Tyrone Power, Sr.

Tyrone Power, Sr.
Tyrone Power, Sr., c. 1916
Born	Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power 2 May 1869 London, England, United Kingdom
Died	23 December 1931 (aged 62) Los Angeles, California, United States
Other names	Fred
Spouse(s)	Maud White (unknown marriage date) (as of 1904) Edith Crane (m.Sept 19, 1908) (1908-1912; her death) Helen Emma Reaume (m. June 10, 1912) (1912-1920; divorced; 2 children) Bertha Knight (1921-1927; her death)
Children	Tyrone Power Anne Power
Parent(s)	Harold Littledale Power (father) Ethel Lavenu (mother)

Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power (2 May 1869 – 23 December 1931) was an English stage and screen actor, who acted under the name Tyrone Power.

Early life

Power was born in London in 1869, the son of Harold Littledale Power and Ethel Lavenu. His father had worked as a singer and actor before his marriage, most notably in Edmund Yates' production "Invitations" at the Egyptian Hall, London, 1862–63. Turning to business, his father became a wine merchant, later collaborating in the mining business with his brother Frederick Power. Power's father was the youngest son of the Irish actor Tyrone Power, from whom his son, grandson and great grandson would later take their stage names. His mother Ethel Lavenu, an actress was the third daughter of conductor and composer Lewis Henry Lavenu.

Frederick Power, as he was then known, was educated at Hampton School then Dover College with his brother George, who would later accompany him on tour in America as Littledale Power. In 1883 at the age of 14 he was sent from Britain to Florida by his parents to learn citrus planting.

Career

Stage

After a couple of years Power ran away from his farm work and joined a theatre stock company at St. Augustine, Florida, debuting as Gibson in Charles Hawtrey's The Private Secretary on 29 November 1886 aged 17. Power steadily moved up the ranks in a variety of roles mainly Shakespearean parts. In 1899 he was in the cast of Mrs Fiske's Becky Sharp which costarred Maurice Barrymore. 1902 saw Power join Mrs. Fiske again in Mary of Magdala. The following year Power starred opposite Edgar Selwyn in Ulysses. (Selwyn would later join part of his name with Samuel Goldfish's name to create Goldwyn Studios.) Power also had roles in Julia Marlowe's When Knighthood Was in Flower in a 1904 revival.

In August of 1905 Power appeared at the Elitch Theatre in Denver with his wife, Edith Crane, in Tess of the D'Urbervilles. According to Mary Elitch Long, in her autobiography, Lady of the Gardens, "I shall never forget the beauty of his voice nor his first utterance as he entered the Gardens: 'I am about to realize a great ambition, and that is to play in the Elitch Gardens Theatre.'"

In 1908 Power had what was probably his greatest personal theatrical success, The Servant in the House. The production ran for 80 performances in the first half of 1908 and then a return engagement for 48 performances near the close of the year. Following this success Power appeared in a few more original stage productions like Chu Chin Chow (American version) and The Wandering Jew, which apparently was a huge musical. The rest of his theatrical career before World War I and after consisted of revivals of popular and Shakesperean plays such as The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, the all-star play Diplomacy, and The Rivals. In 1922, he played Claudius in John Barrymore's groundbreaking production of Hamlet.

Films

After an extremely prosperous 30 years of acting on the stage and touring around the world, Power moved into silent films in 1914. Initially playing the leading man in films, he soon switched to playing villains and proved highly successful. In 1916 Power played the male lead in Where Are My Children?, a serious film about birth control and social issues directed by pioneer woman director Lois Weber and her husband Phillips Smalley. A pristine copy of this film is preserved in the Library of Congress. That same year Power appeared in a Selig film called John Needham's Double. When not acting on Broadway, Power appeared in films. Producer William Fox found him a great character part at Fox Studios in Footfalls (1921).

Also in 1921 Power appeared in D.W. Griffith's Dream Street in which experimental synchronised sound was used, using the Photokinema sound-on-disc system. In 1924 Power was in the cast of the sumptuous Janice Meredith, a Hearst produced Marion Davies vehicle. In 1925 Power appeared in a film called The Red Kimono, a film as daring as Where Are My Children? had been a decade earlier. The Red Kimono was produced and partly written by Dorothy Davenport, the widow of Wallace Reid. It is the only silent Power film available on home video or DVD.

Power finished out the decade & silent era in several A-list silent films. In 1930, Power had a final great role as the villainous "bull whacker" Red Flack in Raoul Walsh's widescreen epic The Big Trail, which was Power's first (and only) talkie and provided an unknown John Wayne with his first starring role. Power then prepared to film a sound remake of The Miracle Man, which had been a great silent success in 1919 for Lon Chaney. A few scenes had been shot but before filming could be completed on The Miracle Man. Power died of a heart attack in the arms of his 17-year-old son at the end of 1931. He was 62. His part of the preacher in The Miracle Man was taken up by fellow veteran actor Hobart Bosworth.

He is now usually referred to as Tyrone Power, Sr., to distinguish him from his son, actor Tyrone Power, who would die in 1958 at the age of 44, also of a heart attack .

Stage appearances

Production	Production	Company, Dates
The Private Secretary Charles Hawtrey	Gibson	his debut on November 29, 1886 with St. Augustine, Florida stock company
Saratoga Bronson Howard	The Hon. William Carter	at Mechanics' Institute, St. John, NB, Huebner-Holmes Co., June 22, 1888
The Texan Tyrone Power, Sr.	William Plainleigh	at Opera House, St. John, NB and at the Masonic Hall at Chatham and Newcastle, New Brunswick, own company, June, 1893, and at Princess's Theatre, London, June, 1894
The Two Roses James Albery	Digby Grant	at Opera House, St. John, NB, own company, June, 1893
Betsy	Adolphus	at Opera House, St. John, NB, own company, June, 1893
The Sins of the Fathers W. Lestocq	Sir Roger Walvernby & Norman Vernley	at Opera House, St. John, NB, own company, June, 1893
Guy Mannering Sir Walter Scott	Dominie Sampson	opened at Montreal, Fanny Janauschek company c.1888-1891
The School for Scandal Richard Brinsley Sheridan	Sir Oliver Surface	Augustin Daly players, 1891
The Magistrate Arthur Wing Pinero	Posket	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898
The Cabinet Minister Arthur Wing Pinero	Brooke Twombley	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898
The Foresters Alfred Tennyson	Much the Miller	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898
As You Like It William Shakespeare	Frederick	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898
Love's Labour's Lost William Shakespeare	Holofernes	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898
Much Ado about Nothing William Shakespeare	Antonio	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898
The Taming of the Shrew William Shakespeare	Christopher Sly	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898, and with own company Australia and New Zealand tour 1900-1902
The Tempest William Shakespeare	Caliban	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898
The Merry Wives of Windsor William Shakespeare	Host of the Garter Inn	Augustin Daly players, c.1891-1898
Magda Hermann Sudermann	-	Minnie Maddern Fiske's company c.1890s
Frou-Frou Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy	-	Minnie Maddern Fiske's company c.1890s
Becky Sharp Langdon Mitchell ad. Thackeray's Vanity Fair	Lord Steyne	Minnie Maddern Fiske's company, Fifth Avenue Theatre, September 12-December, 1899, 116 performances
Tess of the D'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy dram.	-	Australia and New Zealand tour 1900-1902
Trilby George du Maurier dram.	-	Australia and New Zealand tour 1900-1902
Our Boys Henry James Byron	-	Australia and New Zealand tour 1900-1902
The Only Way Freeman C. Wills, Frederick Langbridge ad. A Tale of Two Cities	-	Australia and New Zealand tour 1900-1902
The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare	Bassanio	at the Lyceum Theatre, London with Henry Irving and Ellen Terry, June, July, 1902
Mary of Magdala William Winter	Judas Iscariot	Minnie Maddern Fiske's company, Manhattan Theatre, November, 1902, 105 performances
Ulysses Stephen Phillips	Ulysses	at the Garden Theatre, September 14-November,1903, 65 performances
Ingomar Maria Lovell	Ingomar	at the Empire Theatre, Broadway, May 16, 1904
Yvette Pierre Berton ad. Cosmo Gordon Lennox	-	at the Knickerbocker Theatre, Broadway, May 13, 1904
When Knighthood Was in Flower Charles Major ad. Paul Kester	The Princess	at the Empire Theatre, Broadway, May, 1904, 16 performances
Adrea David Belasco	-	at the Belasco Theatre, January 1 – April 26, 1905, 123 performances
Tess of the D'Urbervilles	-	at the Elitch Theatre, August, 1905
The Redskin Donald MacLaren	Lonawanda	at the Liberty Theatre, January 3- March, 1906, 26 performances
The Strength of the Weak Alice M. Smith, Charlotte Thompson	-	at the Liberty Theatre, April 17- May, 1906
The Christian Pilgrim James MacArthur	Apollyon, Beelzebub, Giant Despair, Lord Hategood	at the Liberty Theatre, November, 1907, 14 performances
The Servant in the House Charles Rann Kennedy	Robert Smith	at the Savoy Theatre, March 23 – June 1, 1908, 80 performances, October 19-November, 1908, 48 performances
Thais Anatole France, ad. Paul Wilstach	-	at the Criterion Theatre, March 14-April, 1911, 31 performances "Julius Caesar" Marcus Brutus one performance for 40,000 at Beachwood Canyon, Hollywood, May 1916
Julius Caesar William Shakespeare	Marcus Brutus	at the Lyric Theatre, November 4-December, 1912, 32 performances, outdoor performance before 40,000 at Beachwood Canyon Hollywood, May 1916, one performance at the Cort Theatre, March 15, 1918
Chu Chin Chow Oscar Asche	Abu Hasan	American premiere at the Manhattan Opera House, October 22, 1917, second run at the Century Theatre, January 14-April, 1918, 208 performances
The Little Brother Milton Goldsmith, Benedict James	-	at the Belmont Theatre, November 25, 1918-March, 1919, 120 performances
The Wandering Jew Ernest Temple Thurston	Mathathias, The Unknown Knight, Matteo Battadio, Matteos Battadios	at the Knickerbocker Theatre, opened October 26, 1921
The Rivals Richard Brinsley Sheridan	Sir Anthony Absolute	at the Empire Theatre, opened June 5, 1922
Hamlet William Shakespeare	Claudius King of Denmark	at the Sam H. Harris Theatre, November 16, 1922-February, 1923, 101 performances
Venus Rachel Crothers	Herbert Beveridge	at the Theatre Masque, December 26, 1927-January, 1928, 8 performances
Diplomacy (play) Victorien Sardou	Markham	at Erlanger's Theatre, May 28-July, 1928, 40 performances
The Unknown Warrior Paul Raynal trans. Cecil Lewis	Elderly Man	at Charles Hopkins Theatre, October 29-November, 1928, 8 performances
The Merchant of Venice William Shakespeare	Duke of Venice	at the Royale Theatre, opened November 16, 1931, 8 performances

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1914	Aristocracy	Jefferson Stockton
1915	A Texas Steer	Maverick Brander
1915	Sweet Alyssum	Roanoke Brooks
1916	The Devil-in-Chief	-
1916	Thou Shalt Not Covet	I, or the Hero
1916	John Needham's Double	Lord John Needham/Joseph Norbury
1916	Where Are My Children?	District Attorney Richard Walton
1916	The Eye of God	Olaf
1917	The Planter	Ludwig Hertzer
1917	Lorelei of the Sea	Paul	Alternative titles: A Modern Lorelei The Lorelei, Sirens of the Sea
1917	National Red Cross Pageant	Servia
1919	The Mad Woman	-
1920	The Great Shadow	Jim McDonald
1921	Dream Street	Street Preacher
1921	The Black Panther's Cub	Count Boris Orliff
1921	Footfalls	Hiram Scudder
1923	Fury	Captain Leyton
1923	The Truth About Wives	Howard Hendricks
1923	Bright Lights of Broadway	John Kirk
1923	Wife in Name Only	Dornham
1923	The Daring Years	James LaMotte
1923	The Day of Faith	Michael Anstell
1924	Damaged Hearts	Sandy
1924	The Lone Wolf	Bannon
1924	Trouping with Ellen	Mr. Llewellyn
1924	The Story Without a Name	Drakma	Alternative title: Without Warning (USA)
1924	For Another Woman	-
1924	Greater Than Marriage	Father
1924	Janice Meredith	Lord Cornwallis	Alternative title: The Beautiful Rebel
1924	The Law and the Lady	John Langley Sr.
1925	The Wanderer	Jesse
1925	Where Was I?	George Stone
1925	A Regular Fellow	King
1925	The Red Kimona	Gabrielle's Father	Alternative title: Red Kimona Red Kimono (USA)
1925	Braveheart	Standing Rock
1925	Bride of the Storm	Jacob Kroon
1926	The Test of Donald Norton	John Corrigal
1926	Out of the Storm	Mr. Lawrence
1926	Hands Across the Border	John Drake
1927	The Elegy	Servant of Satan
1930	The Big Trail	Red Flack, wagon boss

External links

• Tyrone Power, Sr. at the Internet Movie Database
• Tyrone Power, Sr. at the Internet Broadway Database
• Tyrone Power, Sr. at the NY Public Library