Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include Jesse James, The Mark of Zorro, Marie Antoinette, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, Witness for the Prosecution, The Black Rose, and Captain from Castile. Power's own favorite film among those in which he starred was Nightmare Alley.Frank Northen Magill, editor, [American Film Guide]; Magill's American Film Guide. Power was known for his many collaborations with Rouben Mamoulian. 4. NI - ST (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1983). .
Though largely a matinee idol in the 1930s and early 1940s and known for his striking good looks, Power starred in films in a number of genres, from drama to light comedy. In the 1950s he placed limits on the number of films he would take in order to devote more time to theater productions. 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 Madrid, Spain.
Early life and education Power was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 5, 1914, the son of Helen Emma "Patia" (née Reaume) and the English-born American stage and screen actor Tyrone Power Sr. Power was descended from a long Irish theatrical line going back to his great-grandfather, the Irish actor and comedian born in Waterford, Ireland, Tyrone Power (1797–1841). His sister, Ann Power, was born in 1915 after the family moved to California. Their mother was Roman Catholic, and her ancestry included the French-Canadian Reaume family and French from Alsace-Lorraine. Through his paternal great-grandmother, Anne Gilbert, Power was related to the actor Laurence Olivier; through his paternal grandmother, stage actress 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 Tyrone Guthrie, the first director of the Stratford Festival in Canada and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Kidd, Charles (1987). Debrett Goes to Hollywood. St. Martin's Press. .
Power went to Cincinnati-area Catholic schools and graduated from Purcell High School in 1931, at which time he opted to join his father to learn acting from one of the stage's most respected actors.
Early career
1930s
Power joined his father for the summer of 1931, after they were apart for some years due to his parents' divorce. His father suffered a heart attack in December, 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 to pursue an acting career. He tried to find work as an actor; however, his father's contacts offered praise for the father and no work for the son. He appeared in a bit part in 1932 in Tom Brown of Culver, but his experience in that movie did not open any doors, and except for a job as an extra in Flirtation Walk, found himself frozen out of the movies. While doing community theater, he took the advice of a friend, Arthur Caesar, to go to New York to gain experience on the stage. Among the Broadway plays in which he was cast were Flowers of the Forest, Saint Joan, and Romeo and Juliet.
Power tried Hollywood in 1936. The director Henry King was impressed with his looks and poise, and insisted Power be tested for the lead role in Lloyd's of London, a role thought already to belong to Don Ameche. Despite his own reservations, Darryl F. Zanuck gave Power the role, after King and Fox film editor Barbara McLean convinced Zanuck that Power had a greater screen presence than Ameche. Power was billed fourth but had by far the most screen time of any member of the cast. He walked into the premiere of the movie an unknown and walked out a star, which he remained for the rest of his life.
Power racked up hit after hit between 1936 and 1943, when his career was interrupted by 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 musicals Alexander's Ragtime Band, Second Fiddle, and Rose of Washington Square; in westerns Jesse James (1939) and Brigham Young; in war films A Yank in the R.A.F. and This Above All; and the swashbucklers The Mark of Zorro and The Black Swan. Jesse James was a hit at the box office but received some criticism for fictionalizing and glamorizing the famous outlaw. Shot in and around Pineville, Missouri, it was Power's first location shoot and his first Technicolor movie. (Before his career was over, he filmed a total of 16 movies in color, including the movie he was filming when he died.) He was loaned out once, to MGM for Marie Antoinette (1938). Darryl F. Zanuck was angry that MGM used Fox's biggest star in what was, despite billing, a supporting role, and vowed to never again loan him out, though Power's services were requested for the roles of Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, Joe Bonaparte in Golden Boy,Spergel, Mark J. (1993) Reinventing Reality--The Art and Life of Rouben Mamoulian. The Scarecrow Press, Inc., and Parris in Kings Row; roles in several films produced by Harry Cohn;Christian, Linda (1963). Linda, My Own Story. Dell. and the role of Monroe Stahr in a planned production by Norma Shearer of The Last Tycoon.Lambert, Gavin (1990) Norma Shearer: A Biography. Knopf.
Power was the second biggest box-office draw of 1939, surpassed only by Mickey Rooney.International Motion Picture Almanac, 1933-present (Annual). Quigley. His box office numbers are some of the best of all time.Cogerson, Bruce (2018). Top 50 Movie Stars: Statistically Speaking. Independently Published
1940–1943
In 1940, the direction of Power's career took a dramatic turn with The Mark of Zorro. Power played the role of Don Diego Vega/Zorro, fop by day, bandit hero by night. The film was a hit, leading 20th Century-Fox to cast Power in other swashbucklers going forward. Power was a talented swordsman in real life, and the dueling scene in The Mark of Zorro is highly regarded. The great Hollywood swordsman, Basil Rathbone, his co-star 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."
Power's career was interrupted in 1943 by military service. He reported to the United States Marine Corps for training in late 1942, but was sent back, at the request of 20th Century-Fox, to complete one further film, Crash Dive, a patriotic war movie released in 1943. He was credited as Tyrone Power, U.S.M.C.R., and the movie served as a recruiting film.
Military service In August 1942, Power enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He attended boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, then Officers' Candidate School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he was commissioned a second lieutenant on June 2, 1943. He had already logged 180 solo hours as a pilot before enlisting, so he was able to do a short, intense flight training program at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. The pass earned him his wings and a promotion to first lieutenant. The Marine Corps considered Power over the age limit for active combat flying, so he volunteered for piloting cargo planes that he felt would get him into active combat zones.p. 34 Myers, Robert H. Tyrone Power, Marine Leatherneck Magazine December 1943
In July 1944, Power was assigned to Marine Transport Squadron (VMR)-352 as a R5C (Navy version of Army Curtiss Commando C-46) transport co-pilot at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. The squadron moved to Marine Corps Air Station El Centro in California in December 1944. Power was later reassigned to VMR-353, joining them on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in February 1945. From there, he flew missions carrying cargo in and wounded Marines out during the Battles of Iwo Jima (February to March 1945) and Okinawa (April to June 1945). For his services in the Pacific War, Power was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two bronze stars, and the World War II Victory Medal.United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Fdn, http://www.usmccca.org/archives/category/news , News Section, "Help Put Tyrone Power on a Stamp," March 19, 2012 Power returned to the United States in November 1945 and was released from active duty in January 1946. He was promoted to the rank of captain in the reserves on May 8, 1951. He remained in the reserves the rest of his life and reached the rank of major in 1957.Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2003 p. 193
In the June 2001 Marine Air Transporter newsletter, Jerry Taylor, a retired Marine Corps flight instructor, recalled training Power as a Marine pilot. "He was an excellent student, never forgot a procedure I showed him or anything I told him." Others who served with him have also commented on how well Power was respected by those with whom he served. Following the war, 20th Century-Fox provided Power a surplus DC-3 he named The Geekp. 292 Buck, Bob North Star over My Shoulder: A Flying Life Simon & Schuster January 3, 2005 that he frequently piloted. When Power died suddenly at age 44, he was buried with full military honors.
Post-war career Late 1940s
Other than re-releases of his films, Power was not seen on screen again after his entry into the Marines until 1946, when he co-starred with Gene Tierney, John Payne, and Anne Baxter in The Razor's Edge, an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1944 novel of the same title.
Next up for release was a movie Power had to fight hard to make, the film noir Nightmare Alley (1947). Darryl F. Zanuck was reluctant for Power to make the movie because his handsome appearance and charming manner had been marketable assets for the studio for many years. Zanuck feared the dark role might damage Power's image. Zanuck eventually agreed, giving Power A-list production values for what normally would be a B film. The movie was directed by Edmund Goulding, and though it was a failure at the box-office, it was one of Power's favorite roles for which he received some of the best reviews of his career. However, Zanuck continued to disapprove of his "darling boy" being seen in such a film with a downward spiral, did not publicize it, and removed it from release after just a few weeks, insisting it was a flop. The film was released on DVD in 2005 after years of legal issues.
Zanuck quickly released another costume-clad movie, Captain from Castile (also 1947), directed by Henry King, who directed Power in eleven movies. After a couple of light romantic comedies in 1948 that reunited him with two actresses under contract to 20th Century-Fox, That Wonderful Urge with Gene Tierney and The Luck of the Irish with Anne Baxter, Power made two swashbucklers, Prince of Foxes (1949) and The Black Rose (1950).
1950s Power was increasingly dissatisfied with costume roles and struggled between being a star and a great actor. He was forced to take roles he found unappealing, such as American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950) and Pony Soldier (1952). In 1950, he traveled to England to play the title role in Mister Roberts on stage at the London Coliseum, bringing in sellout crowds for twenty-three weeks.
Protesting yet another costume film, Power refused to make Lydia Bailey and was suspended. (His role went to Dale Robertson.)p. 70 Capua, Michelangelo Jean Negulesco: The Life and Films McFarland; Illustrated edition September 1, 2017 Power next appeared in Diplomatic Courier (1952), a Cold War spy drama directed by Henry Hathaway which received modest reviews.