Tyrone Power Sr. (1905)

The first thing to know about Tyrone Power Sr. is that it is very hard to track all of the Tyrone Powerses!

This Tyrone Power, referred to as Tyrone Power Sr., is actually the second generation of actors to go by the name Tyrone Power. You’d think he would be Tyrone Power II, but his father was not named Tyrone Power, his grandfather was, so he is legitimately Tyrone Power Sr.

But it all goes crazy from there…

The first Tyrone Power was an Irish actor born in 1797 and active as an actor in the early/mid-1800s. He had a son, Harold Littledale Power (not named Tyrone, but he was also an actor) so he wasn’t one of the Tyrone Powers.

BUT, Harold Littledale Power had a son, and decided to confuse things, so he named him Tyrone Power. (This is our current subject — Tyrone Power Sr!) This Tyrone also went into acting, so he went by Tyrone Power because his grandfather was no longer active as an actor and there wouldn’t be confusion.

THEN, this Tyrone Power had a son, who was of course named, Tyrone Power, so this son would logically be Tyrone Power Jr. (Or even Tyrone Power III.) HOWEVER, this son was far more widely-known than his father, so his father (our current subject) was eventually known as Tyrone Power, Sr. (even though he was the second Tyrone Power after his Grandfather.)

But wait, there’s more… Tyrone Power, the actor most commonly known by that name (technically the third actor to go by this name), also had a son…so of course he named him…Tyrone Power. One would think this son would be known as Tyrone Power the 3rd (or 4th), but he became known as Tyrone Power, Jr. He’s the fourth actor to go by this name, and the third in a row, but he’s called Jr., which would suggest he’s the second.

Did any of that make sense?

As far as this relates to Historic Elitch Theatre, our subject (pictured above) was the second actor to go by the name of Tyrone Power and he performed at the theatre in 1905 and he is now known as Tyrone Power Sr. (He was married to Edith Crane who performed with him at that theatre.) 78-years later, in 1983, the actor now known as Tyrone Power Jr. — the grandson of Tyrone Power Sr. — also performed at the theatre.

Whew!

This Tyrone (now known as Sr.) and his wife Edith, were early performers at the theatre in 1905. See the program below about their performance of Tess of D’Ubervilles and the article about their performance in The Taming of the Shrew.