TYRONE POWER AND HIS DESCENDANTS



TYRONE POWER AND HIS DESCENDANTS

Dunhill Winter Lectures

Series IV, no. 9, 11 March 2010

Julian C. Walton

Introduction

1957: The Rising of the Moon shown in Waterford. Introduced by Tyrone Power: “My great-grandfather came from Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford.”

Tyrone Power I (1797?-1841)

Man of mystery: was he actually born in Kilmacthomas? When was he born? What was his real name? Who was his father (a “man of property”)? Was he related to Marguerite (Power), Lady Blessington?

Mother was Maria, daughter of a Colonel Maxwell. Father died, mother set off for Wales. The journey: a succession of disasters. They settled in Cardiff. Apprenticed to a printer, but ran away with a troupe of traveling players. Married in 1817 Anne Gilbert of the Isle of Wight. They had 4 sons and 3 daughters.

Early failures as an actor. 1826: his big break. Rockets to success in the role of the stage Irishman. 3 tours of America. Stage name William Grattan Tyrone Power.

Author of Impressions of America, 3 novels and several plays (mostly farces).

1840-41: Power’s third American tour. Travels out on the President. Return on same ship, which is lost at sea, March 1841.

Tyrone Guthrie

Tyrone Power’s eldest son William became Commissary-General of the British Army and Agent General for New Zealand, and was knighted. He was also the author of several books on world travel.

His daughter Norah married Thomas Guthrie, grandson of a celebrated Scottish theologian. They lived at Annaghmakerrig House near Newbliss in co. Monaghan.

Their son Sir Tyrone Guthrie, born in Kent in 1900, had a long and varied career as an actor and theatre producer. He directed plays at the Old Vic and Sadlers Wells theatres in London, and it was he who brought Laurence Olivier to fame in the role of Hamlet. In 1961 he was knighted for his services to the theatre. He retired to Annaghmakerrig where, concerned at the rate of emigration from the county, he established a jam factory. He died there in 1971. In his will he directed that after the death of his wife their home should pass to the government to be used as a retreat for artists and writers.

Hubert and Peggy Butler

Tyrone Guthrie’s sister Peggy married Hubert Butler of Maidenhall near Bennettsbridge in co. Kilkenny. A vibrant and colourful character, she was involved in various community enterprises, notably the establishment of the Kilkenny Design Centre.

Hubert Butler worked for the county library service. In the 1920s and ‘30s he traveled extensively in the Balkans, and in 1939 he worked with the Quakers to help Jews to escape from Austria (a colony of Jewish Catholic children was established at Ardmore). In the early 1940s was based in Geneva.

Returning to Maidenhall, he became a founder of the Kilkenny Archaeological Soceiety. A gifted historian and literary figure, he promoted an alternative vision of an Ireland that was non-sectarian, open and tolerant. This tended to embroil him in controversy, especially as he knew more than most about the massacres of Serbian Orthodox Christians by Croatian Catholics during the War. He wrote about the New Geneva colony near Passage East, the Fethard-on-Sea boycott, and other topics.

Reviled by extremists in their day, Hubert and Peggy Butler became cult figures in 1990s Ireland. They are buried in Ennisnag churchyard.

Tyrone Power II

After the death of Tyrone Power I the acting tradition was continued by his youngest son Harold Littledale Power. He married the actress Ethel Lavenu.

His son Tyrone Power II emigrated to America where he became a huge success as an actor. After thirty prosperous years on stage he transferred to silent films, where he generally played the villain. He starred in 46 stage plays and 40 films. In 1931, now aged 62, while starring in a remake of The Miracle Man, he died of a heart attack in the arms of his 17-year-old son.

Tyrone Power III

Renowned for his dark, classically handsome looks, TP was one of the great movie stars of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s. Altogether he starred in 48 full-length films. Though mainly associated with swashbuckling 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, he was equally at home in every genre of movie.

Sexually irresistible (?!), TP was married three times and had affairs with many women (Lana Turner, Mai Zetterling …..) besides a number of gay relationships.[1] But his enduring love was his second wife, the gifted Mexican actress Linda Christian, to whom he was married from 1949 to 1955.

In 1958 TP was in Spain filming Solomon and Sheba, when he suffered a massive heart attack and died. His role was taken over by Yul Brynner.

Children of Tyrone Power III

Romina Power, born in 1951, was TP’s elder daughter by Linda Christian. A talented singer and actress, she settled in Italy where she married Albano Carrisi. They had four children. For many years they were a much-loved singing duo on Italian TV. Then in 1994 their lives were shattered by the unexplained disappearance of their eldest daughter the poet, painter, world traveler and TV celebrity Ylenia Carrisi. Their marriage ended in divorce and in 2007 Romina returned to live in California, to the intense disappointment of her Italian public.

Taryn Power, born in 1953 and younger sister of Romina, is a well-known American actress.

Tyrone Power IV, born in 1959, is the only son of TP by his third wife and was born after his father’s death. A well-known American actress, he is the latest in the long line of Power actors emanating from Kilmacthomas!

THE DESCENDANTS OF TYRONE POWER

William Grattan Tyrone Power I (1797?-1841), actor, author and theatrical manager, married Anne Gilbert:

Sir William James Murray Tyrone Power (1819-1911), Commissary General in Chief of the British Army and Agent General for New Zealand. Travel writer.

Norah Power, married Dr Thomas Guthrie.

Sir Tyrone Guthrie, theatrical director/designer (1900-1971)

Peggy (died 1997), a founder of Kilkenny Design Centre, wife of Hubert Butler (1900-1991), historian and author

Maurice Henry Anthony O’Reilly Power, barrister and actor (1821-1849).

Frederick Augustus Dobbyn Nugent Power, civil engineer; left a fortune of £200,000 at his death in 1896.

Clara Elizabeth Murray Power

Mary Jane Power

Harold Littledale Power (1833-1901), actor, wine merchant, mine agent and engineer.

Tyrone Power II (1869-1931), theatre actor and star of silent movies

Tyrone Power III (1914-1958), Hollywood star of 1930s-1950s.

Romina Power, born 1951 (mother: Linda Christian), American-Italian singer and film actress. Married Albano Carrisi.

Ylenia Carrisi (born 1970), poet, painter, traveler, TV celebrity. Disappeared in 1994.

Taryn Power, born 1953 (mother: Linda Christian), film actress

Tyrone Power IV, born 1959 (mother: Deborah Minardos), American film actor

-----------------------

[1] Barbara Cartland, asked how she could write such steamy novels while remaining a virgin, remarked: “We didn’t need sex. We had Tyrone Power.”

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download