Tyler was born either Vincent Markowski or Vincentas Markauskas[2][3] (sources differ) in Port Henry, Essex County, New York to Lithuanian-American parents,[4] Helen (née Elena Montvila) and Frank Markowski (nee Pranas Markauskas).[5] he had two brothers: Frank Jr. and Joe (who changed his last name to Marko) and two sisters: Katherine and Maliane (Molly). His father and older brother worked as coal miners for the Witherbee Sherman Company.[6]
In 1913, his family moved to Hamtramck, Michigan, where he attended St. Florian Elementary School and Hamtramck High School.[5] After graduating from high school, he left home and made his way west, finding work as a seaman on a merchant steamer in the U.S. Merchant Marine, a coal miner in Pennsylvania, a lumberjack in the Pacific Northwest, and even a prizefighter.[5][7]
Weightlifting
Tyler was an amateur weightlifter sponsored by the Los Angeles Athletic Club during the late 1920s. He set a new world's amateur record for the right-hand clean and jerk by lifting 213 pounds (97 kg).[8] In 1928, he won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) heavyweight weightlifting championship, lifting 760 pounds (340 kg)—a record that stood for fourteen years.[8][9]
Early film career
Around 1924, Tyler arrived in California and found work in the film industry as a prop man and extra.[5] His first screen appearances as an extra included Three Weeks (1924), Leatherstocking (1924), and Wild Horse Mesa (1925). In 1925, Tyler was signed to a contract with Film Booking Offices of America (FBO) to star in a series of Western adventures with a starting salary of about $75 per week.[5] His first starring role was in Let's Go, Gallagher (1925). Over the next four years, he starred in 28 additional Westerns for FBO, including The Masquerade Bandit (1926), The Sonora Kid (1927), The Texas Tornado (1928), The Avenging Rider (1928), and Pride of the Pawnee (1929). While romance was generally underplayed in these early Westerns, a number of up-and-coming heroines—including Doris Hill, Jean Arthur, and Nora Lane—contributed to the overall appeal of Tyler's films,[10] which enjoyed critical praise and were popular with Saturday-matinée audiences.[5] His four years with FBO gave him valuable riding and acting experience, and made him a popular cowboy hero in the latter years of the silent-film era.[5]
In 1929, Tyler signed with producer W. Ray Johnston of Syndicate Pictures (later known as Monogram Pictures), where he made his last eight silent films, including The Man from Nevada (1929), Pioneers of the West (1929), The Canyon of Missing Men (1930), and Call of the Desert (1930). Producer Johnston shrewdly recognized that there was still a market for new silent westerns, because many small-town theaters had not yet converted to the new talking pictures.
In 1930, Tyler was loaned out to Mascot Pictures for his first "all-talking" sound film, The Phantom of the West, a ten-chapter cliffhanger featuring a mysterious secret villain and numerous stunts and action sequences. Kermit Maynard, brother of Ken Maynard, was Tyler's stunt double in the more dangerous sequences.[5] In 1931, Tyler made his first Syndicate sound film, West of Cheyenne; his baritone speaking voice recorded well, despite his awkward delivery of lines. Tyler concluded his Syndicate tenure with Rider of the Plains (1931) and God's Country and the Man (1931).[5] He was also strongly considered for the role of Tarzan by MGM in their Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)[11]
Monogram Pictures
Ray Johnston retired Syndicate and renamed the company Monogram Pictures. He signed Tom Tyler to an eight-picture contract as part of the company's sagebrush series. These typical low-budget "quickies" included Man from Death Valley (1931), Single-Handed Sanders (1932), The Man from New Mexico (1932), and Honor of the Mounted (1932), each made for about $8000. All of his Monogram films received critical and popular support.[5] At the time, a small studio would sign a cowboy star for only one year; the studio would then offer a new series with a new cowboy. When Monogram signed Bob Steele to star in the next season's series, Tyler signed with Universal for three serials: Jungle Mystery (1932), Clancy of the Mounted (1933), and Phantom of the Air (1933). During this period he also starred in four low-budget Westerns for John R. Freuler's Monarch Pictures, including The Forty-Niners (1932), When a Man Rides Alone (1933), Deadwood Pass (1933), and War of the Range (1933).[5]
Reliable Pictures and Victory Pictures
In 1934, Tyler signed a two-year contract with Harry S. Webb's Reliable Pictures for eighteen low-budget Western films, tailored as second features on double bills for second- and third-tier movie houses.[5] These films included Mystery Ranch (1934), The Silver Bullet (1935), Born to Battle (1935), Silent Valley (1935), Fast Bullets (1936), and Santa Fe Bound (1936). Despite a few well-done scenes and some good performances by supporting players such as Slim Whitaker, Charles King, Earl Dwire, and even the silent-era "Hebrew" comedian Max Davidson, most of these films were of average quality with production shortcomings that restricted the effectiveness of Tyler's performances.[5] By 1936, companies such as Republic Pictures and Paramount Pictures were producing larger-budget, better-quality Western films with impressive exterior locations that overshadowed the type of Poverty Row low-budget offerings that brought Tyler to fame.[5]
In 1936, Tyler signed a two-year contract with Sam Katzman's new Victory Pictures for eight Western films, each budgeted at about $6000. The first five of these films were directed by Bob Hill and included Cheyenne Rides Again (1937) with Lucile Browne and Feud of the Trail (1937), in which Tyler played a dual role. Two of the Victory features co-starred Tyler's wife, Jeanne Martel: Orphan of the Pecos (1937) and Lost Ranch (1937), the latter containing a rare scene in which Tyler lip syncs two songs, "Tucson Mary" and "Home on the Range"[5] (this being an attempt to compete with the "singing cowboys" then in vogue, like Gene Autry and Tex Ritter). Following Brothers of the West (1937), Katzman did not renew Tyler's contract, replacing him with Tim McCoy as the company's Western star[5] until Katzman suspended production in 1939.
During this period Republic, which failed to secure the rights to Superman, purchased the rights to the comic-book superhero Captain Marvel. In his late 30s at the time, the muscular Tyler was in good shape and was offered the title role at $250 per week for four weeks' work. In the title role in The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Tyler portrayed the first film adaptation of a comic-book superhero.[5]
Tyler's last leading role was in the Columbia Pictures serial The Phantom (1943), based on Lee Falk's comic strip. In costume, Tyler bore a striking resemblance to the Phantom character. Columbia filmed a sequel to The Phantom more than a decade later with actor John Hart wearing the Phantom costume. Unbeknownst to producer Sam Katzman, the studio's rights to the Phantom property had already lapsed. Katzman was forced to salvage the film by renaming the lead character "Captain Africa" and filming additional scenes, with Hart wearing a new costume that only vaguely resembled the Phantom outfit. The patchwork was released as The Adventures of Captain Africa (1955), and footage of Tom Tyler's Phantom appears in some of the long shots.[13]
Later years
The Phantom was Tom Tyler's last starring film. In 1943, the 40-year-old Tyler was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis, limiting his mobility and confining him to occasional supporting roles in Western films, including San Antonio (1945) with Errol Flynn; They Were Expendable (1945), Red River (1948), and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) with John Wayne; Badman's Territory (1946) with Randolph Scott; Masked Raiders (1949), Riders of the Range (1950), Rio Grande Patrol (1951), and Road Agent (1952) with Tim Holt; West of the Brazos (1950) and several other films with James Ellison; Trail of Robin Hood (1950) with Roy Rogers; and Best of the Badmen (1951) with Robert Ryan. Tyler was one of the John Ford Stock Company, appearing in six of the director's films.
Beginning in 1950, Tyler transitioned to television work, finding minor roles on The Lone Ranger (1950), Dick Tracy (1950), The Cisco Kid (1950–1951), The Range Rider (1951–1952), and The Roy Rogers Show (1952). He also co-starred with Tom Keene in an unsold TV pilot, Crossroad Avenger (1953), written and directed by Ed Wood.
His final television appearances were in four episodes of The Gene Autry Show in 1952 and 1953. The last screen appearance by Tom Tyler was as a "District Marshal" on the television series Steve Donovan, Western Marshal. The episode, called "Comanche Kid," premiered on January 14, 1956, but had been filmed as a pilot in 1950. In it, Tyler had difficulty drawing his gun because of his arthritis.[5]
Suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis and nearly destitute, Tyler moved back to Hamtramck and lived with his sister, Katherine Slepski, during the last year of his life. He died on May 1, 1954, aged 50, of heart failure and complications from scleroderma. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.[5][15]
