (1946)
The Black Swan (1942)
Son of Fury: the Story of Benjamin Blake (1942)
A Yank in the R.A.F. (1942)
Blood and Sand (1941)
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
The Rains Came (1939)
In Old Chicago (1938)



His Star at the Walk of Fame can be found at:

6747 Hollywood Boulevard

When he was young, Tyrone’s mother taught him breathing exercises and had him study enunciation, pronunciation and articulation. In 1946, Tyrone was awarded with the International Sound Research Institute award for diction.


On his tombstone, the masks of Comedy and Tragedy are included, along with the words, "Good night, sweet prince..."


He set aside a copy of all his movie scripts and had them bound.


His great-grandfather, Tyrone Power, wrote a two-volume book, Impressions of America: during the years 1833, 1834, 1835 published in London in 1836.


Although he was sometimes credited as Tyrone Power Jr., he was actually Tyrone Power III.


He was only twenty-three when his hand and foot prints were immortalized in cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in 1937.


Pilot Bob Buck wrote a book, North Star Over My Shoulder, which includes a detailed recounting of a trip that Ty, Buck and others took in 1947 to Europe and South Africa. The account offers unique and entertaining insights into Tyrone’s personality and character.


Although Tyrone and his first wife, Annabella, had no children, Tyrone adopted Annabella’s daughter, Anne. Anne later married successful Austrian actor Oskar Werner in 1954. The two were divorced in 1968.

I shall always remember Tyrone Power as a bountiful man. A man who gave freely of himself. It mattered not to whom he gave. His concern was in the giving. I shall always remember his wonderful smile. A smile that would light up the darkest hour of the day like a sunburst. I shall always remember Tyrone Power as a man who gave more of himself than it was wise for him to give. Until in the end he gave his life."

***

"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."

***

"Ty was everybody’s favorite person, and all agreed that he was that great rarity -- a man who was just as nice as he seemed to be. With his flashing good looks, graceful carriage, and easy laughter, it was no surprise that he was a Pied Piper to women -- they followed him in droves wherever he went -- but Ty was a simple person, with a great down-to-earthness and modesty about himself."

***

"Tyrone Power was one of the genuine professionals among the actors I’ve dealt with. I suppose “craftsman” might be another proper term."

***

"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."

***

"I’m proud of the fact that Ty and I got along so famously, both on screen and off. We were good friends."

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"I hope my own boys will grow up to be like him"

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"He was loaded with natural ability, terrific coordination. Ty and Basil Rathbone were known as the best fencers in the movie world."

***

"He was an all-American boy, but he could talk religion, philosophy, art, literature -- most things except politics. He felt that fame shouldn't necessarily set someone up to run for office; politics, he believed, was a special game. If you wanted to play it, it was something you had to take on full-time if you wanted to accomplish anything."

***

"He never complained. He proved to himself that in the theatre he could be as great as his father and as his father had hoped he would be."

***

"He remained a dear and close friend of Dorothy’s(Massey’s wife) and mine for the rest of his short and merry life. He crammed an awful lot into it… He had a great capacity for having fun, a capacity distressingly rare these days."

***

"Three of Dad‘s best Hollywood friends -- Cary Grant, Van Johnson, Tyrone Power -- had wanted to play the title role. The choice of Power, with his dark looks and boyish charm, seemed perfect."

***

"Well-read, Ty has a curious and interesting mind. He loves people… There’s a note of excitement about Ty that echoes in everything he does. Perhaps it’s his zest for life-living. But with it, he is considerate of everyone. Because he is democratic and genuinely likes people."

***

"Ty was 23 when he became this gigantic star. He never seemed to be a neophyte or a gangling boy. He was a young leading man immediately."

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"Everybody just loved him!"

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"There was a panache, a grace, and a breeding about him that was enviable to both men and women. Mothers would like him to take their daughters out. Guys would like to have him for his brother."

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"There's never been anybody else like him -- that's what makes stars -- he was unique."

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"In person, he was even more handsome than he was on screen.  He was also devoid of pretension, easygoing, and friendly.  I felt at ease with him right away."

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"He was the most beautiful man I ever saw. No question."

***

"Ty was the only movie star I ever had a crush on as a child. I told Ty that Patsy Lou Neal had once written him a passionate love letter and wondered why she had never received an answer."

***

"Ty was warm and considerate. He had a beautiful face."

***

"Tyrone Power was the god of my adolescence… I would return to see his pictures over and over again. I would go first thing in the morning and stay through the last showing at night."

***

"Working with Ty Power was exciting. In those days, he was the biggest romantic swashbuckler in the world. Murderously handsome… But what I loved most about Ty Power was his wicked sense of humor."

***

"Tyrone Power, as a star, was right up there with Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. And being in his physical presence was almost overwhelming. He was so beautiful, so charming, so gentle, so sensitive, and so kind -- to everybody…. Sometimes Tyrone would drive over from 20th Century-Fox where he worked to have lunch with Linda. We were all thrilled just to see him -- he was so sensational looking."

***

"Ty was one of my great crushes."

***

"There was one absolutely gorgeous man in Hollywood I had admired from afar for several years. When I saw him in a nightclub or at a motion picture function, I would just stare. And when I was told that Twentieth Century-Fox wanted to borrow me for a film with this dream man, I nearly fainted. At last I was going to work with -- and more than likely, be kissed by -- Tyrone Power… Of course I tried to be very sophisticated, but privately, on the inside, I was very excited. As I began to know Ty, I decided the word “devil“certainly suited him. Not only was he more handsome off screen than on (and that took some doing), but he was one of the funniest men I ever met."

***

"Some reporter questioned me about Ty. Sonja and half of the women in America were insane about him, but I just shrugged and said that he wasn’t my type. That quote received wide play in the press. But I didn’t mean it the way they interpreted it. Ty and Clark Gable -- they just don’t make them like that anymore. I admired Ty, but when I said he wasn’t my type, I should have gone on and said I probably wasn’t his type either. Once after work I had a drink with him, and that’s the closest I ever got to Tyrone Power. He was glamour personified, and so was the girl he married, Linda Christian."

***

"Kissing Ty was like you’d died and gone to heaven."

***

"He wasn't arrogant. He wasn't full of himself, but I've never seen anyone as handsome as Ty."

***

"When you get kissed by Tyrone Power you hear bells... bells like on a switch engine. His kisses make your ears clang. I’m liable to wind up with bells in my belfry."

***

"He takes great pride in what he does. He's a very nice star actually. He doesn't make trouble. He isn't temperamental. Those who work with him -- executives and members of his company and crew adore him: Talk among themselves of his sweetness and wish sometimes that, for his own good, he was less sweet. But this, I am sure, will never be. For, however he grows, the fundamental strains I have known in him never alter."

***

"Oh, I just thought he was the most romantic, beautiful man I'd ever seen."

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"He's like one of the last of the nobility."

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"He loved flying. He loved excitement. And he loved danger. He had a wonderful war record, and he was an extremely good pilot."

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"You couldn't help but just like him immediately, and when you got to know him, you just loved him."

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"Tyrone had maybe one little fault -- he didn't know enough to say no to someone like Mr. Zanuck. I'm sure he wanted Tyrone to belong to Fox, but it didn't stop my love for Tyrone or Tyrone's love for me."

***

"My mind was racing through memories and thoughts in an endless chain. Ty was dead, at forty-four, when there should have been so much of life ahead for him. The reality was difficult to grasp -- of someone close, alive and apparently healthy, and then just suddenly gone. I felt numb and heartsick."

***

"My memories of him are from the screen. I related to him mostly as a young, good-looking man in films like Marie Antoinette. He did set a high standard for the men in my life."

***

"I would have liked to have talked to him -- I would have liked to hug him -- I would have liked to just had a daddy. I think he watches out for us, and he's still with us."

***