Tom Tryon

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Tom Tryon -- son of clothier Arthur Lane Tryon and not, as was commonly believed -- actor Glenn Tryon -- grew up in Wethersfield, Connecticut. In 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 17 and spent three years as a radio specialist in the South Pacific. After his discharge, he joined the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts. He served as set painter/designer, assistant stage manager, and, later, encouraged, by Gertrude Lawrence and her husband, Richard Aldrich, who managed the theatre, he became an actor. He also graduated from Yale University, with a BFA degree. He made his Broadway debut in 1952 in the musical "Wish You Were Here". He worked in television as a production assistant. In 1955, he moved to California to try his hand at the movies, and the next year made his film debut in The Scarlet Hour (1956). He made a few more films, but in 1958 he appeared in the part that made him most famous: the title role in the Disney TV series, "Texas John Slaughter" (1958), which made him a household name. He appeared with Marilyn Monroe in her final (and unfinished) film, Something's Got to Give (1962). Sci-fi fans will remember Tryon in what is now considered one of the more literate (although you couldn't tell by its crackpot title) sci-fi films of the era, I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958). Tryon worked steadily in television and films during this period. His big break was supposed to be Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963), but the film was a flop. His acting career was waning (he wasn't happy with it, anyway), and one day he saw the horror film Rosemary's Baby (1968) in a theater. It inspired him to write his own horror novel, and, in 1971, ''The Other'' was published and became a best-seller. It was made into a successful movie of the same name The Other (1972)), with Tryon writing and producing. He left acting completely for writing, and became a very successful novelist. In 1978, his book, ''Crowned Heads'', was the basis for the Billy Wilder film, Fedora (1978), and a successful miniseries, The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978), with Bette Davis, was made from his novel, ''Harvest Home''. Tryon said that he got much more satisfaction (and made a lot more money) from his writing than he ever did from acting. He died of cancer in 1991, aged 65.