If there is a failing in name recognition, I blame Turner Classic Movies for not licensing more Fox films. People who watch Turner think that the only stars worked for MGM, WB, and RKO. In point of fact, Tyrone Power was #5 in the world — above Gable — for the Gone with the Wind year, 1939, and #2 in 1940, and unlike Errol Flynn, who only made a top box-office list once, Power stayed a mega movie star until his death, demanding a percentage of his films' gross.
If one looks at the Top Ten Reviews list, which lists actors according to box office and reviews, Power is listed as the #151st most popular actor. That list includes character people like C. Aubrey Smith and the stars of today such as Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson, so it's all-inclusive. Errol Flynn is #176, Robert Taylor is #333. Just to give you a basis for comparison, Paul Newman is 120. Alan Ladd is 1,179. There are 38,421 actors listed.
Considering the prices of films in the old days, considering how long some of these guys have been dead, considering the fact that these numbers include everyone from Jack Carson to Leonardo DiCaprio, those are all great numbers. And considering, as I said, that Tyrone did not make a Casablanca, pretty darn good. Those actors were all once higher, and they'll continue to drop as more people come along.
There are some fascinating statistics — The Eddy Duchin Story, for instance, is the #4 biography of 92 in the entire 1950s, and the #1 of 10 bios released in 1956. Here's another one — Tyrone is #28 in all-time Western stars! And that includes women like Jean Arthur and Western regulars like Jack Elam — 7,025 people mentioned.
I have to think, with the teenaged fans who show up for him on message boards, that he is well remembered. But the crowd who knows Beyoncé and Paris Hilton know Beyoncé and Paris Hilton — they don't know Clark Gable or Tyrone Power, and in order for them to know Judy Garland, you have to say The Wizard of Oz.
I conducted an experiment on Flixster, which is mostly young people. I put in some photos of the legendary stars into their never-ending quiz and asked people to identify them. It didn't matter who it was, 1% correctly identified Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power, Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, Errol Flynn, etc. 1% no matter who. And that's on a site dedicated to film in general where a small percentage of visitors is over 30. Obviously, on a classic-film site, the 1% would be for Robert Pattinson and the classic stars would get 100%!
My advice? Don't let Turner Classic Movies tell you your movie history.
Great that you replied Maria. No matter what, Tyrone power was great and it's good to know that you are sharing all you discoveries and thoughts about him with us. Any nice story of Tyrone Power in Rio?
One more thing, Daniel. The trip he took with Cesar Romero – it was not just the two of them, it was a whole group of people, including people from Fox, as Fox okayed the trip. Ty Jr. tells a wonderful story about Tyrone and Eva Peron on that trip which ends with "and she ended up in his bed." Eva was exactly his type.
You have to also remember that Cesar was known to be gay – if Tyrone had any insecurities, or if there had been rumors – he was still at Fox, remember – he would have avoided Cessar, not hung out with him in public ever. Part of William Eythe's problem with Zanuck was a "friendship" Eythe had with Lon McAllister.
This is the type of thing I'm talking about. I have Maureen O'Hara's book. She says that she went to Columbia for costume sketches for The Long Gray Line and walked into Ford's office and saw what she saw. Tyrone Power was in New York working at the time Long Gray Line was in pre-production. The movie was made at West Point as well. Columbia did many films a year, and I'm sure a lot of people were there filming and doing pre and post-production. She doesn't identify the man, although people assumed it was Power and that actually has been posted that it was. Well, it wasn't. Even if I hadn't seem timelines for the film and for him, the polite greeing she and the actor exchanged, you knew it wasn't Tyrone. He was a friend and former co-star and always joked and laughed with her.
I've never understood why John Ford didn't lock his door.
Well, I heard there is this story on a Maureen O'Hara autobio that she entered John Ford's office (probably at Columbia) and cought him kissing a man who was a great leading man. But wasn;t Power under contarct with Fox in 1954/55? I've herard a lot of stories regarding Ford's sexuality. Maybe the guy was Robert Francis, but he never was a great leading man, was him?
About the Power – Romero "affair", I also read somewhere that they both went to Rio during the war and they had a great time overhere.
Anyway, as the author mentioned, rumors do increase as the years go by.
I always liked Tyrone Power and the q&a was really awsome.