MOVIELAND
This is Myself
A candid self-portrait of the screen's
most talked-about Romeo by the man
who knows him best - Tyrone Power

October 1948
By Dorothy Spensley










THE FIRST THING I REMEMBER

Is standing in the snow on a New York street with my sister Anne and our nurse, watching an Adams delivery truck that was stuck in a drift. I don't know how old I was, but I was bundled to the eyebrows and so absorbed in the driver's efforts that I didn't know I was cold.

I LIKE

coffee, first thing in the morning; I'm not awake till I have it; adventure; meeting interesting people; artichokes; old-fashioned songs; the sea; lilacs; those little English cars that run on practically no gas. .

I DON'T LIKE

Surprises; routine; fancy dishes; that NEW LOOK for men-or for women, either, if it comes to that.

I USED TO BE

Methodical. When I was in high school I had a job after class in a drug-store; I'd buy composition books and chart which cigarettes were selling best, what request was made most often-things like that; I can't imagine why! Next year, while ushering in a theatre, I'd record box office receipts for each picture and review each film...I'm not methodical now but I'm still interested in box office receipts.

MY FIRST

Hero was my father; he was away from home a great deal while I was growing up and I didn't know him very well, but I admired him intensely;

Ambition was to be an actor; I started my career at eight in the California Mission Play at San Gabriel, but before that I used to put on plays in our neighborhood, write and act in them, too;

Sweetheart was a tiny thing who lived in Alhambra, California, when we did; she was four or five when I was seven and I love her dearly. About eight years ago, I had some correspondence with the FBI, my contact being a Los Angeles man; I talked on the telephone often with his secretary, but didn't learn her name until the matter was wound up. She turned out to be my first sweetheart;

Picture was TOM BROWN OF CULVER, one of the first directed by William Wyler; I was so unimportant then that Mr. Wyler didn't know he?d directed me until a few years ago;

Great disappointment was a broken promise; a friend of our family had been visiting us, learned how interested I was in baseball, and said: "As soon as I'm home, I'll send you a trunkful of balls and bats!" I remember how I waited for that trunk, dashing to open the door to every ring, trailing expressmen down our street, first eager, then impatient, then despairing. The trunk never came. I think of that whenever I promise a child anything; unless I?m certain I can make good, I don?t promise, but once I give my word, I don?t back down.

I REMEMBER

Playing Santa Claus when I was seven, and the smell of oranges in school that day;

The Jolly Postman, a thing I used to murder on the piano when I was small;

A wonderful herringbone, raglan sleeved topcoat I bought ten years ago, my first expensive garment purchased by me. Fans used to write in about how well it looked. No wonder, I wore it in every picture! Finally, someone liked it too much, or I lost it. I wish I had it now;

That year I was in and out of ten different apartments and wound up living in one room;

The time high school classmates shoved me in a locker where a great bearskin coat used up most of the tiny space, and kept me there till I almost smothered.

I'M GUILTY OF

Acting on impulse;

Being frightfully impatient-though I'm beginning to acquire patience now; perhaps it comes with maturity!"

Enjoying the unconventional;

Sometimes having trouble making up my mind; but once made, I'm set, unless an earthquake comes along.

MY LOW POINT IN LIFE

Was that year my father died; after long separations, we had at last become acquainted; I had come to Hollywood to play a role in his new picture and the future looked bright. Suddenly, he died, the picture was canceled, I was alone and couldn't get work; finally, after a struggle, I left Hollywood, feeling defeated and depressed.

MY HIGHT POINT IN LIFE

I?ve had so many! It may have been the night LLOYD'S OF LONDON, my first triumph, opened; or the day I got my discharge after more than four years in service; or the day I first flew alone; or-well, I can?t pick one out!

I HATE

Those long haircuts I sometimes have for pictures;

Pseudo-Spanish houses;

People who aren't adaptable; who always compare this with that, instead of taking a thing for what it is; a mountain cabin can?t be a deluxe hotel; a roadside cafe doesn't put on an exotic feast; a group a coal-miners fresh from the pits will have more informality than a gathering of diplomats; let's face it.

I LIKE

Pine woods; deserts; Brahms music; mysteries-not the kind in books, but strange things you come upon and feel you must try to solve.

IF I COULD HAVE LIVED IN ANOTHER CENTURY

It would be middle 19th Century; I'd love to have lived in Austria at the time of Franz Josef I. It was so gay and romantic and full of high adventure-or I would have made it so.

THE FIRST THING I NOTICE ABOUT A WOMAN

Is her eyes, then her feet; I don't know why.

MY FAVORITE

My favorite composer is Tchaikovski-or Khatchaturian; I like both very much;

Color is blue;

Actor is Ralph Richardson;

Food is simple-chicken, lamb stew, fruit; I'm a great trial to hostesses because I don?t really care for food and rarely notice what I?m eating;

Reading-I read whatever comes to hand, usually keep two books going, one contemporary literature, the other a classic; just now I?m reading Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd series, and re-reading Dante?s Divine Comedy;

Style of architecture is comfortable modern; I don't care for violently radial modern stuff either in houses or decoration.

MY NARROWEST ESCAPE

I was at Iwo Jima

I ADMIRE ABOUT

South America, the city of Rio, one of the most beautiful cities in the world a wonderful place for a holiday;

Mexico, the little church in Taxco, and the lovely country;

Africa, Jan Christian Smuts;

Italy. The historic flavor, the combination of ancient and modern beauty in Rome, and its romance. I look forward to making PRINCE OF FOXES in Rome, Florence and Venice this year.

I PLAN

An automobile trip through Europe before I start the picture, and

I HAVE

Other vague ideas about more traveling, more pictures, more high adventure, but I don't plan too far ahead.

THE NICEST THING ANYONE EVER DID FOR ME

Was Katherine Cornell?s letting me out of my contract with her when I got my Hollywood offer. She didn?t care for pictures herself, and she had me tied up legally, but she released me at once, and wished me success.

SOME DAY I'D LIKE TO.....

Make a picture in Ireland;

Write something good for the screen; Go to Scandinavian countries, to India and to Australia-and other places on that big globe given to me by the crew that flew with me to Africa. On the globe are marked flights of The Geek, the plane that circled 32,000 miles around Africa, the Saludos Amigos, the ship I piloted 23,000 miles around South America, and the routes of my war missions. The note from the crew read: "So you can find other places to fly!"

I ENJOY

Tennis; exploring; My roles in THAT WONDERFUL URGE and THE LUCK OF THE IRISH, my camera;

Making changes in a house until I get it exactly as I like it-then leaving it that way.

I LIKE ABOUT MYSELF

My adaptability;

My power of concentration.

I DISLIKE ABOUT MYSELF

My selfishness; my impatience; the way I hurt easy-going people unintentionally because of my ambition.

I BELIEVE IN

Fate or Destiny, but I think you make your own Luck. It seems to me that important things are mapped out for you and you can?t avoid Fate by turning to the right of to the left and thus change your life; like the tale of the man who tried to avoid meeting Death, in Appointment in Samarra, if it's for your it will come.

THE MOST EXCITING MOMENT OF MY LIFE

There have been so many!" Flying over the Andes or crossing great oceans should have been exciting, but actually I was too busy to know whether they were or not" Perhaps the premiere of LLOYD'S OF LONDON was my biggest thrill.

MY IDEAL

Way to spend an evening is to stay home, read, look at a picture, study languages-I'm trying to learn a couple of new ones-or just fuss around fixing something; there's always something that needs to done, and I enjoy that;

Career would be to make one picture a year in Hollywood, one a year in another country, and spend the rest of my time wandering;

Guest is one who understands the problems of a screen actor whose time is always uncertain, one who has resources of his own and can enjoy himself without too much attention;

Memorial would be a scholarship, or an endowment for a hospital or research;

I'M NO FINANCIAL WIZARD

When I began to earn good money I put myself on a rigid budget, giving myself a slim allowance-which worked fine until I wanted to wire orchids on a dandelion budget. After that I made it more elastic; but I'm still looking for a painless way to curb my spending impulses.

MY FUTURE

It's a fluid thing?" Who knows what will happen?"



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