TG4 documentary on actor Tyrone Power

Hollywood heartthrob Tyrone Power, who was born 100 years ago next year and who died at the age of 44, is the subject of a new documentary to be screened on TG4 on Sunday, October 13.

Tyrone Power: Gaol Eile ag an bPaorach explores the actor’s appeal during his short life and his strong connections to Ireland.

 Tyrone Power’s ancestors came from Waterford and the programme’s presenter Catherine Foley examines his life, his Irish links and the notion that she might be related to him. Her paternal grandmother was also a Power from the same area and the story of Tyrone Power being a cousin has been in her family for years. 

When the star came to Dublin for the making of the film, The Rising of the Moon in 1957, he took time out to visit Waterford and according to local lore, was disappointed that no-one recognised him apart from the local postman Michael Murphy who came out to get his autograph. The postman’s son, Seán Ó Murchú recalls the meeting in this documentary. He also recalls the exuberant reaction to the local screening of The Rising of the Moon, where Power announced proudly that his folk came from a small village in Southern Ireland called Kilmacthomas. 

Catherine Foley also talks to Romina Power, Tyrone Power’s daughter, who visited Kilmacthomas some 30 years later, on a trip to Ireland.  And she meets with Dr Gwenda Young, from the UCC’s Film Studies School, to learn about Power’s place in film and his talent. Meanwhile Dublin-based arts consultant, Tony Ó Dálaigh shares his memories of Power performing in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre during the 1950s.

While searching to trace potential family connections, Catherine Foley discovers that one of her ancestors was a William Power, the very same name as one of Tyrone Power’s ancestors. This William Power was a young man in the area at the time of the conception of Tyrone Power’s great grandfather in 1797. That baby was named William Power also, but when he grew up to become a famous actor, he changed his name to a stage name and he became William Grattan Tyrone Power. 

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune