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Tom Tyler
Tom Tyler (August 9, 1903 – May 1, 1954) was an American actor known for his leading roles in low-budget Western films, and for his portrayal of superheroes in movie serials The Adventures of Captain Marvel and The Phantom. Tyler also played the mummy Kharis in 1940's The Mummy's Hand, a popular film in the Universal Monsters franchise.
Tyler was born either Vincent Markowski or Vincentas Markauskas (sources differ) in Port Henry, Essex County, New York to Lithuanian-American parents, Helen (née Elena Montvila) and Frank Markowski (nee Pranas Markauskas). he had two brothers: Frank Jr. and Joe (who changed his last name to Marko) and two sisters: Katherine and Maliane (Molly). His father and older brother worked as coal miners for the Witherbee Sherman Company.
In 1913, his family moved to Hamtramck, Michigan, where he attended St. Florian Elementary School and Hamtramck High School. After graduating from high school, he left home and made his way west, finding work as a seaman on a merchant steamer in the U.S. Merchant Marine, a coal miner in Pennsylvania, a lumberjack in the Pacific Northwest, and even a prizefighter.
Tyler was an amateur weightlifter sponsored by the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the late 1920s. He set a new world's amateur record for the right-hand clean and jerk by lifting 213 pounds (97 kg). In 1928, he won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) heavyweight weightlifting championship, lifting 760 pounds (340 kg)—a record that stood for fourteen years.
Around 1924, Tyler arrived in California and found work in the film industry as a prop man and extra. His first screen appearances as an extra included Three Weeks (1924), Leatherstocking (1924), and Wild Horse Mesa (1925). In 1925, Tyler was signed to a contract with Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) to star in a series of Western adventures with a starting salary of about $75 per week. His first starring role was in Let's Go, Gallagher (1925). Over the next four years, he starred in 28 additional Westerns for FBO, including The Masquerade Bandit (1926), The Sonora Kid (1927), The Texas Tornado (1928), The Avenging Rider (1928), and Pride of the Pawnee (1929). While romance was generally underplayed in these early Westerns, a number of up-and-coming heroines—including Doris Hill, Jean Arthur, and Nora Lane—contributed to the overall appeal of Tyler's films, which enjoyed critical praise and were popular with Saturday-matinée audiences. His four years with FBO gave him valuable riding and acting experience, and made him a popular cowboy hero in the latter years of the silent-film era.
In 1929, Tyler signed with producer W. Ray Johnston of Syndicate Pictures (later known as Monogram Pictures), where he made his last eight silent films, including The Man from Nevada (1929), Pioneers of the West (1929), The Canyon of Missing Men (1930), and Call of the Desert (1930). Producer Johnston shrewdly recognized that there was still a market for new silent westerns, because many small-town theaters had not yet converted to the new talking pictures.
In 1930, Tyler was loaned out to Mascot Pictures for his first "all-talking" sound film, The Phantom of the West, a ten-chapter cliffhanger featuring a mysterious secret villain and numerous stunts and action sequences. Kermit Maynard, brother of Ken Maynard, was Tyler's stunt double in the more dangerous sequences. In 1931, Tyler made his first Syndicate sound film, West of Cheyenne; his baritone speaking voice recorded well, despite his awkward delivery of lines. Tyler concluded his Syndicate tenure with Rider of the Plains (1931) and God's Country and the Man (1931). He was also strongly considered for the role of Tarzan by MGM in their Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
Ray Johnston retired Syndicate and renamed the company Monogram Pictures. He signed Tom Tyler to an eight-picture contract as part of the company's sagebrush series. These typical low-budget "quickies" included Man from Death Valley (1931), Single-Handed Sanders (1932), The Man from New Mexico (1932), and Honor of the Mounted (1932), each made for about $8000. All of his Monogram films received critical and popular support. At the time, a small studio would sign a cowboy star for only one year; the studio would then offer a new series with a new cowboy. When Monogram signed Bob Steele to star in the next season's series, Tyler signed with Universal for three serials: Jungle Mystery (1932), Clancy of the Mounted (1933), and Phantom of the Air (1933). During this period he also starred in four low-budget Westerns for John R. Freuler's Monarch Pictures, including The Forty-Niners (1932), When a Man Rides Alone (1933), Deadwood Pass (1933), and War of the Range (1933).
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Tom Tyler
Tom Tyler (August 9, 1903 – May 1, 1954) was an American actor known for his leading roles in low-budget Western films, and for his portrayal of superheroes in movie serials The Adventures of Captain Marvel and The Phantom. Tyler also played the mummy Kharis in 1940's The Mummy's Hand, a popular film in the Universal Monsters franchise.
Tyler was born either Vincent Markowski or Vincentas Markauskas (sources differ) in Port Henry, Essex County, New York to Lithuanian-American parents, Helen (née Elena Montvila) and Frank Markowski (nee Pranas Markauskas). he had two brothers: Frank Jr. and Joe (who changed his last name to Marko) and two sisters: Katherine and Maliane (Molly). His father and older brother worked as coal miners for the Witherbee Sherman Company.
In 1913, his family moved to Hamtramck, Michigan, where he attended St. Florian Elementary School and Hamtramck High School. After graduating from high school, he left home and made his way west, finding work as a seaman on a merchant steamer in the U.S. Merchant Marine, a coal miner in Pennsylvania, a lumberjack in the Pacific Northwest, and even a prizefighter.
Tyler was an amateur weightlifter sponsored by the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the late 1920s. He set a new world's amateur record for the right-hand clean and jerk by lifting 213 pounds (97 kg). In 1928, he won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) heavyweight weightlifting championship, lifting 760 pounds (340 kg)—a record that stood for fourteen years.
Around 1924, Tyler arrived in California and found work in the film industry as a prop man and extra. His first screen appearances as an extra included Three Weeks (1924), Leatherstocking (1924), and Wild Horse Mesa (1925). In 1925, Tyler was signed to a contract with Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) to star in a series of Western adventures with a starting salary of about $75 per week. His first starring role was in Let's Go, Gallagher (1925). Over the next four years, he starred in 28 additional Westerns for FBO, including The Masquerade Bandit (1926), The Sonora Kid (1927), The Texas Tornado (1928), The Avenging Rider (1928), and Pride of the Pawnee (1929). While romance was generally underplayed in these early Westerns, a number of up-and-coming heroines—including Doris Hill, Jean Arthur, and Nora Lane—contributed to the overall appeal of Tyler's films, which enjoyed critical praise and were popular with Saturday-matinée audiences. His four years with FBO gave him valuable riding and acting experience, and made him a popular cowboy hero in the latter years of the silent-film era.
In 1929, Tyler signed with producer W. Ray Johnston of Syndicate Pictures (later known as Monogram Pictures), where he made his last eight silent films, including The Man from Nevada (1929), Pioneers of the West (1929), The Canyon of Missing Men (1930), and Call of the Desert (1930). Producer Johnston shrewdly recognized that there was still a market for new silent westerns, because many small-town theaters had not yet converted to the new talking pictures.
In 1930, Tyler was loaned out to Mascot Pictures for his first "all-talking" sound film, The Phantom of the West, a ten-chapter cliffhanger featuring a mysterious secret villain and numerous stunts and action sequences. Kermit Maynard, brother of Ken Maynard, was Tyler's stunt double in the more dangerous sequences. In 1931, Tyler made his first Syndicate sound film, West of Cheyenne; his baritone speaking voice recorded well, despite his awkward delivery of lines. Tyler concluded his Syndicate tenure with Rider of the Plains (1931) and God's Country and the Man (1931). He was also strongly considered for the role of Tarzan by MGM in their Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
Ray Johnston retired Syndicate and renamed the company Monogram Pictures. He signed Tom Tyler to an eight-picture contract as part of the company's sagebrush series. These typical low-budget "quickies" included Man from Death Valley (1931), Single-Handed Sanders (1932), The Man from New Mexico (1932), and Honor of the Mounted (1932), each made for about $8000. All of his Monogram films received critical and popular support. At the time, a small studio would sign a cowboy star for only one year; the studio would then offer a new series with a new cowboy. When Monogram signed Bob Steele to star in the next season's series, Tyler signed with Universal for three serials: Jungle Mystery (1932), Clancy of the Mounted (1933), and Phantom of the Air (1933). During this period he also starred in four low-budget Westerns for John R. Freuler's Monarch Pictures, including The Forty-Niners (1932), When a Man Rides Alone (1933), Deadwood Pass (1933), and War of the Range (1933).