Mala Powers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mary Ellen "Mala" Powers (December 20, 1931 – June 11, 2007) was an American film actress. She was born in San Francisco, California. In 1940, her family moved to Los Angeles. Her father was an executive with United Press. In the summer of her relocation, Powers attended the Max Reinhardt Junior Workshop where she enjoyed her first role in a play before a live audience. She continued with her drama lessons, and a year later she auditioned and won a part in the 1942 Dead End Kids film Tough as They Come. At the age of 16 she began working in radio drama, before becoming a film actress in 1950. Her first roles were in Outrage and Edge of Doom in 1950. That same year, Stanley Kramer signed Powers to star opposite Jose Ferrer in what may be her most remembered role as Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her part in this movie. While on a USO entertainment tour in Korea in 1951, she acquired a blood disease and almost died. She was treated with chloromycetin, but a severe allergic reaction resulted in the loss of much of her bone marrow. Powers barely survived, and her recovery took nearly nine months. She began working again in 1952 and 1953, including a part in City Beneath the Sea and City That Never Sleeps, although she was still taking medication. Following her recovery, she appeared in B-movie westerns, such as Rage at Dawn (1955), and science fiction films, among them The Colossus of New York (1958), Flight of the Lost Balloon (1961), and Doomsday Machine (1972). She also had a large role in Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) She appeared on more than one hundred television programs, including episodes of Appointment with Adventure, John Payne's The Restless Gun, Maverick, Bonanza, Wild Wild West and Perry Mason. She co-starred opposite Anthony Quinn in the television movie The Man and the City, later a television series. She was married to Monte Vanton in 1954, but they divorced in 1962; they had a son, Toren Vanton, who survived his mother. Powers remarried in 1970 to M. Hughes Miller, a book publisher. Powers was a successful children's author of "Follow the Star" and "Follow the Year" and of "Dial a Story". Shortly before her death from complications of leukemia June 11, 2007, aged 75, she had been on a lecture tour at universities. She was a master teacher for the past 14 years in the summer program at the University of Southern Maine for the Michael Chekhov Theatre Institute, training actors and teachers of acting. Mala Powers co-founded the National Michael Chekhov Association with teaching colleagues Wil Kilroy and Lisa Dalton, who continue to teach the curriculum developed by the trio in Maine. Powers was the executrix of the Michael Chekhov estate and instrumental in publishing Chekhov's books On the Technique of Acting, To the Actor, and The Path of the Actor. She also published Chekhov's audio series "On Theatre and the Art of Acting", to which she added a 60 page study guide. She co-narrates with Gregory Peck a documentary on Chekhov entitled "From Russia To Hollywood". She was patron of the Michael Chekhov Studio London and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Powers also had a small but recurring role on Shirley Booth's Hazel series. In that capacity she became a close friend of Lynn Borden, who played Barbara Baxter in the 1965-1966 season. Later, she gave Borden several elephant figurines, one a jade piece an another purchased on a trip to India. Borden became a collector of both frog and elephant figures. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mala Powers, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Credits
- 2002 · Hitters as Mama Theresa
- 2002 · From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff as Self / Narrator (voice)
- 1988 · Calling the Shots as Self
- 1984 · Murder, She Wrote as Dorothy Folkes
- 1981 · Six Tickets to Hell as
- 1976 · Charlie's Angels as Martha
- 1975 · Switch as Sally Odden
- 1972 · Doomsday Machine as Maj. Georgianna Bronski
- 1969 · Daddy's Gone A-Hunting as Meg Stone
- 1968 · Rogue's Gallery as Maggie
- 1967 · Ironside as
- 1966 · Mission: Impossible as Dr. Karen Cherlotov
- 1966 · Jericho as
- 1964 · Daniel Boone as Polly Cooper
- 1964 · Bewitched as
- 1963 · Kraft Suspense Theatre as Ellen Ramsey
- 1963 · Arrest and Trial as
- 1962 · The Gallant Men as
- 1961 · Flight of the Lost Balloon as Ellen Burton
- 1961 · Fear No More as Sharon Carlin
- 1961 · Everglades as
- 1961 · Dr. Kildare as Julie Michaels
- 1961 · Daniel Boone: The Promised Land as Rebecca Boone
- 1961 · Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road as Rebecca Boone
- 1960 · Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo as Rebecca Boone
- 1960 · Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path as Rebecca Boone
- 1960 · Surfside 6 as
- 1960 · Thriller as Consuelo De La Varra
- 1959 · Hawaiian Eye as
- 1959 · Bourbon Street Beat as
- 1959 · The Rebel as Cassie
- 1959 · Lock-Up as
- 1959 · Rawhide as Loretta Opel
- 1958 · 77 Sunset Strip as
- 1958 · The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen as
- 1958 · Bronco as
- 1958 · Wanted: Dead or Alive as Stacy Torrance
- 1958 · Sierra Baron as Sue Russell
- 1958 · The Colossus of New York as Anne Spensser
- 1957 · Man on the Prowl as Marlan Wood
- 1957 · Maverick as
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Claire Allison
- 1957 · Perry Mason as June Sinclair
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Janet Brent
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Helen Bradshaw
- 1957 · Perry Mason as Elaine Bayler
- 1957 · Sugarfoot as Roberta Shipman
- 1957 · Death in Small Doses as Valerie 'Val' Owens
- 1957 · The Unknown Terror as Gina Matthews
- 1957 · Tammy and the Bachelor as Barbara Bissle
- 1957 · The Storm Rider as Tay Rorick
- 1956 · Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre as Barbara Anderson
- 1955 · Matinee Theater as
- 1955 · Cheyenne as
- 1955 · Bengazi as Aileen Donovan
- 1955 · Rage at Dawn as Laura Reno
- 1954 · The Yellow Mountain as Nevada Wray
- 1954 · Geraldine as Janey Edwards
- 1953 · City That Never Sleeps as Sally 'Angel Face' Connors
- 1953 · City Beneath the Sea as Terry McBride
- 1953 · General Electric Theater as Martha Benton
- 1952 · Rose of Cimarron as Rose of Cimarron
- 1950 · Cyrano de Bergerac as Roxane
- 1950 · Outrage as Ann Walton
- 1950 · Edge of Doom as Julie
- 1942 · Tough as They Come as Esther Clark
- Future · Early Directors on Directing as