This set of pages is dedicated to the supporting actresses in Tyrone Power's films. These ladies played smaller roles, but often quite memorable ones. Most of these ladies were character actresses, who kept quite busy, playing in dozens of films. Some of the very best played in Ty's movies. They often played his mother, an aunt, or a friend. Fans may or may not know their names, but they would recognize their faces and voices. Some of the actresses listed on these pages don't actually fall into the "character actress category". They may be singers, dancers, or specialty acts.

pictured left - Ty and Jane Darwell, movie still from Jesse James.

Alice Brady

Born
November 2, 1892, New York, New York
Died
October 28, 1939, New York, New York (cancer)

Filmography

Movie with Ty
In Old Chicago

Other movies
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
The Gay Divorcee (1934)

Film career spanned
1914 - 1939

Academy awards won
1938 Best Actress in a Supporting Role (In Old Chicago)
Award Nominations - 1937 Best Actress in a Supporting Role (My Man Godfrey )

A few other stars she worked with
Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Henry Fonda, William Powell, Fred Astaire

Tidbit
She didn't attend the award ceremonies when she won for In Old Chicago. A man walked onstage, ostensibly to accept the award on her behalf. After the awards, he disappeared with the Oscar, and he wasn't seen again, nor was the Oscar.

Alla Nazimova

Born
May 22, 1879, Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine
Died
July 13, 1945 Los Angeles, California (coronary thrombosis)

Filmography

Movie with Ty
Blood and Sand

Other movies
Escape (1940)
In Our Time (1944)
Camille (1921)

Film career spanned
1916 - 1944

A few other stars she worked with
Joseph Cotten, Robert Taylor, Noah Beery, Rudolph Valentino

Tidbit
She was a noted stage star. In 1925, she retired from the screen and returned to her first love, the stage. It would be fifteen years before she would return to the screen. She made a few movies, in character roles, in the forties.

Jane Darwell

Born
October 15, 1879 Palmyra, Missouri
Died
August 13, 1967 Woodland Hills, California (heart attack)

Filmography

Movies with Ty
Brigham Young (played his mother)
Jesse James (played his mother)
Love Is News (played his landlady)
The Rains Came (played Mrs. Smiley)

Other movies
Mary Poppins (1964)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
The Last Hurrah (1958)

Film career spanned
1913 - 1964

Academy awards won
1941 Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Grapes of Wrath

A few other stars she worked with
Tony Martin, Walter Pidgeon, Lionel Barrymore, Bob Hope

Tidbit
Jane Darwell was a fine character actress who played in about 200 films. She began her career as a stage actress and appeared several times on Broadway. She began her film career in silent films.

Gloria Holden

Born
September 5, 1908, London, England
Died
March 22, 1991, Redlands, California (heart attack)

Filmography

Movie with Ty
The Eddy Duchin Story




Other movies
Dracula's Daughter (1936)
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
The Corsican Brothers (1941)

Film career spanned
1934 - 1958

A few other stars she worked with
Melvyn Douglas, Clark Gable, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., David Niven

Tidbit
She was also credited as Anje Berens.

Janet Beecher

Born
October 21, 1884, Jefferson City, Missouri
Died
August 1955, Washington, Connecticut

Filmography

Movie with Ty
Mark of Zorro

Other movies
Bitter Sweet (1940)
All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)

Film career spanned
1915 - 1943

A few other stars she worked with
Mickey Rooney, Ray Milland, John Wayne, Spencer Tracy

Tidbit
After she made her first movie (1915), it was 18 years before she would make another (1933).

Katina Paxinou

Born
December 17, 1900, Piraeus, Athens, Greece
Died
February 22, 1973 Athens, Greece (cancer)

Filmography

Movie with Ty
Prince of Foxes

Other movies
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
The Miracle (1959)
Mourning Becomes Electra (1947)

Film career spanned
1943 - 1970

Academy awards won
1944 Best Actress in a Supporting Role for For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)

A few other stars she worked with
Michael Redgrave, Raymond Massey, Gary Cooper, Kirk Douglas

Tidbit
She was a talented musician, as well as a stage and screen star. She wrote the music for the 1952 Broadway play, Oedipus Tyrannus, in which she also appeared.

Virginia Brissac

Born
June 11, 1883, California
Died
July 26, 1979, Hollywood, California

Filmography

Movies with Ty
Captain from Castile (as his mother)
Jesse James (as the boy's mother, in opening scenes of film)




Other movies
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Destry Rides Again (1939)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)

Film career spanned
1913 - 1955

A few other stars she worked with
James Dean, Fred MacMurray, William Holden, Michael Redgrave

Tidbit
Virginia Brissac starred in two silent films in 1913. She waited until 1935 to return to the screen, in Honeymoon Limited, as a character actress. Her screen roles were numerous, usually in small parts, in the niche that she found in Hollywood.

Dame May Whitty

Born
June 19, 1865, Liverpool, England
Died
May 29, 1948, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California (cancer)

Filmography

Movie with Ty
Crash Dive

Other movies
Green Dolphin Street (1947)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Suspicion (1941)

Film career spanned
1914 - 1948

Academy Award Nominations (no wins)
1943 - Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Mrs. Miniver
1938 - Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Night Must Fall

A few other stars she worked with
Cary Grant, Paul Henreid, Glenn Ford, Charles Boyer, Michael Redgrave

Tidbit
For about twenty-five years, Dame May Whitty was a top star of the British stage. She made her first movie in 1915, but disappeared from the screen after a couple silent films. She returned to the stage in 1936, in an uncredited role in Keep Your Seats, Please. After winning her Oscar nomination the following year, she began working steadily as a character actress, until her death in 1948.

Kay Johnson

Born
November 29, 1904, Mount Vernon, New York
Died
November 17, 1975 Waterford, Connecticut

Filmography

Movie with Ty
Son of Fury

Other movies
Of Human Bondage (1934)
The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)
Mr. Lucky (1943)

Film career spanned
1929 - 1954

A few other stars she worked with
Leslie Howard, Fredric March, Clark Gable, Cary Grant

Tidbit
This fine actress was wife of director, John Cromwell, who directed Son of Fury. When the actress originally slated for Son of Fury was determined to be too young for the role, Kay Johnson replaced her.

Helen Westley

March 28, 1875, Brooklyn, New York

Died
December 12, 1942, Middlebush, New Jersey

Filmography

Movies with Ty
Alexander's Ragtime Band (Aunt Sophie)
Cafe Metropole (Aunt Margaret Ridgeway - aunt to Loretta Young's character )




Other movies
Show Boat (1936)
Heidi (1937)
All This, and Heaven Too (1940)

Film career spanned
1934 - 1942

A few other stars she worked with
Fred Astaire, Joel McCrea, Ray Bolger, Ronald Reagan

Tidbit
Helen Westley got a very late start on the screen. She was 59 when she made her first movie, in 1934. Thereafter, though, she worked steadily until her death in 1942. In less than ten years on the screen, she made 38 movies, with substantial character roles. Prior to her film career, she was a stage actress, appearing in 45 Broadway productions, from 1915 - 1939.