Tyrone Power
Acting • Born 1914-05-05 – Died 1958-11-15
Biography
One of the great romantic swashbuckling stars of the mid-twentieth century, and the third Tyrone Power of four in a famed acting dynasty reaching back to the eighteenth century. His great-grandfather was the first Tyrone Power (1795-1841), a famed Irish comedian. His father, known to historians as Tyrone Power Sr., but to his contemporaries as either Tyrone Power or Tyrone Power the Younger, was a huge star in the theater (and later in films) in both classical and modern roles. His mother, Patia Riaume (Mrs. Tyrone Power), was also a Shakespearean actress as well as a respected dramatic coach. Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr., (also called Tyrone Power III; May 5, 1914 - November 15, 1958) was born at his mother's home of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1914. A frail, sickly child, he was taken by his parents to the warmer climate of southern California. After his parents' divorce, he and his sister Anne Power returned to Cincinnati with their mother. There he attended school while developing an obsession with acting. Although raised by his mother, he corresponded with his father, who encouraged his acting dreams. He was a supernumerary in his father's stage production of 'The Merchant of Venice' in Chicago and held him as he died suddenly of a heart attack later that year. Startlingly handsome, young Tyrone nevertheless struggled to find work in Hollywood. He appeared in a few small roles, then went east to do stage work. A screen test led to a contract at 20th Century Fox in 1936, and he quickly progressed to leading roles. Within a year or so, he was one of Fox's leading stars, playing in contemporary and period pieces with ease. Most of his roles were colorful without being deep, and his swordplay was more praised than his wordplay. He served in the Marine Corps in World War II as a transport pilot, and he saw action in the Pacific Theater of operations. After the war, he got his best reviews for an atypical part as a downward-spiraling con-man in Nightmare Alley (1947). Although he remained a huge star, much of his postwar work was unremarkable. He continued to do notable stage work and also began producing films. Following a fine performance in Billy Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution (1957), Power began production on Solomon and Sheba (1959). Halfway through shooting, he collapsed during a dueling scene with George Sanders, and he died of a heart attack before reaching a hospital.
Filmography
80 credits
Diplomatic Courier
Movie • 1952
Mike Kells
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
Movie • 1990
(archive footage)
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
The Mark of Zorro
Movie • 1940
Don Diego Vega, aka Zorro
The Sun Also Rises
Movie • 1957
Jake Barnes
The Black Swan
Movie • 1942
Jamie Waring
Witness for the Prosecution
Movie • 1957
Leonard Vole
Rawhide
Movie • 1951
Tom Owens
The Eddy Duchin Story
Movie • 1956
Eddy Duchin
Blood and Sand
Movie • 1941
Juan
The Black Rose
Movie • 1950
Walter of Gurnie
Second Fiddle
Movie • 1939
Jimmy Sutton
Jesse James
Movie • 1939
Jesse Woodson James
Rose of Washington Square
Movie • 1939
Bart Clinton
Marie Antoinette
Movie • 1938
Count Axel de Fersen
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Movie • 1938
Alexander - Roger Grant
Thin Ice
Movie • 1937
Prince Rudolph
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Movie • 1942
Benjamin Blake
Prince of Foxes
Movie • 1949
Andrea Orsini
Captain from Castile
Movie • 1947
Pedro De Vargas
The Long Gray Line
Movie • 1955
Martin Maher
King of the Khyber Rifles
Movie • 1953
Capt. Alan King
Untamed
Movie • 1955
Paul Van Riebeck
Johnny Apollo
Movie • 1940
Robert Cain Jr. (aka Johnny Apollo)
The House in the Square
Movie • 1951
Peter Standish
A Yank in the R.A.F.
Movie • 1941
Tim Baker
Nightmare Alley
Movie • 1947
Stanton 'Stan' Carlisle
Showbiz Goes to War
Movie • 1982
(archive footage)
Love Is News
Movie • 1937
Steve Leyton
Lloyd's of London
Movie • 1936
Jonathan Blake
Day-time Wife
Movie • 1939
Ken Norton
The Razor's Edge
Movie • 1946
Larry Darrell
Crash Dive
Movie • 1943
Lt. Ward Stewart
Brigham Young
Movie • 1940
Jonathan Kent
American Guerrilla in the Philippines
Movie • 1950
Ensign Chuck Palmer
In Old Chicago
Movie • 1938
Dion O'Leary
Seven Waves Away
Movie • 1957
Alec Holmes
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Movie • 1972
Self (archive footage)
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
Movie • 2005
Jacob 'Jake' Barnes (archive footage)
This Above All
Movie • 1942
Clive Briggs
The Luck of the Irish
Movie • 1948
Stephen Fitzgerald
That Wonderful Urge
Movie • 1948
Thomas Jefferson Tyler
Uncertain Verification
Movie • 1965
(archive footage)
The Rains Came
Movie • 1939
Major Rama Safti
Suez
Movie • 1938
Ferdinand de Lesseps
Café Metropole
Movie • 1937
Alexis
Girls' Dormitory
Movie • 1936
Count Vallais
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Movie • 1982
Self (archive footage)
Second Honeymoon
Movie • 1937
Raoul McLiesh
Pony Soldier
Movie • 1952
Constable Duncan MacDonald
Ladies in Love
Movie • 1936
Karl Lanyi
The Mississippi Gambler
Movie • 1953
Mark Fallon
The Rising of the Moon
Movie • 1957
Self - Host
Hollywood Hobbies
Movie • 1939
Self (uncredited)
Three Of A Kind
Movie • 1941
Himself
Northern Frontier
Movie • 1935
Mountie (uncredited)
Anthony Quinn: An Original
Movie • 1990
Self (archive footage)
Tom Brown of Culver
Movie • 1932
Donald MacKenzie
Show-Business at War
Movie • 1943
Self
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Movie • 1975
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Goes to Town
Movie • 1938
Self
Jornal Português (1938-1951)
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
Screen Snapshots (Series 23, No. 1): Hollywood in Uniform
Movie • 1943
Himself
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Movie • 1936
Self
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Movie • 1997
Self (archive footage)
The Red, White and Blue Line
Movie • 1955
Self
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
Movie • 1939
Tyrone Power
Lusitanian Illusion
Movie • 2010
Self (archive footage)
Flirtation Walk
Movie • 1934
Cadet (uncredited)
Death Scenes 2
Movie • 1992
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Ali Baba Goes to Town
Movie • 1937
Himself
The World's Most Beautiful Girls
Movie • 1953
Self
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
Movie • 1988
The Many Faces of Zorro
Movie • 2000
Self (archive footage)
Gay, Gay Hollywood
Movie • 1980
Self
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
The Ed Sullivan Show
TV • 1948
Self
Bambi
TV • 1948
Self (archive footage)
Cinépanorama
TV • 1956
Self
What's My Line?
TV • 1950
Self - Mystery Guest