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