Background
He was born on May 2, 1869 in London, England, United Kingdom, the son of Harold Power and Ethel Laveneu, and grandson of Tyrone Power, the well-known Irish actor.
He was born on May 2, 1869 in London, England, United Kingdom, the son of Harold Power and Ethel Laveneu, and grandson of Tyrone Power, the well-known Irish actor.
Frederick Power, as he was then known, was educated at Hampton School then Dover College with his brother George. In 1883 at the age of 14 he was sent from Britain to Florida by his parents to learn citrus planting.
He made his first stage appearance in St. Augustine and then secured a small part in the company of Madame Janauschek, with whom he toured for two or three seasons. Through Ellen Terry he secured a letter to Augustin Daly and was then engaged by that famous manager, remaining in the Daly company for nearly a decade, and in 1894 making, with the company, his first appearance in London.
On September 12, 1899, in New York, he appeared as Lord Steyne in Mrs. Fiske's production of Becky Sharp, acting with grizly eccentric force. The play was a huge success, and Power's playing attracted country-wide attention. A tour of Australia followed, and another London appearance, in support of Irving. In the autumn of 1902 he joined Mrs. Fiske once more, acting Judas in her production of Mary of Magdala, and once more winning much praise. In 1903, at the Garden Theatre, New York, he assumed the title role in Stephen Phillips' poetic drama, Ulysses, but the play was not successful. In 1905 he was engaged by Belasco to support Mrs. Leslie Carter in Adrea, a romantic tragedy, which opened at the Belasco Theatre, New York, on January 11, 1905.
His next performance to attract wide attention was that of the Drain Man in Charles Rann Kennedy's play, The Servant in the House, produced in New York on March 23, 1908. Here his playing was notable for rugged strength and pathos, and he remained with the drama during its long and prosperous career. In 1912 William Faversham revived Julius Cæsar, and Power played Brutus to his Antony. By that time Power had became identified with what are sometimes called "heroic" or "poetic" roles. In 1927, however, he once more played Brutus, in the Players' Club revival of Julius Cæsar, and was cheered by friendly audiences in New York.
Shortly after he went to Hollywood and was working into a new career in the "talking pictures" when he died in California on Deember. 30, 1931.
Tyrone Power Sr. was a picturesque and effective force in the older theatre, whose method and personality could not be toned down to the humdrum level of naturalistic drama. He excelled in serious, not comic, roles, his greatest personal theatrical success was The Servant in the House. The "gaunt grim strength" of his Lord Steyne, in Becky Sharp, the terrific remorse of his Judas in Mary of Magdala, and the rough pathos of his Drain Man in The Servant in the House were remembered by all who witnessed them.
Power was a striking figure, with a large, powerful frame, a handsome face from which dark eyes shone, and what somebody once described as "nobility of bearing. " He was, certainly, always acutely conscious that he was an actor upholding certain eminent traditions, and it gave to him, both on and off the stage, an old-school dignity. His voice was as powerful as his frame and was one of his effective weapons. In fact, it was too sonorous an organ for the naturalistic drama.
He was several times married and was survived by a divorced wife, Mrs. Patia Power.
