Trivia

Kept a copy of all the scripts from his movies and had them bound.

During the filming of Jesse James (1939) he had a fling with a local girl who got pregnant and put the child, a boy, up for adoption. Power spent a small fortune in the 1940s searching for the child, without success.

As a US Marine Corps pilot in World War II, he flew supplies into and wounded troops out of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

His heart attack was due to hereditary heart disease and heavy smoking.

When romance novelist Barbara Cartland was asked how she could write such steamy books while still a virgin, she answered, "We didn't need sex. We had Tyrone Power".

Was involved in an illicit affair with Judy Garland that ended when he would not leave his wife for her (January-May 1943).

He originally turned down the part of "Leonard Vole" in Witness for the Prosecution (1957) due to depression over his film career. He was doing a lot of stage work and told Billy Wilder that he wasn't sure he ever wanted to make another film. Without Power, Wilder dropped the project, as they needed a star of his magnitude. Later, the producers went back to him and offered him $300,000 plus a percentage of the film, and he agreed to do it.

He turned down Burt Lancaster's role in From Here to Eternity (1953).

At the time of his death Power was a major in the United States Marine Corps Reserves.

Appears on the album jacket of The Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

He smoked three to four packs of cigarettes a day, plus several bowlfuls of pipe tobacco.

Both he and his father Tyrone Power Sr. died while "on the job", requiring their roles to be recast and re-shot--his father in The Miracle Man (1932) (replaced by Hobart Bosworth) and he in Solomon and Sheba (1959) (replaced by Yul Brynner).

The novel "Quicksilver" by Fitzroy Davis chronicles, in fictional form, a tour of "Romeo & Juliet" with Katharine Cornell that Power was with in the 1930s before going to Hollywood. Others in the cast included, at various times, Orson Welles, Brian Aherne and Basil Rathbone. All the names have been changed but many of the stories in the book did actually happen. When Aherne joined the cast, Welles was demoted, taking over Power's role, and Power moved into a smaller one. This is included in the book. It was a best-seller, written in 1942 after many of the actors had Hollywood success, and the story goes that Cornell tried to buy up all of the copies. Given that Davis knew these actors' fates by the time he wrote the book, it's easier to figure out who was who, though it appears the author did mix various traits among the characters in order to make the actors less recognizable.

He was signed by Twentieth Century-Fox in 1936 as an answer to MGM's big star Robert Taylor.

After his service in World War II, he remained a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserve, but was not called up for service in the Korean War.

Charlton Heston wrote in his 1995 autobiography "In the Arena" that while filming Ben-Hur (1959) he was shocked to learn of Power's sudden death, especially since the actor was only a decade older than him. He said the incident made him think about his own mortality for the first time.

On Nov 14-16, 2008, an event was held at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre to mark the 50th anniversary of his untimely passing. Four of his films were screened: Love Is News (1937), The Mark of Zorro (1940), The Razor's Edge (1946) and Nightmare Alley (1947). In attendance were his children, Tyrone Power Jr., Romina Power and Taryn Power. Also attending were several actors who worked with him, including Coleen Gray, Piper Laurie, Terry Moore and Jayne Meadows.

He was considered for the role of Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939).

His last complete work was a public-service announcement for television (in which he appeared on a motion-picture set in costume) about spotting the signs of a heart attack and going to the hospital to have a doctor check it out. The film still exists and has been shown in biographical tributes. Power died of a heart attack while filming Solomon and Sheba (1959) shortly after the public-service spot first aired. Coincidentally Power's replacement on his last film, Yul Brynner also completed a PSA for the American Cancer Society prior to his death. This PSA was broadcast after Brynner's death. "Now that I'm gone, I tell you: Don't smoke. Whatever you do, just don't smoke. If I could take back that smoking, we wouldn't be talking about any cancer. I'm convinced of that.".

According to Quigley Publishing Co.'s International Motion Picture Almanac, he is one of the top 100 box-office stars of all time, remarkable because he only had a 19-year career (taking three years off for his time in the military). Other actors on the list enjoyed careers from 25-50 years.

Interred at Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now called Hollywood Forever), Hollywood, CA. His tombstone includes the masks of Comedy and Tragedy and the inscription, "Good night, sweet prince . . . ".

In her 1982 autobiography "Lana: The Lady, The Legend, The Truth", Lana Turner revealed that she had gotten pregnant by Power in December 1946. When Power's wife Annabella refused to give him a divorce, Turner was forced to undergo an abortion or face them both losing their respective careers.

Children: Romina Francesca born 2 October 1951, Taryn born 13 September 1953 and Tyrone William born 22 January 1959 were all born at Cedars Hospital, Los Angeles, California.

His great-grandfather, Tyrone Power (1795-1841), wrote the two-volume "Impressions of America: During the Years 1833, 1834, 1835".(London: R. Bently, 1836).

He and Basil Rathbone were two of Hollywood's most accomplished fencing masters but for safety reasons preferred duelling with their fencing instructors for scenes which didn't include close ups of both stars.

Was the adoptive father of his ex-wife's, Annabella daughter, Ann Power.

He was the first performer to win a "Harvard Lampoon" Worst Actor Award for The Rains Came (1939) in 1939.

Mentioned in three films: Sunset Boulevard (1950) with the line "Can you see Ty Power as a shortstop?"; All About Eve (1950) with the line "What shall I tell Tyrone Power?"; and Flags of Our Fathers (2006) when the character of Rene Gagnon is referred to as "Tyrone Power" because of his good looks.

There are yearly memorial services at Hollywood Forever Cemetery on the anniversary of his death, November 15. There is also one for Rudolph Valentino yearly.

According to the genealogy book, "Debrett Goes to Hollywood" by Charles Kidd, Power on his father's side was distantly related to both Laurence Olivier and author Evelyn Waugh. One of his first cousins was the prominent director Sir Tyrone Guthrie, who founded the Stratford Theatre in Ontario and the Guthrie Theater in Minnesota. Power was also related to the Mori family of Italy who were a prominent family in music. Power's paternal grandmother was partly descended from the French Huguenots.

In 1920, lived at 212 S. Cordova Street, Alhambra, California.

His name was invoked in an underwear commercial by spokesman Wally Cox who said, in his best, Mr. Milquetoast voice, "I may look like Wally Cox, but inside I'm Tyrone Power".

He was originally cast in Richard Burton's role in The Robe (1953).

When he was working on forming a theater company in Europe in the 1950s, he hired author Nora Sayre to read plays. She writes about that time in her book, "On the Wing," and about Power's relationship with girlfriend Mai Zetterling and the woman who was to become his third wife, Debbie Minardos.

At age 16 he was an usher at the Orpheum Theatre in Cincinnati, Ohio.

He 'was scheduled to make his film debut playing with his father, Tyrone Power Sr., in The Miracle Man (1932). but the senior Power's sudden death from a heart attack during filming precluded that.

Played a West Point cadet (uncredited) in Flirtation Walk (1934). Twenty-one years later he starred in The Long Gray Line (1955), again about West Point, but this time as the legendary enlisted man, Martin "Marty" Maher, whose service to the Academy will never be forgotten.

In Dreamboat (1952), a large photo of Power is prominently displayed on the wall of the agency Clifton Webb and Anne Francis enter in New York City.

Friend of Eddy Duchin. Portrayed Duchin in The Eddy Duchin Story (1956) and like Duchin, died at a young age.

His 1938 Photoplay cover is the first shot in the film Enter Laughing (1967).

Cartoon artist C.C. Beck, on the Marvel Comics website, states that several characters in the Captain Marvel series were based on film stars. The mighty Egyptian magician Ibis the Invincible, who was featured in every issue of Whiz Comics, was based on Tyrone Power as he appeared in The Rains Came (1939).

His centennial has been celebrated in Chicago, his home town of Cincinnati, in Massillon (OH), in Wilmington (NC) and in Milwaukee, WI). In Hollywood the Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences shows one of his films every Tuesday in September. The Tyrone Power Exhibit at the Hollywood Museum features costumes, stills, posters, candid photos, fan magazines and personal items from the actor's career and life.

Son of Tyrone Power Sr. and Patia Riaume aka Mrs. Tyrone Power. Adoptive father of Ann Power, father of Romina Power, Taryn Power, and Tyrone William Power IV aka Tyrone Power Jr..

He gave a commencement speech at the University of Tampa in 1948. He was awarded an honorary degree in the Arts.

Lead character in the play "Filthy Rich," which is a film-noir parody, is named Tyrone Power.

Was immortalized in the song, "My Baby Just Cares for Me" with the lyrics, "My baby don't care for Tyrone Power/She'd rather be with me by the hour" as well as "Hooray for Hollywood" - "within a half an hour, you'll look like Tyrone Power".

Appeared in five Oscar Best Picture nominees: Flirtation Walk (1934), In Old Chicago (1938), Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), The Razor's Edge (1946) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957).

Although he gave his height as six feet, Power was known to wear lifts in films and it is widely believed he was actually 5'10".

Has his own chapter, "Disillusioned: Tyrone Power" in "The Star Machine" by Jeanine Basinger, Alfred J. Knopf Publishers, 2007.

His father had Irish, English and French Huguenot ancestry. His mother had French-Canadian, German and English roots.