Early Directors on Directing
2009 · Movie
as Self
Mala Powers
1931-12-20
•
San Francisco, California, USA
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.
Filmography
Hitters
2002 · Movie
as Mama Theresa
From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff
2002 · Movie
as Self / Narrator (voice)
Calling the Shots
1988 · Movie
as Self
Murder, She Wrote
1984 · TV Show
as Dorothy Folkes
Six Tickets to Hell
1981 · Movie
Charlie's Angels
1976 · TV Show
as Martha
Switch
1975 · TV Show
as Sally Odden
Doomsday Machine
1972 · Movie
as Maj. Georgianna Bronski
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting
1969 · Movie
as Meg Stone
Rogue's Gallery
1968 · Movie
as Maggie
Ironside
1967 · TV Show
Jericho
1966 · TV Show
Mission: Impossible
1966 · TV Show
as Dr. Karen Cherlotov
Bewitched
1964 · TV Show
Daniel Boone
1964 · TV Show
as Polly Cooper
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1964 · TV Show
as Albert Dubois
Kraft Suspense Theatre
1963 · TV Show
as Ellen Ramsey
Arrest and Trial
1963 · TV Show
The Gallant Men
1962 · TV Show
Fear No More
1961 · Movie
as Sharon Carlin
Flight of the Lost Balloon
1961 · Movie
as Ellen Burton
Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road
1961 · Movie
as Rebecca Boone
Daniel Boone: The Promised Land
1961 · Movie
as Rebecca Boone
Everglades
1961 · TV Show
Dr. Kildare
1961 · TV Show
as Julie Michaels
Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path
1960 · Movie
as Rebecca Boone
Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo
1960 · Movie
as Rebecca Boone
Surfside 6
1960 · TV Show
Thriller
1960 · TV Show
as Consuelo De La Varra
Bourbon Street Beat
1959 · TV Show
Hawaiian Eye
1959 · TV Show
Rawhide
1959 · TV Show
as Loretta Opel
Lock-Up
1959 · TV Show
The Rebel
1959 · TV Show
as Cassie
The Colossus of New York
1958 · Movie
as Anne Spensser
Sierra Baron
1958 · Movie
as Sue Russell
77 Sunset Strip
1958 · TV Show
as Margo Latimer
Bronco
1958 · TV Show
Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958 · TV Show
as Stacy Torrance
The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen
1958 · TV Show
Tammy and the Bachelor
1957 · Movie
as Barbara
Death in Small Doses
1957 · Movie
as Valerie 'Val' Owens
Man on the Prowl
1957 · Movie
as Marlan Wood
The Unknown Terror
1957 · Movie
as Gina Matthews
The Storm Rider
1957 · Movie
as Tay Rorick
Perry Mason
1957 · TV Show
as Claire Allison, June Sinclair, Janet Brent, Helen Bradshaw, Elaine Bayler
Sugarfoot
1957 · TV Show
as Roberta Shipman
Maverick
1957 · TV Show
No image
The Last Stop
1956 · Movie
as Miriam
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956 · TV Show
as Barbara Anderson
Rage at Dawn
1955 · Movie
as Laura Reno
Bengazi
1955 · Movie
as Aileen Donovan
Cheyenne
1955 · TV Show
Matinee Theater
1955 · TV Show
The Yellow Mountain
1954 · Movie
as Nevada Wray
City That Never Sleeps
1953 · Movie
as Sally 'Angel Face' Connors
City Beneath the Sea
1953 · Movie
as Terry McBride
Geraldine
1953 · Movie
as Janey Edwards
General Electric Theater
1953 · TV Show
as Martha Benton
Rose of Cimarron
1952 · Movie
as Rose of Cimarron
Edge of Doom
1950 · Movie
as Julie
Cyrano de Bergerac
1950 · Movie
as Roxane
Outrage
1950 · Movie
as Ann Walton
Tough as They Come
1942 · Movie
as Esther Clark
