November 15, 1958: Tyrone Power Dies

November 15, 1958: Tyrone Power dies of a heart attack in Madrid, where he had been filming the Biblical movie Solomon and Sheba with Gina Lollobrigida. He was filming a dueling scene with George Sanders when he was stricken. He was only 44 years old.

Yul Brynner, who had turned the role of King Solomon down, was a friend of Power's, and accepted it in tribute, putting his planned film about Spartacus on hold, which allowed Kirk Douglas to make his planned version of Spartacus unopposed.

Tyrone Edmund Power III was born on May 5, 1914 in Cincinnati. He graduated from Marian High School (now Purcell Marian), which also produced Tom and Charlie Luken, a father and son who both became Mayors of Cincinnati; and football legend Roger Staubach.

He became a star with In Old Chicago in 1938, playing Dion O'Leary, owner of the barn where the Great Fire of 1871 began. He became a legend in 1940 in The Mark of Zorro, defining the role until Guy Williams played it on TV in the late 1950s, and typecasting him as a swashbuckler type.

Had somebody figured out how to make him fly, he might have been the right actor to be the 1st to play Superman. (Superheroes Batman, Captain Marvel and Captain America were filmed in the early 1940s.) But he found a way to become a real hero, flying rescue missions in the Pacific Theater for the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II. He stayed in the Marine Corps Reserves for the rest of his life, rising to the rank of Major.

He went on to play Suez Canal developer Ferdinand de Lesseps, Wild West desperado Jesse James, Ernest Hemingway's "hero" Jake Barnes in The Sun Also Rises, and bandleader Eddy Duchin, who also died young. His last completed role was defendant Leonard Vole in Witness for the Prosecution.

But, like so many people of his generation, including movie stars, he was a heavy smoker, and it is suspected that he had hereditary heart disease. Throw in the physicality of so many of his roles, and it's not surprising that he died while filming an action scene.

He had 3 daughters, including actress and singer Romina Power, and actress Taryn Power. Two months after his death, his 3rd and last wife, Deborah Jean Montgomery, gave birth to a son, Tyrone William Power IV, who acts under the name Tyrone Power Jr. His first film was Cocoon, with Tahnee Welch, Raquel's daughter.

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November 15, 1958 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Louisiana State University beat Mississippi State, 7-6 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. LSU went undefeated, won the Southeastern Conference title, and beat Number 12 Clemson in the Sugar Bowl to win the National Championship.

* Number 2 Iowa were upset by Number 16 Ohio State, 38-28 at Iowa Stadium (now Kinnick Stadium) in Iowa City. This would be Iowa's only loss, as they went on to win the Big Ten title, and beat the University of California in the Rose Bowl. But despite wins over 5 ranked teams, this loss and a tie against Air Force, both at home, cost them the National Championship. They ended up ranked Number 2.

* Number 3 Army beat Villanova, 26-0 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York. Led by Heisman Trophy-winning running back Pete Dawkins, Army finished 8-0-1, their only blemish a draw away to the University of Pittsburgh. But they did not accept a bowl bid, and were not seriously considered for the National Championship, finishing 3rd in the rankings.

* Number 4 Auburn beat Georgia, 21-6 at Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Georgia. Auburn finished 9-0-1, their only blemish a tie away to Georgia Tech, then an SEC team. This cost them the SEC title, and they were not invited to a bowl game. So they were not seriously considered for the National Championship, finishing 4th in the rankings.

* Number 5 Wisconsin beat Illinois, 31-12 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.

* Number 6 Oklahoma beat Missouri, 39-0 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma. OU won the Big Seven Conference title, and beat Syracuse in the Orange Bowl. Their only loss was to Texas in Dallas.

* Number 7 Mississippi were upset by Tennessee, 18-16 at Shields-Watkins Field (now Neyland Stadium) in Knoxville, Tennessee.

* Number 8 Purdue beat Number 13 Northwestern, 23-16 at Dyche Stadium in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois.

* Number 9 Texas Christian University beat Texas, 22-8 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU won the Southwest Conference title, and advanced to the Cotton Bowl, where Air Force held them to a tie.

* Number 10 Air Force beat Wyoming, 21-6 at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

* Number 11 North Carolina were upset by Notre Dame, 34-24 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

* Number 14 University of Pittsburgh were upset by Nebraska, 14-6 at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

* Number 15 Southern Methodist University (SMU) were upset by Arkansas, 13-6 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

* Number 17 Rice were upset by Texas A&M, 28-21 at Rice Stadium in Houston.

* Number 19 Rutgers -- a rare moment for Rutgers to be ranked in the 20th Century -- were upset by the Quantico Marines, 13-12 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. It would be RU's only loss, and they were not invited to a bowl game. They ended the season ranked Number 20. The other New Jersey team, Princeton, beat Yale, 50-14 at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.

As for the Marines, they dropped the team from the Quantico base in the town of the same name in Virginia after the 1972 season.

* Number 20 Georgia Tech were upset by Alabama, 17-8 at Grant Field in Atlanta.

* Navy beat George Washington University, 28-8 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* In a rivalry game, Boston College beat Boston University, 18-13 at Alumni Stadium in the Boston suburb of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Syracuse Nationals, 96-92 at the Onondaga County War Memorial Auditorium (now the Upstate Medical University Arena) in Syracuse, New York.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cincinnati Royals, 130-105 at the Boston Garden.

* The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 106-101 at the Philadelphia Civic Center.

* And the St. Louis Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons, 102-91 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. Bob Pettit led all scorers on the day with 36 points.

The NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action. The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the old Madison Square Garden. The Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest, 3-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.