Tyrone Power
Known for: Acting
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
Series
What's My Line?
Self
1950
Series
Bambi
Self (archive footage)
1948
Series
The Oscars
Self
1953
Series
The Ed Sullivan Show
Self
1948
Series
Cinépanorama
Self
1956
Film
Witness for the Prosecution
Leonard Vole
1957
Series
Armchair Theatre
Jean
1956
Film
Nightmare Alley
Stanton 'Stan' Carlisle
1947
Film
The Black Swan
Jamie Waring
1942
Film
The Mark of Zorro
Don Diego Vega, aka Zorro
1940
Film
The Sun Also Rises
Jake Barnes
1957
Film
The Razor's Edge
Larry Darrell
1946
Film
Jesse James
Jesse Woodson James
1939
Film
Lloyd's of London
Jonathan Blake
1936
Film
The Eddy Duchin Story
Eddy Duchin
1956
Film
The Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender
Self (archive footage)
1997
Film
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
1975
Film
The Long Gray Line
Martin Maher
1955
Film
Marie Antoinette
Count Axel de Fersen
1938
Film
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Benjamin Blake
1942
Film
Blood and Sand
Juan
1941
Film
In Old Chicago
Dion O'Leary
1938
Film
The Adventures of Errol Flynn
Jacob 'Jake' Barnes (archive footage)
2005
Film
A Yank in the R.A.F.
Tim Baker
1941
Film
Anthony Quinn: An Original
Self (archive footage)
1990
Film
Brigham Young
Jonathan Kent
1940
Film
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Self (archive footage)
1982
Film
The Mississippi Gambler
Mark Fallon
1953
Film
King of the Khyber Rifles
Capt. Alan King
1953
Film
Ali Baba Goes to Town
Himself
1937
Film
Hollywood Scandals and Tragedies
(archive footage) (uncredited)
1988
Film
The Rising of the Moon
Self - Host
1957
Film
Showbiz Goes to War
(archive footage)
1982
Film
American Guerrilla in the Philippines
Ensign Chuck Palmer
1950
Film
Captain from Castile
Pedro De Vargas
1947
Film
Seven Waves Away
Alec Holmes
1957
Film
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Alexander - Roger Grant
1938
Film
Rawhide
Tom Owens
1951
Film
Hollywood: The Dream Factory
Self (archive footage)
1972
Film
That Wonderful Urge
Thomas Jefferson Tyler
1948
Film
Love Is News
Steve Leyton
1937
Film
Johnny Apollo
Robert Cain Jr. (aka Johnny Apollo)
1940
Film
The Luck of the Irish
Stephen Fitzgerald
1948
Film
Untamed
Paul Van Riebeck
1955
Film
Rose of Washington Square
Bart Clinton
1939
Film
Show-Business at War
Self
1943
Film
Hollywood Goes to Town
Self
1938
Film
Crash Dive
Lt. Ward Stewart
1943
Film
The Black Rose
Walter of Gurnie
1950
Film
Prince of Foxes
Andrea Orsini
1949
Film
Screen Snapshots (Series 16, No. 1)
Self
1936
Film
This Above All
Clive Briggs
1942
Film
Lusitanian Illusion
Self (archive footage)
2010
Film
The Rains Came
Major Rama Safti
1939
Film
The House in the Square
Peter Standish
1951
Film
Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths
Self (archive footage)
1990
Film
Sir John Mills' Moving Memories
Self (archive footage)
2000
Film
Tom Brown of Culver
Donald MacKenzie
1932
Film
Flirtation Walk
Cadet (uncredited)
1934
Film
Diplomatic Courier
Mike Kells
1952
Film
Second Fiddle
Jimmy Sutton
1939
Film
Ladies in Love
Karl Lanyi
1936
Film
The World's Most Beautiful Girls
Self
1953
Film
The Many Faces of Zorro
Self (archive footage)
2000
Film
Pony Soldier
Constable Duncan MacDonald
1952
Film
Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 8
Tyrone Power
1939
Film
Death In Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
1990
Film
Death Scenes 2
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1992
Film
Girls' Dormitory
Count Vallais
1936
Film
Suez
Ferdinand de Lesseps
1938
Film
Jornal Português (1938-1951)
Self (archive footage)
2015
Film
The Red, White and Blue Line
Self
1955
Film
Café Metropole
Alexis
1937
Film
Hollywood Hobbies
Self (uncredited)
1939
Film
Screen Snapshots (Series 23, No. 1): Hollywood in Uniform
Himself
1943
Film
Three Of A Kind
Himself
1941
Film
Thin Ice
Prince Rudolph
1937
Film
Northern Frontier
Mountie (uncredited)
1935
Film
Second Honeymoon
Raoul McLiesh
1937
Film
Gay, Gay Hollywood
Self
1980
Film
Day-time Wife
Ken Norton
1939
Film
Uncertain Verification
(archive footage)
1965