Actor. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was one of the most popular swashbuckling movie stars of the 1930s and 1940s. Named after his father and great-grandfather, who were both theatrical players, his mother, Patia Power, a Covington, Ohio native, was a Shakespearean actress and a highly respected drama coach, which greatly aided him at the start in his career. Although born in his mother's house in Ohio, he lived in New York City and because he was frail and sickly as a boy, before his family moved to the warmer climate of Southern California (Los Angeles), living there until the age of 9, when his mother brought him back to the city of his birth after her divorce. He attended the preparatory school of the University of Dayton for a year before graduating from Purcell High School in 1931. Upon graduation, he went to Chicago, Illinois to be with his father in "The Merchant of Venice," and later held his father in his arms when his father died of a sudden heart attack. He soon moved back to Los Angeles, California where he landed a screen test with 20th Century-Fox. By 1936, he was offered a contract, and within only a year he was one of Fox's leading stars. He was paired with Alice Faye, Maureen O'Hara and Norma Shearer among many others. During World War II (WWII), he became a Marine Corps pilot and saw action in the South Pacific. He also was in "The Black Rose (1950)." During the filming of "Solomon and Sheba," which he also produced in 1958, he collapsed while dueling with George Sanders and died of a heart attack before he got to the hospital. His scenes were re-shot with the replacement star, Yul Brynner in the role. His burial site in Hollywood Forever is a unique tomb in the form of a marble bench. He is only a short distance away from two other great swashbucklers of the movies: Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Actor. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he was one of the most popular swashbuckling movie stars of the 1930s and 1940s. Named after his father and great-grandfather, who were both theatrical players, his mother, Patia Power, a Covington, Ohio native, was a Shakespearean actress and a highly respected drama coach, which greatly aided him at the start in his career. Although born in his mother's house in Ohio, he lived in New York City and because he was frail and sickly as a boy, before his family moved to the warmer climate of Southern California (Los Angeles), living there until the age of 9, when his mother brought him back to the city of his birth after her divorce. He attended the preparatory school of the University of Dayton for a year before graduating from Purcell High School in 1931. Upon graduation, he went to Chicago, Illinois to be with his father in "The Merchant of Venice," and later held his father in his arms when his father died of a sudden heart attack. He soon moved back to Los Angeles, California where he landed a screen test with 20th Century-Fox. By 1936, he was offered a contract, and within only a year he was one of Fox's leading stars. He was paired with Alice Faye, Maureen O'Hara and Norma Shearer among many others. During World War II (WWII), he became a Marine Corps pilot and saw action in the South Pacific. He also was in "The Black Rose (1950)." During the filming of "Solomon and Sheba," which he also produced in 1958, he collapsed while dueling with George Sanders and died of a heart attack before he got to the hospital. His scenes were re-shot with the replacement star, Yul Brynner in the role. His burial site in Hollywood Forever is a unique tomb in the form of a marble bench. He is only a short distance away from two other great swashbucklers of the movies: Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Bio by: Christian
Inscription
There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow.
If it be now, it's not come;
If it be not to come, it will be now;
If it be not now, yet it will come:
The readiness is all;
Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
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