Tom Tyler

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The Adventures of Captain Marvel, starring Tom Tyler in his most famous role.

Tom Tyler (nee Vincent Markowski) (August 9, 1903 – May 1, 1954) was an American actor. He was born into a Polish-American family.

Tyler had a long career in film, stretching from the 1920s to the 1950s, and appeared in many films, most of them westerns such as John Ford's Stagecoach and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. The biggest part of Tyler's career was spent making B-movie westerns, however. Tyler also notably portrayed the Fawcett Comics superhero Captain Marvel in the 1941 film serial The Adventures of Captain Marvel, which was the first film adaptation of a superhero in history. In 1940, he was the Mummy in The Mummy's Hand; Lon Chaney, Jr. took over the role and played it in three sequels.

DVD cover of The Phantom, starring Tom Tyler.

In 1943, he played another superhero, in the highly successful The Phantom, based on Lee Falk's famous comic strip. Columbia Pictures intended to make a sequel to The Phantom for years, but when they finally started shooting, Tyler had passed away, thereby leaving John Hart to take over the title role. The serial ended up as The Adventures of Captain Africa, which had nothing to do with The Phantom.

Tyler was beset by rheumatoid arthritis in the later part of his career, and was limited to occasional supporting roles. Nearly destitute, he returned to live with his sister in the Detroit area, dying there of heart failure at the age of 50 in 1954.