Beverly Tyler (born Beverly Jean Saul, July 5, 1927 – November 23, 2005), was an American film actress and singer who was a minor
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
leading lady who appeared in mostly B movies in the 1940s and 1950s.
Early years
Tyler was born in
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...
, on July 5, 1927,
the daughter of a secretary and factory employee, who secured piano and music lessons for their daughter at a young age. She was reared in adjacent
Dunmore, Pennsylvania
Dunmore is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, adjoining Scranton. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and was settled in 1835 and incorporated in 1862. Extensive anthracite coal, brick, stone, and silk interests had ...
, attended Central High School; her parents and she were devout
Methodists who were active in the Dunmore Methodist Church, where Beverly sang in the choir.
When she was 14 years old, Tyler passed screen and voice tests and was informed, "you're a movie actress."
Film and television
Tyler debuted in films billed as Beverly Jean Saul in ''
The Youngest Profession
''The Youngest Profession'' is a 1943 film directed by Edward Buzzell, and starring Virginia Weidler, Edward Arnold, John Carroll, Scotty Beckett, and Agnes Moorehead. Based on a short story series and book written by Lillian Day, it contai ...
'' (1943). She worked in over 30 motion pictures between 1943 and 1957, including ''
The Green Years
''The Green Years'' is a 1944 novel by A. J. Cronin which traces the formative years of an Irish orphan, Robert Shannon, who is sent to live with his draconian maternal grandparents in Scotland. An introspective child, Robert forms an attachme ...
'' (1946), ''
My Brother Talks to Horses'' (1947), ''
The Fireball
''The Fireball'' is a 1950 American drama film starring Mickey Rooney and Pat O'Brien, and directed by Tay Garnett. The cast also includes Beverly Tyler and the eighth screen appearance of Marilyn Monroe.
The film, released by 20th Century Fox ...
'' (1950), ''
Voodoo Island
Voodoo Island is a 1957 American horror film directed by Reginald Le Borg and written by Richard H. Landau. The film stars Boris Karloff, with a cast including Elisha Cook Jr., Beverly Tyler and Rhodes Reason. It is set in the South Pacific and w ...
'' (1957), ''
Toughest Gun in Tombstone
''The Toughest Gun in Tombstone'' is a 1958 American Western film directed by Earl Bellamy and starring George Montgomery.
Opening narration
"In the early eighteen-eighties, when all law enforcement failed in Arizona Territory, cattle rustling ...
'' (1958), and ''
Hong Kong Confidential'' (1958). In 1953, Tyler played Lorelei Kilbourne on the television program ''
Big Town
''Big Town'' is a popular long-running radio drama featuring a corruption-fighting newspaper editor initially played from 1937 to 1942 by Edward G. Robinson in his first radio role, with echoes of the conscience-stricken tabloid editor he had ...
''.
She also was seen on TV in ''
The Andy Griffith Show
''The Andy Griffith Show '' is an American situation comedy television series that aired on CBS from October 3, 1960, to April 1, 1968, with a total of 249 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons—159 in black and white and 90 in color.
The ...
'', ''
Bonanza'', and ''
Hazel''. She was considered for the roles of Betty Schaefer in ''
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...
'' (1950), Eve Harrington in ''
All About Eve
''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, although Orr does not receive a screen credit ...
'' (1950), Georgie Elgin in ''
The Country Girl'' (1954), and Marylee Hadley in ''
Written on the Wind
''Written on the Wind'' is a 1956 American Southern Gothic melodrama film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, and Dorothy Malone. It follows the dysfunctional family members of a Texas oil dynasty, ...
'' (1956), but never got any of these parts.
Stage
Tyler appeared on Broadway during her teenaged years as the female lead in the 1945 production ''The Firebird of Florence''.
Later years
Tyler's last appearance on the small screen was in 1961, and for the next few decades, she focused on marriage and motherhood, and was a mainstay on the local theatre and supper-club circuit in
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
until her retirement in 1990. She did return to her native Scranton/Dunmore area in 1950 to promote her picture ''The Fireball'' and was given the key to the city by then-Mayor James T. Hanlon, and she also went back to spend a few weeks in 1990 after her retirement to visit her old neighborhood with a childhood friend with whom she had kept in touch.
Personal life
During her time in Hollywood, Tyler was well known as a "girl about town" being seen at some of Tinsel Town's most popular nightclubs with such leading men as
Mickey Rooney,
Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as '' How to Marry a Milli ...
, and
Peter Lawford
Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford ( Aylen; 7 September 1923 – 24 December 1984) was an English-American actor.Obituary '' Variety'', 26 December 1984.
He was a member of the " Rat Pack" and the brother-in-law of US president John F. Kennedy and se ...
.
Tyler was a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
and supported
Adlai Stevenson's campaign during the
1952 presidential election.
In May 1962, she married Jim Jordan, Jr., the son of the famed 1930s radio couple
Fibber McGee and Molly
''Fibber McGee and Molly'' (1935–1959) was a longtime highly popular husband-and-wife team radio comedy program.
The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935. One of the most p ...
,
and had a son and three daughters. They remained married until his death in December 1998.
Death
Tyler died under her married name of Beverly Jordan on November 23, 2005, in
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
, from a pulmonary embolism, and was laid to rest at Our Mother of Sorrows Cemetery in Reno, Nevada.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyler, Beverly
1927 births
2005 deaths
Actors from Scranton, Pennsylvania
American film actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Actresses from Pennsylvania
American musical theatre actresses
Musicians from Scranton, Pennsylvania
Western (genre) film actresses
Western (genre) television actors
Methodists from Pennsylvania
20th-century American memoirists
20th-century American actresses
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players
Pennsylvania Democrats
California Democrats
Nevada Democrats
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
American women memoirists