Tyrone Power

A dashing lead in adventure films and romances, Tyrone Power was one of Hollywood's most popular actors from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s and the pride of 20th Century Fox, his home studio. Power was, after all, one of the few matinee idols to give MGM's Clark Gable and Warner Bros.' Errol Flynn a run for their money as resident sex symbol; someone who could pull in as many female as male moviegoers. His handsome, chiseled features and natural athleticism made him a natural for swashbuckling fare like "The Mark of Zorro" (1940) and "The Black Swan" (1942), but he was well equipped for almost any genre - from westerns and crime dramas, to light comedies and musicals. Though one of the Top 10 box office draws for years, Power yearned for more respectable fare, and after serving in World War II, made a bid for dramatic roles in films like "The Razor's Edge" (1946) and the disturbing "Nightmare Alley" (1947). As he aged, Power turned his attention to stage acting in the 1950s, where he achieved success in productions of "John Brown's Body" and "Mister Roberts;" His film career ended on a high note with Billy Wilder's "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957) before his untimely death the following year from a heart attack at the age of 44 - one of the first actors from the Golden Age to die prematurely.