Tyrone Power

Power was descended from a long Irish theatrical line going back to his great-grandfather, the Irish actor and comedian Tyrone Power (1797–1841).

Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor.

Power was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1914, the son of Helen Emma "Patia" (née Reaume) and the English-born American stage and screen actor Tyrone Power Sr.., often known by his first name "Fred".

Tyrone Power's sister, Ann Power, was born in 1915, after the family moved to California.

His 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 (William) Tyrone Guthrie, the first Director of the Stratford Festival in Canada; and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The role had been performed by Douglas Fairbanks in the 1920 movie of the same title.

The film was a hit, and 20th Century-Fox often cast Power in other swashbucklers in the years that followed.

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.

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.

Power went to Cincinnati-area Catholic schools and graduated from Purcell High School in 1931.

Upon his graduation, he opted to join his father to learn what he could about acting from one of the stage's most respected actors.

Power joined his father for the summer of 1931, after being separated from him for some years due to his parents' divorce.

His father suffered a heart attack in December 1931, 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 pursuing an acting career.

He tried to find work as an actor, and, while many contacts knew his father well, they offered praise for his father but no work for his son.

He appeared in a bit part in 1932 in Tom Brown of Culver, a movie starring actor Tom Brown.

Power's experience in that movie did not open any other doors, however, and, except for what amounted to little more than a job as an extra in Flirtation Walk, he found himself frozen out of the movies but making some appearances in community theater.

Discouraged, he took the advice of a friend, Arthur Caesar, to go to New York to gain experience as a stage actor.

Among the Broadway plays in which he was cast are Flowers of the Forest, Saint Joan, and Romeo and Juliet.

Power went to Hollywood in 1936.

The director Henry King was impressed with his looks and poise, and he insisted that 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 decided to give Power the role, once King and Fox film editor Barbara McLean convinced him that Power had a greater screen presence than Ameche.

Power was billed fourth in the movie but he had by far the most screen time of any member of the cast.

He walked into the premiere of the movie an unknown and he walked out a star, which he remained the rest of his career.

Power racked up hit after hit from 1936 until 1943, when his career was interrupted by military service.

(Before his career was over, he had 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 he 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, and Parris in Kings Row; roles in several films produced by Harry Cohn; and the role of Monroe Stahr in a planned production by Norma Shearer of The Last Tycoon.

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 the westerns Jesse James (1939) and Brigham Young; in the 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 very big hit at the box office, but it did receive some criticism for fictionalizing and glamorizing the famous outlaw.

The movie was shot in and around Pineville, Missouri, and was Power's first location shoot and his first Technicolor movie.

Power was named the second biggest box-office draw in 1939, surpassed only by Mickey Rooney.

His box office numbers are some of the best of all time.

In 1940, the direction of Power's career took a dramatic turn when his movie The Mark of Zorro was released.

Power played the role of Don Diego Vega/Zorro, a fop by day, a bandit hero by night.

In the 1950s he began placing limits on the number of films he would make 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.