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Tom Tryon (1926 - 1991)

American film and television actor, as well as author of several science-fiction, horror, and mystery novels. Tryon's film roles were mostly in B-horror and sci-fi flicks, most notably I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958), and westerns, especially Winchester '73 (1967). He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1963 for his role in The Cardinal.  Television roles included the Texas John Slaughter  series which ran on the Wonderful  World of Disney in the 1950s, guest appearances on The Virginian and The Big Valley (with Barbara Stanwyck), and a live television performance of The Fall of the House of Usher. He also co-wrote a song, "I Wish I Was," which appeared on an obscure record by Dick Kallman, star of the short-lived and now largely forgotten 1965 television sitcom, Hank.

Disillusioned with acting, Tryon retired from the profession in 1969 and began writing science-fiction, horror, and mystery novels. His most notable work is The Other (1971), about a boy whose evil (and dead) twin brother may or may not be responsible for a series of deaths in a small rural community in the 1930s. The novel was adapted as a television movie the following year, starring Diana Muldaur, Uta Hagen, and John Ritter. Harvest Home, about the dark pagan rituals being practiced in a small New England town, was adapted as The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, starring Bette Davis. His other novels include Night of the Moonbow, Crowned Heads, based on the murder of former silent screen star Ramon Navarro, and Night Magic, for which a screen adaptation is in the works as of this writing.

During the 1970s, Tryon was in a romantic relationship with Clive Clerk, one of the original cast members of "A Chorus Line" and an interior designer who decorated Tryon's Central Park West apartment, which was featured in Architectural Digest. Tryon was later involved with porn star Casey Donovan / Cal Culver for a few years (while still involved with Clerk), and helped finance a Key West guest house which Culver unsuccessfully ran.  Tryon died of cancer, possibly related to HIV, at age 65.
 

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