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Tyrone Edmond Power III
I was born Tyrone Edmond Power III to Frederick Tyrone Power (Tyrone Power II) and Patti Emma Reaume (Patia, a combination of her two given names) on May 5th 1914 at my grandmother Reaume's home in Cincinnati, Ohio.
I come from a long line of performers, the first of which was my great-great grandfather, Irish stage actor, comedian, author and theatrical manager William Grattan Tyrone Power, the second was my grandfather, concert pianist and actor Harold Littledale Power, the third was my great-uncle George Arthur Power, the fourth and fifth were my father, stage and silent screen actor Frederick Tyrone Power II and my mother stage actress Patia Power, respectively. I had other thespian roots including my paternal great-grandmother, actress Ethel Lavenu, her father conductor/composer Lewis Henry Lavenu, British theatrical director Sir William Tyrone Guthrie and wine merchant/actor Maurice Power.
Before I turned a year old my health was in question, I was suffering from Reumatic Fever and it was suggested by doctors that our family move west to California to take advantage of the milder, dry climate in order to gain the upper hand on my health. We moved to San Diego, California in 1915 and in August, not too long after our move, my sister Anne was born. My parents continued to act locally but my father took work as an actor in Hollywood and New York which took him away for long periods of time.
My mother, Anne and I then moved to a Spanish bungalow in Alhambra, California. I attended the Granada Grammar School there and had my first stage experience in that city, La Golondrina (The Mission Play), at the Mission San Gabriel. I played Pablo (a Mexican boy) and my mother played the part of Senora Josefa Yorba. My father had played the lead, Father Junipero Serra, four years previous. My father's work took its toll on my parents' marriage and they soon separated and divorced (1920).
In 1923, my mother took Anne and I back to Cincinnati to live with Grandmother Reaume. There I returned to school at St. Ursula's (a Sisters of Mercy, almost all-girl catholic school) where my sister also attended. Within a year I transferred to St. Xavier's Parochial School for boys where I eventually graduated class valedictorian. From there I attended Dayton University Parochial prep school (under the Brothers of Mary) in Dayton, Ohio, for my 10th year and returned to Cincinnati to attend Purcell High School back in Walnut Park, graduating in 1931, and to work as an usher at the Orpheum Theatre.
I would choose acting over college in that same year, a decision which was approved by my mother and father both. I traveled to Quebec to meet my father then on to Chicago where my father would star as the Duke of Venice in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. I was a supernumerary, paid to appear on stage as part of a crowd or any other atmospheric parts. The play would also have a run on Broadway at the Royale Theatre.
From there I accompanied my father to California, he had been offered a part in the silent film The Miracle Man. The day my father filmed and finished his death scene for the film he had become tired and wanted to rest, he died the following morning from a heart attack, he was 62.
After my father's death my mother and my sister returned to California, this time to a home in Santa Barbara. During this time I continued to perform in community theatre , most notably at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena and commuting from Hollywood to Santa Barbara for stage work at the Lobero Theatre (which had been recently restored).
By 1933 I had little success as a film actor, save for one days' work on the film Flirtation Walk and by 1934 I decided to head east. A good friend, actor Don Ameche, convinced me to stop in Chicago to work with him in radio and in stock productions, notably the play Romance. Even though I was receiving steady pay (not much) for my work in Chicago it was not what I had hoped to achieve with my acting and I moved on. I took work in summer stock in West Falmouth, Massachusetts (easy commuting distance to New York), toured with the Shakespearean repertory company then made my Broadway debut in Romeo and Juliet in 1935. In the spring of 1936 I was contracted to 20th Century Fox, moved back to California and starred in my first feature film Lloyd's of London.
A little over a year later I had much work and had become relatively successful starring in over 20 feature films before and through the start of World War II. In 1942 I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, finished boot camp and, by the request of the USMC...they thought it would be morale booster, sent back to Hollywood to finish filming Crash Dive. I was then assigned to co-pilot a VMR-352 (transport) and was later assigned to a VMR-353. I logged more than 1100 flight hours during my service in the South Pacific which would take me from Kwajalein, to Saipan and so many other places including the air supply and evacuation of wounded from Iwo Jima and Okinawa. I witnessed the staggering aftermath of the destruction of places that were once beautiful cities.
Then, in November of 1945, my orders sent me back to the United States and I was released from active duty the following January...I was more than ready to come home. In the years following the war I made over 20 more feature films, most notably Nightmare Alley and Witness for the Prosecution.
In 1958 I started production on Solomon and Sheba in Madrid, Spain and half-way through shooting I collapsed during a dueling scene with actor George Sanders and died before reaching the hospital. My very good friend Yul Brenner replaced me in that film.
I am now at rest at the Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever) and I watch over my children.
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To the left you will find an accounting of my film, television, theater and radio works.
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Personal Facts, Awards and other Honors:
I was married three times. The first to French actress Annabella (adopted child: Anne), the second to Mexican actress Linda Christian (children: actress Romina Power; actress Taryn Power) and the third to Deborah Ann Montgomery Minardos (child: actor Tyrone William Power IV).
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Military Honors:
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two bronze stars
World War II Victory Medal
Promoted to Captain in the Reservers on May 8, 1951.
Acting Honors:
Bambi Prize - 1952
International Sound Research Institute award for diction - 1946
Grauman's Chinese Theatre - hand and footprints with Loretta Young - May 31, 1937
Hollywood Walk of Fame - star at 6747 Hollywood Blvd
Other Honors:
Honorary Doctorate of Humanities - University of Tampa (Florida) - 1948