Tyrone Power was an incredibly pretty/handsome man who was a huge box office star especially in 1938, 1939 and 1940.  ​I'ma ramble a bit about him, his co-stars, wives and children ... 

TY-CO-STARS: 

My first exposure to a Tyrone Power movie was when I was in my teens and first started watching old movies. I would take notes about the movies and grade them on 3x5 index cards. "Abandon Ship" (1957) was after he had reached the peak of his male beauty, but I really didn't know who he was at the time and I thought that the movie was really good. Later I added his co-star Mai Zetterling to my collection and she is shown here. 

I was later reintroduced to him by a friend of mine who was seriously into classic films, primarily those featuring glamorous divas.  Hence, "Witness for the Prosecution" (1958) starring the phenomenal Marlene Dietrich was the second Tyrone Power film I had seen in full. Again, he was past his prime, Marlene and Charles Laughton stole the film in my opinion, but Tyrone did a pretty good job. And one of my favorite scenes was when Marlene disses Ruta Lee as that girl".  Ruta responded with, "I'm not that girl! I'm his girl!"  My autograph collecting buddy Michael Augustine-Reed @Hollywoodboy63 wrote to Miss Lee in April 2025 and got her to inscribe this photo with that line for me. Classic! And to Matthew Martin ... "YOU DON'T KNOW!!!"

"Nightmare Alley" (1947) is a taught and slightly twisted movie where Tyrone Power definitely does not play the nice guy!  For me it was the female stars who really added the flavor.  I'll talk about the always fun and reliable Joan Blondell separately. But here you will see I have a rare picture signed by Helen Walker and some autographs from Coleen Gray.  Here’s an updated, high quality trailer of this classic! 

Coleen was really good in "Nightmare Alley" but will be forever burned in my brain as the star of "The Leech Woman".  Part of the IMDb synopsis: ...:an aging alcoholic wife journeys to Africa seeking a drug that will restore her youth". Okay well I pretty much think that there is a TikTokker who is doing the same thing as of 2025.  The pursuit of eternal youth never wanes. I had written to Miss Gray asking for permission to send her original stills from "The Leech Woman" to be signed.  Good news, she said yes! Bad news, she died after I had sent the pictures and before I got them back. RIP and thank you to the gracious lady for answering other autograph requests through the years. 

Helen Walker was great in the movie but experienced quite the dramatic and tragic personal life. After a supposedly drunk driving accident that killed a man, her career took a nosedive and then she died at 47 of cancer. She had picked up a soldier and two 18-year-old guys; they were all ejected from the convertible that she was driving, and the soldier died. Now what exactly was she planning to do with this soldier and two 18-year-old hitchhikers?? Hmmm.  Unanswered questions like these are part of the reason why we find the tragic stories of the female stars so compelling? 

Speaking of which, I've also included the autograph here of another frequent (and tragic) co-star of Tyrone's. Between 1940 and 1942, the beautiful Linda Darnell co-starred with Tyrone Power in four movies. Big, brown-eyed brunettes both brimming with beauty.  What a duo. Linda Darnell’s story is also tragic.  I had only seen one of her movies, "Stardust" with John Payne and I clearly saw her magic (AND Payne’s), but it was reading about her in "The Decline and Fall of the Love Goddesses" by Patrick Agan that REALLY got my attention.  Off the top of my head, I recall here demise being described as the 41-year-old watching herself in a movie on TV (supposedly “Stardust” and then dying in a house fire by falling asleep with a lit cigarette.  Now let me get the book and check if my memory is correct … 

The autographs that you see here of Linda are … 

The story of Linda Darnell is fascinating and diligently covered in the biography by Ronald Davis – “Hollywood Beauty: Linda Darnell and the American Dream”.  And this documentary done on “Biography” is outstanding. 

THE WIVES: 

Onto Tyrone’s wives.  His first wife was Annabella (NOT of Bow Wow Wow – but I’ll cover her separately.  I know, I’m random.) I know NOTHING (still) about the actress and Mrs. Power, Annabella; other than the fact that she was French and took some amazing stills.  I don’t think I’ve seen any of her movies.  I’ve got nooch info.  Only the autograph. 

Second Mrs. Power was the beautiful Linda Christian.  Again, I’ve got no opinion or insight on her because I haven’t seen any of her movies.  Covered face emoji.  I just know that I always get her confused with Linda Cristal, she wrote a biography which I have in my collection (for 75 cents, natch) and Errol Flynn paid to fix her teeth.  Oh … and she had two daughters with Tyrone, Romina and Taryn. 

THE KIDS: 

Romina Power – I got this autograph and just assumed her claim to fame was being a nepo baby.  But NO!  She’s a well-known singer throughout Europe (along with her husband) and has even sung for Italy TWICE in Eurovision.  Whaaaaat?  I’m a Eurovision freak and I’ll cover that also.  But here’s a clip of Romina and Al Bando performing their 7th place Eurovision entry: 

Taryn Power – Now her, I know!  From “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger” – which I watched and really liked when I was a tween.  Little did I know it was a gimmicky nepo-baby movie starring the daughter of Tyrone and the son of John Wayne.  Tidbit alert: her father-in-law was Soupy Sales. 

Tyrone Power, Jr. – Bearing a striking resemblance to his father, Tyrone Power, Jr. came to my attention in ANOTHER nepo-baby movie.  Although not the “stars” per se, both he and Tahnee Welch (daughter of Raquel) were in “Cocoon” and I remember them both reaping a lot of publicity at the time.  His tidbit: Junior was the offspring from Tyrone’s third wife and born AFTER Tyrone died.  That’s a lot to handle, being born to a famous father that you never knew.  Like Clark Gable’s son.  I’ll cover him separately. 

In summary – I like Tyrone Power, but I’m not a huge, huge fan – simply because I havent’ seen a lot of his work.  But I’ll get around to it.   

How he came in second place after Mickey Rooney in 1939 as the Top Box office star is something we will discuss later.  Mr. Rooney and I have met.  Oh boy ….