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The Power is a 1968 film^[1] based on the science fiction novel The Power by Frank M. Robinson. Directed by Byron Haskin, it stars George Hamilton and Suzanne Pleshette. The film concerns a pair of men with the ability to slay somebody with their minds.^[2]

Plot[link]

Professor Jim Tanner, a biochemist, discovers evidence of a person with psychic abilities among his co-workers in a research laboratory. His colleagues include geneticist Margery Lansing, physicist Carl Melkinen, biologist Talbot Scott and chairman N.E. Van Zandt, all working for Navy officer Arthur Nordlund.

After a warning from Henry Hallson that one among them possesses a super-intelligence capable of destruction and mind control, Hallson is found murdered with the name "Adam Hart" scrawled nearby. His widow Sally Hallson says it is the name of a childhood friend.

Tanner is the prime suspect of a police investigator named Corlane. As he tries to uncover the superhuman, his associates are methodically murdered until Tanner faces a showdown with the killer, an apparently undefeatable opponent. In the end, Nordlund is revealed to be Adam Hart. Hart's psychic assault awakens Tanner's own latent psychic powers, and Tanner kills Hart. Tanner realizes that he was the superhuman uncovered by Hallson's tests, and that Hart was trying to eliminate any competition from others like himself.

Production[link]

Produced by George Pal and directed by Byron Haskin, the source novel was substantially changed in the John Gay screenplay, moving the location to San Marino, California, changing most of the characters' names (although retaining the surnames of Tanner, Nordlund, and department head Professor Van Zandt), and eliminating several subplots and characters, presumably to fit the story into a 108-minute film.

Hamilton starred as Professor Jim Tanner, with Pleshette as his teammate and romantic interest Margery Lansing (Marge Hanson in the novel) and Michael Rennie (famous among science-fiction movie fans as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still) as new government liaison Mr. Nordlund. Otherwise, the story proceeds in a fashion similar to the novel, except for a somewhat different twist to the conclusion. In the movie, Tanner defeats Hart but retains his humanity; in the novel, Tanner sheds his humanity after killing Hart, and looks forward to "playing God" with normal humans, just as Hart did.

This somewhat obscure movie is memorable for a number of intriguing scenes, including murder by centrifuge, a seemingly possessed "Walk / Don't Walk" sign, toy soldiers firing with real gunpowder, and winking inanimate objects (the last two also in the novel). The soundtrack also memorably features a beating heart to signal the mind-control attempts and eerie music from a cymbalum (a hammered dulcimer-like instrument) accompanying the more suspenseful moments.

The music, written by Oscar-winning composer Miklós Rózsa, contributes an amusing fourth wall-breaking moment when Tanner, hearing the haunting tune, seems to expect a new disaster, only to be visibly relieved when he finds a cymbalum-violin duet being performed in the hotel lobby. This was Rózsa's final score for a film produced by MGM, for which he had scored numerous films throughout his career.

Cast[link]

• George Hamilton – Professor Jim Tanner
• Suzanne Pleshette – Professor Margery Lansing
• Michael Rennie – Arthur Nordlund
• Arthur O'Connell – Professor Henry Hallson
• Earl Holliman – Professor Talbot Scott
• Nehemiah Persoff – Professor Carl Melnicker
• Richard Carlson – Professor Norman E. Van Zandt
• Gary Merrill – Policeman Mark Corlane
• Yvonne De Carlo – Mrs. Sally Hallson
• Barbara Nichols – Flora (Joshua Falls diner)
• Aldo Ray – Bruce (Joshua Falls mechanic)
• Celia Lovsky – Mrs. Hallson (Henry's mother)
• Vaughn Taylor – Mr. Hallson (Henry's father)
• Ken Murray – Fred Grover (man at party)
• Miss Beverly Hills – Sylvia (woman at party)
• Miiko Taka – Mrs. Van Zandt
• Lawrence Montaigne – Briggs
• Forrest J Ackerman – Hotel clerk (uncredited)
• Timothy Smith – Elevator Man #1 (uncredited)
• Paul Lyttle – Elevator Man #2 (uncredited)

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Power at the Internet Movie Database

The Powerpuff Girls is an American animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network. The show centers on Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, three kindergarten-aged girls with superpowers, as well as their "father", the brainy scientist Professor Utonium, who all live in the fictional city of Townsville, USA. The girls are frequently called upon by the town's childlike mayor to help fight nearby criminals using their powers.

McCracken originally developed the show in 1992 as a cartoon short entitled Whoopass Stew! while in his second year at CalArts. Following a name change, Cartoon Network featured the first Powerpuff Girls pilots in its animation showcase program World Premiere Toons in 1995 and 1996. The series made its official debut as a Cartoon Cartoon on November 18, 1998, with the final episode airing on March 25, 2005. A total of 78 episodes were aired in addition to two shorts, a Christmas special, a feature film, and a tenth anniversary special. Additionally, the series has been nominated for 6 Emmy Awards, 9 Annie Awards, and a Kids' Choice Award during its run. Spin-off media include an anime, three CD soundtracks, a home video collection, and a series of video games, as well as various licensed merchandise.

Overview[link]

The Powerpuff Girls revolves around the adventures of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. Each of the girls has a color: Blossom is pink, Bubbles is blue, and Buttercup is green. The plot of a typical episode is some humorous variation of standard superhero and tokusatsu fare, with the girls using their powers to defend their town from villains and giant monsters. In addition, the girls have to deal with normal issues young children face, such as sibling rivalries, loose teeth, personal hygiene, going to school, bed wetting, or dependence on a security blanket. Episodes often contain more or less hidden references to older pop culture (especially noticeable in the episode "Meet the Beat Alls").^[1]

The setting of the show is mainly the city of Townsville, USA. Townsville is depicted as a major American city, with a cityscape consisting of several major skyscrapers. In his review of The Powerpuff Girls Movie, movie critic Bob Longino of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said that, "the intricate drawings emanate 1950s futuristic pizazz like a David Hockney scenescape," and that the show is "one of the few American creations that is both gleeful pop culture and exquisite high art."^[2]

James L. Venable composed the opening theme of the series, and Scottish band Bis performed the ending theme song,^[3] as played during the credits. The opening theme is based on the Clyde Stubblefield-performed Funky drummer drum break sample.^[4]

Production[link]

In 1991 Craig McCracken, then a student in the character animation program of CalArts,^[5] created "The Whoopass Girls" as a drawing of three girls on a small sheet of orange construction paper.^[6] The following year he included them as the main characters of his short film Whoopass Stew! The Whoopass Girls in: A Sticky Situation.^[7] This short, along with a few of McCracken's No Neck Joe shorts, was selected to be shown at Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation in 1994.^[7][8] While working on Dexter's Laboratory, McCracken submitted his work to Hanna-Barbera's innovative What a Cartoon! Show shorts program, which was eventually produced for Cartoon Network as "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins" as part of World Premiere Toons.^[9] "Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins" first aired in 1995, and was followed by a second short, "Crime 101", a year later. Announcer Ernie Anderson, the narrator of the pilot episodes, died of cancer in 1997 before the show premiered, and he was replaced by Tom Kenny for the remainder of the series.^[10] The show's animation director was McCracken's former classmate Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack), who also directed many episodes himself.^[11] All of the original episodes (except the WAC shorts with the first one being animated at Animal House in Japan and the Second being animated at Fil Cartoons in the Philippines) were hand-drawn and produced at Rough Draft Studios in South Korea.^[12]

The Powerpuff Girls series debut on November 18, 1998 was the highest rated premiere in Cartoon Network's history at the time. The series consistently scored the highest rating each week for the network across a wide range of demographics—from young children to adults.^[13] In October 2000, Cartoon Network credited The Powerpuff Girls for its Friday night prime time ratings win among cable networks.^[14] By the end of 2000, merchandising based on The Powerpuff Girls encompassed a whole variety of products, including T-shirts, toys, video games, lunchboxes, and dishware.^[13] Concerning The Powerpuff Girls success, Craig McCracken has stated, "I thought it would get on Cartoon Network and college kids would watch it and there would be a few random T-shirts out there in the rave scene or in record shops. But I had no idea that it would take off to this extent."^[13] The show's last original run episode was on March 25, 2005, in all six seasons were made.^[15]

In August 2008, McCracken revealed on his DeviantArt account, as had been announced in that year's Comic Con, that he was working with Cartoon Network on a new half-hour Powerpuff Girls special to celebrate the series' tenth anniversary.^[16] The special, titled "The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!!", aired on the Pan-Euro Cartoon Network on November 29, 2008, on the Powerpuff Girls Birthday Marathon, and in the United States on January 19, 2009, as part of its 10th anniversary marathon. Unlike previous episodes in the series, the anniversary special was animated using Adobe Flash at Cartoon Network Studios.^[17] As of March 30, 2012, this series has returned to Cartoon Network in re-runs on the revived block, Cartoon Planet.^[18]

Characters[link]

As depicted in the opening sequence of each episode, the Powerpuff Girls were created by Professor Utonium in an attempt "to create the perfect little girls" using a mixture of "sugar... spice... and everything nice" (shown in respective fields of baby blue, light green, and pink). However, he accidentally spilled a mysterious substance called "Chemical X" into the mixture, creating, instead of the "perfect little girls", three girls (each possessing one of the above elements dominating her personality), and granting all three superpowers including flight, super strength, super speed, near invulnerability, x-ray vision, super senses, heat vision, and energy projection. In the original pilot, the accidental substance was a can of "Whoop Ass", which was replaced by "Chemical X" in the aired version.^[13]

The three girls all have oval-shaped heads, abnormally large eyes (inspired by Margaret Keane's art^[19]), stubby arms and legs, and lack noses, ears, fingers, necks, and flat feet with toes (McCracken preferred them to look more symbolic of actual girls rather than going for a realistic look, meaning fewer details were added.^[20]). They wear dresses with black stripes that match the colors of their eyes, as well as white stockings and black Mary Janes. The closing theme to the cartoon offers a nutshell description of the three Powerpuff Girls' personalities: Blossom, commander and the leader. Bubbles, she is the joy and the laughter. Buttercup, she is the toughest fighter.

Blossom (voiced by Cathy Cavadini) is known for being the most intelligent one, as well as being the self-proclaimed leader of the Powerpuff Girls. Her personality ingredient is "everything nice", her signature color is pink, and she has long red hair with a red bow. She was named for having spoken freely and honestly to the Professor shortly after her creation as shown in the Powerpuff Girls Movie. She is often seen as the most level-headed, and composed member of the group and also strong and determined.^[21] Her unique power is freezing objects with her breath as seen in the episode Ice Sore.^[22]

Bubbles (voiced by Tara Strong in the series and by Kath Soucie in the What-a-Cartoon! episodes) is the cute and sensitive one. Her personality ingredient is sugar, her signature color is blue, and she has short blonde hair in two pigtails. Bubbles is seen as kind and very sweet but she is also capable of extreme rage and can fight monsters just as well as her sisters can.^[21] Her best friend is a stuffed octopus doll she calls "Octi", and she also loves animals. She exhibits the ability to both understand foreign languages (Spanish, Japanese) and communicate with various animals (squirrels, cats, monsters), and her unique power is emitting supersonic waves with her voice.

Buttercup (voiced by E.G. Daily) is the toughest of the three. Her personality ingredient is spice, her signature color is light green, and she has short black hair in a bob. She is a tomboy, who loves to get dirty, fights hard, and plays rough, she does not plan and is all action.^[21] Buttercup is the only Powerpuff Girl without a unique super power (aside from being able to curl her tongue as shown in the episode Nuthin' Special).^[23]

Media[link]

Anime and Manga[link]

In April 2005, plans for a Japanese anime version, Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z, were announced.^[24] The series premiered in Japan the following year with 52 half-hour episodes, airing each Saturday from July 1 to December 23, 2006, and from January 6 to June 30, 2007. The series deviated from its American predecessor in terms of style, storyline, and characterization, but still retained the essential themes that made the original a success.^[25] An English version has also been produced by Ocean Studios in Vancouver, Canada and has been broadcast on Cartoon Network Philippines and Boomerang Australia.^[26] A manga adaptation, illustrated by Shiho Komiyuno, was published in Shueisha's Ribon magazine starting in 2006 and going to 2007.^[27]

Another manga series called PowerPuff Girls Doujinshi was created in 2004. The girls are shown to be a bit older with the same personalities as their T.V. counterparts, and combines characters from other cartoon shows. The story has the girls now going to school in the neighboring city of Townsville known as Megaville.^[28]

Film[link]

The Powerpuff Girls Movie was released in the United States on July 3, 2002 by Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network.^[29] The movie, a Prequel to the series tells the story of how the Powerpuff Girls were created, and how Mojo Jojo became a supervillain. After the girls were created by Professor Utonium to help the city against crime, they end up only causing chaos in Townsville. Down about how everyone refers to them as freaks, they turn to Mojo Jojo, a monkey who says he is there to help make people like them again. Unknown to the girls, Mojo Jojo was Professor Utonium's lab chimp helper who was mutated as a cause from the Powerpuff Girls being made and has become super smart as a result and jealous of them. Mojo Jojo ends up tricking the girls into helping him make a machine to mutate other chimps. Seeing what they have done the girls run away in shame but come back after seeing Professor Utonium in trouble, and they end up beating Mojo Jojo and his army of mutated smart chimps and saving the day, thus becoming Townsville's new defenders.^[30]

The movie received mixed to positive reviews with a rating of 63% at Rotten Tomatoes ^[31] however it did receive negative reviews though for the violence involved.^[32] In all, the movie grossed $16 million worldwide though with a $11 million budget, the movie was unsuccessful.^[33]

Music CDs[link]

Three CD soundtracks were officially released for the series. The first, entitled Heroes & Villains, features original songs about the Powerpuff Girls characters by a number of artists, including the New Wave group Devo, Bis, The Apples in Stereo, and Frank Black.^[34] The first album did well topping the Billboard's children's music chart for six weeks.^[35] Another album entitled The City of Soundsville features electronica-style character themes and also did well with critics^[36][37] The third album entitled Power Pop features a more teen-oriented variety of pop songs. The album was considered a "big disappointment" and not received as well.^[38]

Parodies[link]

On January 30, 2012 a combo parody of the Powerpuff Girls and 2 Broke Girls was done in Cartoon Network's TV series MAD's second season. The parody is of Bubbles and Buttercup (Blossom is doing fine) who are broke and work for HIM in a diner after the show got placed on permanent hiatus.^[39] The MAD episode with the parody ranked #26/30 for the week with 1.903 million viewers.^[40]

Video games[link]

Video games were made for The Powerpuff Girls all being action in genre. The Powerpuff Girls: Bad Mojo Jojo, released on November 14, 2000 follows Blossom as she tries to beat Mojo Jojo^[41] the game was called "Simple and boring" by Gamespot and was a failure critically.^[42][43] The Powerpuff Girls: Paint the Townsville Green another game released in November 2000 follows Buttercup as she fights crime.^[44] The Powerpuff Girls: Battle HIM follows Bubbles in her fight against HIM and was released in February, 2001.^[45] The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-traction was released in October 2001, where the girls battle enemies in a variety of settings in order to reclaim Chemical X and track down Mojo Jojo. IGN gave the game a positive review while giving the PS One version a 2.0/10 bad review^[46][47] The Powerpuff Girls: Relish Rampage was released in November 2002, you play as all three girls in a 3D world, the game received mixed reviews.^[48] The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo A-Go-Go released in 2001 centers around the name of the Power Girls' mission to stop Mojo Jojo and his minions the game received mixed reviews.^[49][50] PC games were also made for the series these include: The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo Clone Zone, The Powerpuff Girls: Princess Snorebucks, The Powerpuff Girls: Mojo Jojo's Pet Project, and The Powerpuff Girls: Gamesville.^{[51][52][53][54]} In addition, other games were made that are not main Powerpuff Girls games but do feature the characters such as Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall.^[55]

Reception[link]

The Powerpuff Girls has been met with generally positive response from critics and fans. In a 2000 Entertainment Weekly review, Marc Bernadin complimented the show on its "spot-on pop-culture acumen" and "unparalleled sense of fun", giving it a warm welcome from earlier "lame" superhero cartoons that he grew up with.^[56] Peter Marks of The New York Times noted the show's use of adult humor and pop culture references, declaring it "the sort of playful satire that can appeal as much to a viewer of 37 as 7."^[57] Joly Herman of Commonsense media describes the show as a "cute, highly stylized series thrills the senses with its strange characters, funny situations, and lots of lowbrow humor" she goes on to say however, that the show does go from innocent to violent in no time and that there is not much protecting young viewers against the violent undertones.^[58] Robert Lloyd of the LA Times said that the series might be "transgressive" based on the violence but "also cute".^[59] The TV guide has The Powerpuff Girls as #17 in a list of the 50 Greatest cartoon characters of all time^[60] The series has won two Primetime Emmys, two Annie Awards, and including those four wins, has been nominated a total of sixteen times for various awards.

Awards and nominations[link]

See also[link]

	Cartoon Network portal
	Animation portal
	United States portal
	Television portal

	Book: Cartoon Network Book: Cartoon Cartoons
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• List of female action heroes

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up Appendix:The Powerpuff Girls in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Powerpuff Girls

• Official website
• The Powerpuff Girls at Cartoon Network: Department of Cartoons (archive)
• The Powerpuff Girls at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Powerpuff Girls at the Internet Movie Database
• The Powerpuff Girls at TV.com
• The Powerpuff Girls at Don Markstein's Toonopedia

Tyrone Power
in Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Born	Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. (1913-05-05)May 5, 1913 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Died	November 15, 1958(1958-11-15) (aged 45) Madrid, Spain
Cause of death	Heart attack
Resting place	Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Other names	Ty Power
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1932–58
Spouse	Annabella (1939–48; divorced) Linda Christian (1949–56; divorced; 2 children) Debbie Ann Minardos (1958–58; his death; 1 child)
Parents	Tyrone Power, Sr. (father) Helen Emma Reaume (mother)

Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. (May 5, 1913 – November 15, 1958), usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan, Prince of Foxes, The Black Rose, and Captain from Castile.

Though renowned for his dark, classically handsome looks that made him a matinee idol from his first film appearance, Power played a wide range of roles, from film leading man to light comedy. In the 1950s, he began placing limits on the number of films he would make in order to have time for the stage. 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 45.

Early life[link]

Power was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1914, the only 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 theatrical line going back to his great-grandfather, the actor and comedian Tyrone Power (1795-1841). His father's ancestry included Irish, English, and Protestant French Huguenots (the latter through his paternal grandmother's Lavenu and Blossett ancestors).^[1] His mother had Catholic French Canadian (through the Reaume family) and German (from Alsace-Lorraine) ancestry.^[2][3][4] 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, founder of the Stratford Festival (now the Stratford Shakespeare Festival) in Canada and the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[5]

During the first year of Power's life, he lived in Cincinnati. His father was absent for long periods due to his stage commitments in New York. Young Power was a sickly child, and his doctor advised his family that the climate in California might be better for his health. The family moved there in 1915, and Power's sister Anne was born there on August 26, 1915. The parents appeared together on stage and, in 1917, their movie, The Planter, was released. Tyrone Power, Sr., as he later became known, found himself away from home more frequently, as his stage career took him to New York. The Powers drifted apart, and they divorced around 1920.

After the divorce, Patia Power worked as a stage actress. In 1921, at the age of 7, young Tyrone appeared with his mother in the mission play, La Golondrina, at San Gabriel, California. A couple of years later the family moved back to Cincinnati, where they lived with the family of Patia's aunt, Helen Schuster Martin, founder of the Schuster-Martin School of Drama. Power's mother supported her family as a drama and voice coach at the Schuster-Martin School. For several years she coached her son in voice and dramatics during her spare time. Power grew up in the Martin household with his mother's aunt Helen, her husband William, and their two children, his cousins, Roberta and William [Bill].

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.

Career[link]

1930s[link]

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 his pursuit of an acting career. He went door to door, trying to get work as an actor, and, while many contacts knew his father well, they offered praise for his father but no work for him. 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 didn’t 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 get experience as a stage actor.

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 Darryl F. Zanuck's reservations, he decided to go ahead and give Power the role, once King and Fox editor, Barbara McLean, convinced him that Power had a greater screen presence than Ameche. Power was fourth billed in the movie, but he had by far the most screen time of any actor. He walked into the premiere of the movie an unknown, and he walked out a star, which he stayed for the remainder of his career.

Power in a trailer for Marie Antoinette (1938)

Power racked up hit after hit from 1936 until 1943, when his career was interrupted for 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 the 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, Yank in the R.A.F. and This Above All; and, of course, 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 the Pineville, Missouri area and was Power's first location shoot and his first Technicolor movie. Before his career was over, he would have filmed a total of 16 movies in color, including the movie he was filming when he died. He was loaned out once, for MGM for 1938's Marie Antoinette. 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 role of Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, Joe Bonaparte in Golden Boy,^[6] Paris in King's Row, by Harry Cohn for several films throughout the years,^[7] and by Norma Shearer herself for her planned production of The Last Tycoon to play Irving Thalberg,^[8] Zanuck stuck by his original decision.

He was named the second biggest box office draw in 1939, surpassed by only Mickey Rooney.^[9]

1940s[link]

In 1940 the direction of Tyrone 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, fop by day, bandit hero by night. The role had been made famous by Douglas Fairbanks in the 1920 movie of the same title. The film was a hit, and 20th Century Fox often cast him in other swashbucklers in the years that followed. 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, who starred with him 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 U.S. Marines for training in late 1942, but he was sent back, at the request of 20th Century-Fox, to complete one more film, 1943's Crash Dive, a patriotic war movie. He was credited in the movie as Tyrone Power, U.S.M.C.R., and the movie served as much as anything as a recruiting film.

Military service[link]

In August 1942, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He attended boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and then attended Officer's Candidate School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on June 2, 1943. Because he had already logged 180 solo hours as a pilot prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps, Tyrone Power was able to go through a short, intense flight training program at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, where he earned his wings and was promoted to First Lieutenant. Power arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina in July, 1944 and was assigned to VMR-352 as an R5C transport copilot. The squadron moved to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in California in October 1944. Power was reassigned to VMR-353 and joined them on Kwajalein in February 1945. He flew cargo in to and wounded Marines out during the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Battle of Okinawa.

Power was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two bronze stars, and the World War II Victory Medal during his time in the service.^[10] He returned to the United States in November 1945 and he was released from active duty in January 1946. He was promoted to Captain in the reserves on May 8, 1951 but was not recalled for service in the Korean War.^[11]

In the June 2001 Marine Air Transporter newsletter, Jerry Taylor, a retired Marine Corps flight instructor, recalls memories of World War II. He speaks of training Tyrone Power as a pilot, saying, "He was an excellent student, never forgot a procedure I showed him or anything I told him." Others who served with him have commented that he was well respected by those with whom he served.^[12]

Post-war career resumption[link]

Other than re-releases of his films, Power wasn’t seen on screen again after his entry into the Marines until 1946, when he co-starred with Gene Tierney in The Razor's Edge, an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name.

With Maureen O'Hara in the trailer for The Black Swan (1942)

Next up for release was a movie that Power had to fight hard to make – the film noir, Nightmare Alley. Darryl F. Zanuck was reluctant to allow Power to make the movie; his handsome appearance and charming manner had been a marketable asset to the studio and Zanuck feared that the dark role might hurt Power's image. Zanuck eventually agreed, giving him A-list production values for what normally would be a B film. The movie was directed by Edmund Goulding, and, though the film died at the box office (Zanuck did not publicize it and removed it from release), Power received some of the best reviews of his career. The film was released on DVD in 2005 after years of legal battles, and Power once again received favorable reviews from 21st century critics.

Power's venture into gritty drama was short lived, as he was next seen in a costume movie, Captain from Castile, directed by Henry King, who directed Tyrone Power in eleven movies. After making a couple of light romantic comedies, That Wonderful Urge (with Gene Tierney, his co-star from The Razor's Edge) and The Luck of the Irish (with Anne Baxter), Power found himself once again in swashbucklers – The Black Rose and Prince of Foxes.

1950s[link]

As the 1950s rolled around, Power was becoming increasingly unhappy with his movie assignments, with such movies as American Guerrilla in the Philippines and Pony Soldier, so in 1950 he traveled to England to play the title role in Mister Roberts to sellout crowds, for twenty-three weeks, at the London Coliseum.

His movies had been very profitable for Fox and, as an enticement to renew his contract, they offered him the lead role in The Robe. He turned it down (the job ultimately went to Richard Burton) and, on 1 November 1952, left on a ten week national tour with John Brown's Body, a three-person dramatic reading of Stephen Vincent Benét's narrative poem, adapted and directed by Charles Laughton, and featuring Power, Judith Anderson and Raymond Massey; which culminated in a run of 65 shows between February and April 1953 at the New Century Theater on Broadway. A second national tour with the show followed in October 1953, this time for four months, with Raymond Massey and Anne Baxter.

His studio had granted him permission to seek his own roles outside 20th Century-Fox, with the understanding that he would fulfill his fourteen-film commitment to them in between his other projects. In 1953 he made The Mississippi Gambler for Universal Studios, negotiating a deal entitling him to a percentage of the profits, and earned a million dollars from the movie. Also in 1953, actress and producer Katharine Cornell cast Power as her love interest in The Dark is Light Enough, a verse drama by British dramatist Christopher Fry. The play was set in Austria in 1848. Between November 1954 and April 1955, he toured in that role in the USA and Canada ending with 12 weeks at the ANTA Theater, New York and two weeks at the Colonial Theater, Boston. His performance in Julian Claman's A Quiet Place, staged at the National Theater, Washington, at the end of 1955 was warmly received by the critics.

Power as the accused murderer in the 1957 adaptation of Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution

Untamed, Tyrone Power's last movie made under his contract with 20th Century-Fox, was released in 1955, and same year saw the release of The Long Gray Line, a successful John Ford film for Columbia Pictures. In 1956, the year Columbia released The Eddy Duchin Story, another great success for the star, he returned to England to play the rake, Dick Dudgeon, in a revival of Shaw's The Devil's Disciple for one week at the Opera House in Manchester and nineteen weeks at the Winter Garden, London.

His old boss, Darryl F. Zanuck, persuaded him to play the lead role in The Sun Also Rises (1957), adapted from the Hemingway novel. Released that same year were Abandon Ship and John Ford's Rising of the Moon (narrator only). Tyrone Power's last film role turned out to be one of his most highly regarded, cast against type as the accused murderer, Leonard Vole, in Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution, directed by Billy Wilder. The critic for The National Post, Robert Fulford, commented on the "superb performance" of Power as "the seedy, stop-at-nothing exploiter of women"^[13] which was in sharp contrast to his earlier swashbuckling roles and romantic heroes. The movie was well received and a success at the box office. Power returned to the stage in March, 1958 to play the lead in Arnold Moss's adaptation of Shaw's 1921 play, Back to Methuselah.

Personal life[link]

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Tyrone Power, by Yousuf Karsh (1946)

Tyrone Power was one of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors when he married French actress, Annabella (born Suzanne Georgette Charpentier) on April 23, 1939. They met on the 20th Century-Fox lot, around the time they starred together in the movie Suez. In an A&E biography, Annabella said that Zanuck "could not stop Tyrone's love for me, or my love for Tyrone." His extramarital affair with Judy Garland is said to have contributed to the failure of their marriage. However, those close to the couple say that there were also other reasons for the marriage failure. J. Watson Webb, close friend and an editor at 20th Century Fox, maintained, in the A&E Biography, that one of the reasons the marriage fell apart was the inability of Annabella to give him a child. He said that there was no bitterness between the couple. In a March 1947 issue of Photoplay, Power was interviewed and said that he wanted a home and children. Annabella shed some light on the situation in an interview that she did for Movieland magazine in 1948. She said, "Our troubles began because the war started earlier for me, a French-born woman, than it did for Americans." She explained that the war clouds over Europe made her unhappy and irritable and, to get her mind off her troubles, she began accepting stage work, which often took her away from home, for weeks, or in one case, months at a time. "It is always difficult to put one's finger exactly on the place and time where a marriage starts to break up," she said. "But I think it began then. We were terribly sad about it, both of us, but we knew we were drifting apart. I didn’t think then - and I don’t think now - that it was his fault, or mine." The couple tried to make their marriage work when Power returned from military service, but they were unable to do so. Annabella claimed that he had changed too much during the war. They were legally separated in the fall of 1946 and divorced a couple of years later.

Following his separation from Annabella, Power entered into a love affair with Lana Turner which lasted for a couple of years. While on a 1948 good-will trip to Europe and South Africa, he saw and fell in love with Linda Christian, in Rome. Turner claimed that, when Power made his goodwill trip to Europe and South Africa, the story of her dining out with Frank Sinatra, a friend, was leaked to Power, who became very upset with her "dating" another man, in his absence. Turner also claimed that there was just too much coincidence in Linda Christian's being at the same hotel as Tyrone Power, and she implied that Christian had obtained Power's itinerary from 20th Century Fox.

Power and Christian were married on January 27, 1949, in the Church of Santa Francesca, with an estimated 8,000–10,000 screaming fans outside the church. Christian miscarried three times before finally giving birth to a baby girl, Romina Francesca Power, on October 2, 1951. A second daughter, Taryn Stephanie Power, was born September 13, 1953. Around the time of Taryn's birth, the Power marriage was rocky. In her autobiography, Christian blamed the breakup of her marriage on her husband's extramarital affairs. However, she acknowledged that she had an affair with Edmund Purdom, which created great tension between Christian and her husband. They divorced in 1955.^[14]

After his divorce from Christian, Power had a long-lasting love affair with Mai Zetterling,^[15] whom he had met on the set of Abandon Ship. At this point in time, however, he vowed that he would never marry again, because he had been twice burned financially from his previous marriages. He also entered into an affair with a British actress, Thelma Ruby.^[16] In 1957, however, he met Deborah Ann Montgomery Minardos. They were married on May 7, 1958, and she became pregnant soon after.

Death[link]

In September 1958, Tyrone Power and his wife went to Madrid and Valdespartera, Spain, to film the epic, Solomon and Sheba, to be directed by King Vidor. She was worried about his health and asked him to slow down, but he pushed ahead with the movie. He had filmed about 75 percent of his scenes when he was stricken with a massive heart attack, as he was filming a dueling scene with his frequent co-star and friend, George Sanders. He died en route to the hospital. Yul Brynner was brought in to take over the role of Solomon. The filmmakers used some of the long shots that Tyrone Power had filmed, and an observant fan can see him in some of the scenes, particularly in the middle of the duel.

Power's last role was a familiar one, with sword in hand. He is perhaps best remembered as a swashbuckler, and, indeed, he was reportedly one of the finest swordsmen in Hollywood. Director Henry King said, "People always seem to remember Ty with sword in hand, although he once told me he wanted to be a character actor. He actually was quite good – among the best swordsmen in films."

Power was buried at Hollywood Cemetery at noon on November 21, 1958, in a military service.

Flying over the service was Henry King, who directed him in eleven movies. Almost 20 years before, Tyrone had flown with King, in King's plane, to the set of Jesse James in Missouri. It was then that Tyrone Power got his first experience with flying, which would become such a big part of his life, both in the U.S. Marines and in his private life. In the foreword to Dennis Belafonte's The Films of Tyrone Power, King said, "Knowing his love for flying and feeling that I had started it, I flew over his funeral procession and memorial park during his burial, and felt that he was with me." Tyrone Power was laid to rest, by a small lake, in one of the most beautiful parts of the cemetery. His grave is marked by a unique tombstone, in the form of a marble bench. On the tombstone are the masks of comedy and tragedy, with the transcription, "Good night, sweet prince." At his grave Laurence Olivier read the poem "High Flight"^[17]

Tyrone Power's will, filed on December 8, 1958, contained an unusual provision. It stated his wish that, upon his death, his eyes would be donated to the Estelle Doheny Eye Foundation, for such purposes as the trustees of the foundation should deem advisable, including transplantation of the cornea to the eyes of a living person or retinal study.

Deborah Power gave birth to their son, Tyrone Power IV, on January 22, 1959, some two months after Power's death.

Honors[link]

Tyrone Power was honored with having his handprints and footprints put in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater on May 31, 1937. It was a joint ceremony with Loretta Young, on the occasion of the premiere of their movie Cafe Metropole. Tyrone was just 23 years old and had been a major star for only six months. He signed the cement block, "To Sid - Following in my father's footsteps", which was a tribute to his father, stage and film star Tyrone Power, Sr.

Tyrone Power's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame can be found at 6747 Hollywood Blvd. On the 50th anniversary of his death, Power was honored by American Cinematheque with a weekend of films and remembrances by co-stars and family, and a memorabilia display. The event was held at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles from November 14–16, 2008.^[18]

In popular culture[link]

A character named Tyrone Power appears in three plays: Gossip (1977), Filthy Rich (1979), and The Art of War (1983), though Filthy Rich, a film-noir parody, is most often performed. Written by George F. Walker, the main character is named after the actor, he states in Filthy Rich, "because my mother is an incurable romantic."^[19]

Power appears on the cover of the book The Star Machine with Loretta Young.^[20] He appears on the famous cover of The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Flags of Our Fathers (2006): The character of Rene is referred to as "Tyrone Power" because of his good looks.

In the 1955 episode of I Love Lucy titled "Lucy and John Wayne", Ethel Mertz points out Tyrone Power's footprints in cement at Graumann's Chinese Theater. Later, a policeman puts his feet into Tyrone's footprints, and his partner says, "Well, Tyrone..."

Filmography[link]

References[link]

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