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Tyrone Power Jr. was born Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1914. His father was the very noted stage actor Tyrone Power Sr, who also made some movies. Surprisingly Tyrone Jr. was a frail, sickly child, and his parents moved to California in the hopes it would help his health. When he was a small boy his parents divorced, and his mother later moved to Cincinnati, where her family was from, and she was a stage actress, and also as a drama and voice coach. Tyrone spent the summer of 1931 with his famous father, but his dad died later that year. He tried to follow in his father's footsteps in movies, but found few parts. He went to New York, where he appeared in a few plays, and in 1936 he was signed to a contract by 20th Century Fox. After a few small parts, he was given the lead in Lloyd's of London (although he was 4th billed!), and that made him a major star. He became Fox's answer to Warner's Errol Flynn and MGM's Robert Taylor, and he starred in 21 movies (including Jesse James, The Mark of Zorro, where he showed great prowess as a swordsman, and Blood and Sand) between 1937 and 1942, when he joined the Marine Reserves. He made Crash Dive in 1943 while serving, and then his next movie was The Razor's Edge in 1946. The following year Power tried to change his image with the lead in the gritty film noir, Nightmare Alley, but the film (although excellent) did not do well at the box office, and he returned to action movies. But Power was tired of playing the same sorts of roles over and over, and in 1950 he went to England and played the lead in Mister Roberts on the stage, and then John Brown's Body on Broadway, and on a national tour, followed by another play, The Dark is Light Enough. In between he did some movies, but his heart was not in them. In 1957 he made Billy Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution, where he was wonderful as Leonard Vole. It makes one wonder how many other fine performances he might have given had he not been pushed into so many action movies. The next year Power was back on stage, but he signed to play the lead in Solomon and Sheba, returning him to the swashbuckling type of role he had tried to get away from for so long. Ironically, he died of a heart attack while filming a dueling scene. He was just 44. Tyrone Power's name is synonymous with being a great lover, but all he really wanted was to be a great actor. One wonders if his great looks that made women swoon didn't hurt his career just as much as it helped him AND Henry Fonda was a highly successful actor from the 1930s through the 1970s. He is also well known for being the father of Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda, and the grandfather of Bridgette Fonda! He started on the stage in 1926 (both on stage and behind the scenes), and he spent many years in community productions before getting his big break in 1935. He had an unusual relationship with Margaret Sullavan (briefly his wife), and James Stewart, and the three were lifelong friends. Some of his movies include: 12 Angry Men, How the West Was Won, The Grapes Of Wrath (nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for this film), The Ox-Bow Incident, My Darling Clementine, The Lady Eve, Mister Roberts, Fail-Safe, Fort Apache, The Longest Day, Advise and Consent, You Only Live Once, On Golden Pond (winner of the Best Actor Academy Award for this film), The Best Man, Drums Along the Mohawk, Jezebel, Tales of Manhattan, and the Wrong Man (to name a few)!

Important Added Info: What a wonderful candid image of these many great stars (Tyrone Power, Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Dick Powell, Lloyd Nolan, Raymond Massey, John Hodiak, and Anne Baxter)! We don't know what occasion brought them together, but this image was used for a photograph that had the names of the stars printed at the top and "Bringing Great Entertainment to Millions Throughout America" printed at the bottom. We don't know what size that photograph was, or where it appeared (quite possibly in a magazine). We know of the way it was used because we have a photocopy of the image with the writing described above at top and bottom (not pictured), but there is nothing to identify where the photocopy is from. We will send the photocopy together with the photo. Also note that this still measures 8 1/4" x 10" [21 x 25 cm].

UPDATED 11/08/2017: Note that a knowledgeable collector has an explanation for the presence of several people in the photo. Laughton was directing the 1953 Broadway production "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" at the time, and Nolan and Fonda were in the cast. Also, Power, Massey and Baxter were starring in Laughton's 1954 Broadway adaptation of "John Brown's Body" (which was originally going to be directed by Dick Powell).

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