TOM TYLER
Inforamtion from IMDb
Date of Birth
9 August 1903,
Port Henry, New York, USA
Date of Death
3 May 1954,
Hamtramck, Michigan, USA (scleroderma; heart attack)
Birth Name
Vincent Markowski
Height
6' 1½" (1.87 m)
Spouse
Jeanne Martel (September 1937 - ?) (divorced)
Trivia
While simultaneously working as a western hero, he was also a weight-lifting champion.
Once considered the strongest man in America, he won the national AAU weight-lifting championship
in 1928 (he lifted 760 lbs.) and made the 1928 U.S. Olympic team.
Briefly married to actress Jeanne Martel. She co-starred with Tom
in a few of his sound westerns in 1936 and 1937.
Buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.
He was the first actor to portray Captain Marvel (1941).
In 1943 he played The Phantom in (Adventures of) The Phantom serial.
The first to do this too, after bringing Capt. Marvel to the screen.
Mini Biography
Popular American star of silent and early sound Westerns and serials. Raised in Michigan,
he went through a number of strenuous jobs (sailor, boxer lumberjack, coal miner, etc.)
before landing in Los Angeles and getting work as a movie extra and stuntman.
His good looks and athletic physique (he was a champion weight-lifter) led to an offer to play
the lead in a series of silent Westerns, which he filmed under the stage name Bill Burns.
In 1925, FBO signed him and changed his name to Tom Tyler.
He became one of the studio's most popular action stars and initially made a smooth transition
into talking pictures, for which he worked hard to lose his natural Lithuanian accent.
As the Thirties progressed, however, he began to face stiff competition in the arena of B-Westerns
and started taking supporting roles in larger budget pictures such as
Stagecoach (1939) and Gone with the Wind (1939).
In 1941, he took on perhaps his most famous role as the eponymous hero of
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941).
This serial and several others brought him new fame, but within three years of playing Captain Marvel,
Tyler's career was almost erased when his health failed.
Rheumatoid arthritis crippled him and he was reduced to occasional minor supporting roles,
often for John Ford, for whom he had worked in a number of films prior to his illness.
During the last part of his career 1948-54, though reportedly in poor health,
he appeared in supporting roles in over 35 films and TV series including TV episodes of
"The Lone Ranger", The Cisco Kid', "The Range Rider", "Gene Autry", "Cowboy G Men", and "Dick Tracy".
He also co-starred with Tom Keene in an unsold TV pilot, "Crossroad Avengers" (1953),
written and directed by Ed Wood. He eventually returned to live with his sister in the Detroit area
and died there of heart failure at the age of 50 in 1954.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Jim Beaver
Salary
Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) $250/week
Outlaws of Cherokee Trail (1941) $150/week
Riders of the Rio Grande (1943) $350/week
Tom Tyler was an American actor in silent and sound motion pictures,
best known for his portrayal of superhero Captain Marvel in the acclaimed
1941 movie serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel.
He also started he movie career in the silent days,
but when on to appear in such films as Gone with the Wind.
Tom also appeared in many of the popular TV series,
including The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, The Range Rider,
Gene Autry, Cowboy G Men,
and Dick Tracy
He was another member of the
John Ford Stock Compan
and made 6 movies with him,
including Stagecoach , Drums Along the Mohawk,
Tom appeared in 4 movies starring Duke,
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)...Cpl. Mike Quayne
They Were Expendable (1945)...Captain at Airport (uncredited)
The Night Riders (1939)...Jackson
Stagecoach (1939)...Luke Plummer
