1941 "Shazam" Actor Tom Tyler's Accomplished but Tragically Short Life

Yesterday I wrote about the the 1941 movie serial called "The Adventures of Captain
Marvel" that featured actor Tom Tyler as a fantastic portrayal of Shazam, the original Captain Marvel and Frank Coughlin Jr. played a great Billy Batson, Shazam's alter ego. Tom Tyler only lived to 50 years old, while Frank passed in his early 90s. Today's blog will look at the short life of handsome Tom Tyler. Read on!

Tom Tyler (born Vincent Markowski, August 9, 1903 – May 1, 1954) was an American actor known for his leading roles in low-budget Western films in the silent and sound eras, and for his portrayal of superhero Captain Marvel in the 1941 serial film The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Tyler also played the mummy in 1940's The Mummy's Hand, a popular Universal Studios monster film.

WEIGHTLIFTER - 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). In 1928, he won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) heavyweight weightlifting championship, lifting 760 pounds (340 kg)—a record that stood for fourteen years.

CAREER - His first starring role was in Let's Go Gallagher (1925). In the next four years, he starred in 28 additional Westerns for FBO. In 1929, Tyler signed with Syndicate Pictures, where he made his last eight silent films in 1929 and 1930. He worked for several other motion picture companies and then went to Republic Pictures in 1941.
(He made MANY films! You can see the list here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Tyler)

During this period Republic, which failed to secure the rights to Superman, purchased the rights to another comic book superhero, Captain Marvel. In his late thirties at the time, Tyler was still 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.

CRIPPLING ILLNESS - In 1943, the forty-year-old Tyler was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis. He was physically limited to occasional supporting roles in Western films. He moved on to television and the last screen appearance by Tom Tyler was playing 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.

HIS PASSING - 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 3, 1954 of heart failure and complications from scleroderma at the age of 50. He was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit.