John Tyrrell

Biography

John Tyrrell entered show business at the age of 16 as half of the vaudeville dance team of Tyrrell and Mack. The act became very successful, and for the next ten years they played engagements all over the country and secured billing as featured players in the famous revue "George White's Scandals." As vaudeville began to wane, however, Tyrrell saw the handwriting on the wall and began studying acting, sensing that his future would be in motion pictures. He spent two years with a stock theater company in Connecticut perfecting his craft, then journeyed to Hollywood. He was soon placed under a long-term contract to Columbia Pictures, and appeared in many of the studio's prestige pictures in supporting parts. He was a staple in the studio's comedy shorts, and often appeared with such comics as El Brendel, Andy Clyde and The Three Stooges, specializing in playing con artists, swindlers and other shady types.