Robert Osborne once wrote that two men stood out as if they were born on Mount Olympus the first was MGM’s Robert Taylor and the other is our Star of the Month for December 20th Century’s heartthrob Tyrone Power. In his time he gave mega stars Clark Gable and Errol Flynn a run for their money as Hollywood’s resident sex symbol.
First though let’s trace his beginnings. Born in May of 1914 born to a family with a long lineage of stage and screen actors. Tyrone began acting at age 7 and before his father died in 1931 he appeared with him before he was 17 in Chicago on stage in a production of The Merchant of Venice.
After heading to California his father’s name opened a few doors but yielded not much more than jobs as an extra so it was back to Broadway to sharpen his skills and he landed one as an understudy to Burgess Meredith and it was there that talent scouts from the West Coast brought him back to Hollywood where he signed with 20th Century Fox in 1936. After his first disaster in Sing Baby Sing he was undaunted and with Hollywood angel’s Alice Faye and Hedda Hopper by his side Tyrone continued to find regular work in light comedies like Girls Dormitory and Ladies in Love. With his two influential supporters and his striking good looks Power would receive his landmark role that same year that minted his stardom in Lloyd’s of London. Within 6 months of that film’s release Power had his hand and footprints in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater and was #2 Box Office behind Mickey Rooney.
He was finally off to the races as Power proved a bankable star in two big musicals Thin Ice in 1937 with Sonja Henie and then Alexander’s Ragtime Band in 1938 in which he sang the title track. Tyrone Power singing? He was no Sinatra but his voice was mellifluous enough for studio executives. Then Tyrone went Western as he began to stretch his acting capabilities first in Jesse James in 1939 and Noir in 1940 with Johnny Apollo. Things then turned to the romantic side for Power as he reeled off The Rains Came, The Mark of Zorro and Blood and Sand the latter two costarring with the strikingly beautiful 17-year-old Linda Darnel and then The Black Swan with Maureen O’Hara. It was these films and the double edged sword of success that rocketed Tyrone to superstardom yet kept him typecast in roles that prevented him reaching his true desire to be taken as a serious actor.
When WWII came Power joined the Marines in 1942 and although he remained stateside until 1945 he finally he became active in the War when he flew cargo and troop missions to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. When he returned home he was a changed man and after an affair with Judy Garland and a terminated pregnancy with her Tyrone was through with musicals and he sought more serious roles the first being Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge in ’46 and then very dark Nightmare Alley in ’47 the story of a con man’s rise and fall against the backdrop of a carnival. It was this role that proved his mettle way beyond his good looks. Studio bosses kept the film on the down low and after it’s release pushed hard with the release of The Captain from Castile which was more in keeping with their image of who they thought America wanted to see. So often when heroic stars take on roles that are so atypical it’s a risk for their career and the studio but Power pulled it off. In 1957 in what most critics agreed was his most acclaimed role opposite Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich in Witness for the Prosecution, Power plays a U.S. War Veteran accused of murder. It was a landmark film for its time garnering 6 Academy Award Nominations including Best Picture.
Tyrone Power was one of the best swordsman in Hollywood and in what was to be his final film Solomon and Sheba in 1958 starring opposite his friend George Sanders while engaged in the film's sword fight Tyrone would exclaim: Must Stop! It was then he would drop to the floor then in seconds he fell supine and expired of a heart attack at age 44 a disease similar to his father. Yul Brynner was to take his place and if you look closely you can see Power in the long shots but this role would be just be an unaccredited one.
Tyrone Power would sire 3 children 2 with second wife Linda Christian and 1 with his companion of 6 months Deborah Minardos who gave birth to a child 2 months after his death. All 3 have pursued acting albeit to minor success including his namesake Tyrone Power Jr.
Tyrone Power dead at age 44 November 15th 1958.
