Tom Tyler (August 9, 1903 – May 1, 1954) was an American actor known for his leading roles in low-budget Western films, and for his portrayal of superheroes in movie serials The Adventures of Captain Marvel and The Phantom. Tyler also played the mummy Kharis in 1940's The Mummy's Hand, a popular film in the Universal Monsters franchise.
Early years
Tyler was born either Vincent Markowski or Vincentas Markauskas (sources differ) in Port Henry, Essex County, New York to Lithuanian-American parents, Helen ( Elena Montvila) and Frank Markowski (nee Pranas Markauskas). 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.
In 1913, his family moved to Hamtramck, Michigan, where he attended St. Florian Elementary School and Hamtramck High School.
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 . In 1928, he won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) heavyweight weightlifting championship, lifting —a record that stood for fourteen years.
Early film career
Around 1924, Tyler arrived in California and found work in the film industry as a prop man and extra. which enjoyed critical praise and were popular with Saturday-matinée audiences.
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.
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; six westerns filmed concurrently in 1950, co-starring Russell Hayden and 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.
Marriage
Tyler married actress Jeanne Martel, listed as Jeanne Martel-Pezoldt in California, U.S., County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849–1980 for Jeanne Martel-Pezoldt in September 1937;
Death
In 1953 Tyler, suffering from severe rheumatoid arthritis and nearly destitute, moved back to Hamtramck and lived with his sister, Katherine Slepski. 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. Tyler's last show-business credit was posthumous: an episode of Steve Donovan, Western Marshal called "Comanche Kid." It premiered on January 14, 1956, almost two years after Tyler's passing, but had been filmed as a pilot in 1950. In it, Tyler had difficulty drawing his gun because of his arthritis.