TOM TYLER BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Tom Tyler was born on August 9th, 1903 in Port Henry, New York with the birth name Vincent Markowski.  His parents were Polish American heritage.  Tyler was raised in Michigan and worked a variety of jobs such as a boxer, lumberjack, sailor and coal miner before deciding to try out acting.
 
He was lucky enough to find a job in Los Angeles working as an extra and a stunt man.  He was a very handsome man with a very strong and admiral physical physique that Hollywood took a liking to his appearance and felt he would be a great asset to western films.
 
He received an offer to play the lead in a variety of silent westerns which he used the stage name credited as, "Bill Burns".  When FBO signed him to contract in 1925, they chose to change his stage name to Tom Tyler.  He had no issues making the transition from silent films to talkies and he became an action star.  He worked very hard to lose his Lithuanian accent and was able to do so.
 
As his career progressed though to the late 1930's, competition was getting tougher and there were more and more available handsome western actors to compete with.  Tom Tyler continued to work, but mostly taking on supporting roles.  Some of the films he did in the late 30's were, "Stagecoach" (1939) and very well known, "Gone With the Wind" (1939). 
 
In 1940, he was cast as the Mummy "Kharis" in "The Mummy's Hand".  The main reason, Tyler was chosen for this role was becuase his physical facial features resembled those of Boris Karloff enough that new footage of Tyler could be intercut with old footage of Karloff.

He did get another career break with probably what is known as his most popular role which was offered to him in 1941 on the serial, "Adventures of Captain Marvel".  This role brought him back into the public eye and he was making a name for himself again.  He also starred in, "The Phantom" (1943) which was based on Lee Falk's comic strip.  This was however, Tom Tyler's last major screen role.   
 
Sadly, just has his career was picking up his health was failing fast.  He was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and was not able to take on lead roles as he was used too.  He did continue to act but majority of his roles were supporting characters.  He also appeared in supporting roles on such television shows as, "The Lone Ranger", "The Cisco Kid", "Gene Autry" and "Dick Tracy" among many others.  Even during his failing health, Tyler worked on a total of 35 supporting roles for film and television.
 
Not only did he work as an actor, at one time during his career, Tyler was also  a weight-lifting champion and once was considered to be the strongest man in America.  He even made the Olympic team in 1928.  Sadly, even a man who was once so physically fit and healthy and strong could not even take care of himself, he had to move in with his sister in Detroit. 
 
At the young age of fifty on may 3rd, 1954, Tom Tyler passed away from heart failure in Hamtramck, Michigan and was interred at Mount Olivet Cemetery.  He only married once to Jeanne Martel in September 1937 and the couple did divorce but it in unknown exactly what date. 
 
 
Filmography
 
1956   Steve Donovan, Western Marshal 
1952-1953  The Gene Autry Show
1953   Cow Country
1953   Crossroad Avenger: The Adventures of the Tucson Kid
1952   Cowboy G-Men
1952   Sky King
1952   What Price Glory 
1952   The Lion and the Horse  
1952   Outlaw Women
1952   Road Agent  
1951-1952  Boston Blackie
1952   The Roy Rogers Show
1951-1952  Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok 
1951-1952  The Range Rider
1951   Mysterious Island 
1951   Best of the Badmen  
1951   The Great Missouri Raid
1950-1951  The Cisco Kid
1950   Dick Tracy
1950   Rio Grande Patrol 
1950   Sudden Death
1950   The Lone Ranger
1950   West of the Brazos  
1950   Colorado Ranger  
1950   Crooked River  
1950   Marshal of Heldorado  
1950   Hostile Country
1950   The Daltons' Women 
1950   Riders of the Range
1949   Samson and Delilah
1949   Square Dance Jubilee 
1949   She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 
1949   Masked Raiders
1949   Lust for Gold 
1949   The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend 
1949   The Younger Brothers
1949   I Shot Jesse James 
1948   Blood on the Moon 
1948   The Three Musketeers 
1948   The Golden Eye
1948   Red River 
1948   Return of the Bad Men
1948   The Dude Goes West  
1947   Cheyenne  
1946   Never Say Goodbye  
1946   Badman's Territory  
1945   San Antonio  
1945   They Were Expendable  
1945   Sing Me a Song of Texas
1944   The Princess and the Pirate
1944   Ladies of Washington  
1944   Boss of Boomtown
1944   The Navy Way 
1944   Gun to Gun
1943   The Phantom  
1943   Wagon Tracks West  
1943   Riders of the Rio Grande  
1943   Santa Fe Scouts 
1943   The Blocked Trail  
1943   Thundering Trails  
1942   Valley of Hunted Men  
1942   Shadows on the Sage  
1942   The Talk of the Town
1942   The Phantom Plainsmen 
1942   Westward Ho 
1942   Raiders of the Range 
1942   Valley of the Sun 
1942   Code of the Outlaw  
1941   West of Cimarron 
1941   Gauchos of El Dorado 
1941   Riders of the Timberline 
1941   Outlaws of Cherokee Trail 
1941   Bad Men of Missouri 
1941   Border Vigilantes 
1941   Adventures of Captain Marvel 
1941   Buck Privates
1940   The Texas Rangers Ride Again 
1940   Cherokee Strip 
1940   The Mummy's Hand 
1940   The Westerner 
1940   Brother Orchid 
1940   The Light of Western Stars
1940   The Grapes of Wrath 
1939   Gone with the Wind
1939   Drums Along the Mohawk
1939   Frontier Marshal 
1939   The Night Riders 
1939   Stagecoach
1938   King of Alcatraz
1937   Lost Ranch 
1937   Brothers of the West 
1937   Orphan of the Pecos 
1937   Mystery Range
1937   The Feud of the Trail 
1937   Under Southern Stars 
1937   Cheyenne Rides Again 
1936   The Phantom of the Range 
1936   Rip Roarin' Buckaroo 
1936   Santa Fe Bound 
1936   The Last Outlaw 
1936   Pinto Rustlers
1936   Roamin' Wild 
1936   Ridin' On
1936   Fast Bullets 
1935   Trigger Tom 
1935   Powdersmoke Range
1935   Rio Rattler
1935   The Laramie Kid
1935   The Silver Bullet 
1935   Silent Valley
1935   Born to Battle 
1935   Tracy Rides 
1935   Coyote Trails 
1935   Unconquered Bandit 
1934   Terror of the Plains 
1934   Fighting Hero 
1934   Mystery Ranch
1934   Ridin' Thru 
1933   War of the Range 
1933   I Phantom of the Air
1933   Deadwood Pass
1933   Clancy of the Mounted 
1933   When a Man Rides Alone
1932   The Forty-Niners 
1932   The Jungle Mystery
1932   Honor of the Mounted
1932   Vanishing Men
1932   The Man from New Mexico 
1932   Single-Handed Sanders 
1931   Galloping Thru 
1931   Battling with Buffalo Bill 
1931   Two Fisted Justice
1931   The Man from Death Valley
1931   Partners of the Trail 
1931   Rider of the Plains 
1931   God's Country and the Man 
1931   West of Cheyenne 
1931   The Phantom of the West 
1930   Her Man
1930   The Canyon of Missing Men 
1930   Half Pint Polly 
1930   Call of the Desert
1929   'Neath Western Skies 
1929   The Lone Horseman 
1929   Pioneers of the West 
1929   The Phantom Rider
1929   The Man from Nevada 
1929   Law of the Plains 
1929   The Pride of Pawnee 
1929   Idaho Red 
1929   Gun Law 
1929   Trail of the Horse Thieves 
1928   Tyrant of Red Gulch 
1928   The Avenging Rider 
1928   Terror Mountain 
1928   The Texas Tornado 
1928   Phantom of the Range 
1928   When the Law Rides 
1927   The Desert Pirate 
1927   The Cherokee Kid
1927   The Flying U Ranch
1927   Tom's Gang 
1927   Splitting the Breeze 
1927   Cyclone of the Range
1927   The Sonora Kid 
1927   Lightning Lariats 
1926   Red Hot Hoofs
1926   Out of the West
1926   Tom and His Pals
1926   The Cowboy Cop 
1926   The Masquerade Bandit 
1926   Wild to Go
1926   The Arizona Streak 
1926   Born to Battle
1925   Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
1925   The Cowboy Musketeer
1925   The Only Thing  
1925   The Wyoming Wildcat 
1925   Let's Go Gallagher  
1925   Wild Horse Mesa  
1924   Leatherstocking
1924   Three Weeks 
1923   The Eagle's Talons