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Mala Powers‌

Gender

Female

Birthday

calendar1931-12-20

Popularity

star3.9

Mala Powers

San Francisco, California, USA

Mala Powers

San Francisco, California, USA

Gender

Female

Birthday

calendar1931-12-20

Popularity

star3.9

Biography

​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.

Movie Credits

Rage at Dawn

Rage at Dawn‌
star6.1
calendar 1955

Early Directors on Directing

Early Directors on Directing‌
star0.0
calendar

City That Never Sleeps

City That Never Sleeps‌
star6.0
calendar 1953

Edge of Doom

Edge of Doom‌
star5.9
calendar 1950

Tammy and the Bachelor

Tammy and the Bachelor‌
star7.0
calendar 1957

Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac‌
star6.8
calendar 1950

Hitters

Hitters‌
star3.3
calendar 2002

City Beneath the Sea

City Beneath the Sea‌
star5.1
calendar 1953

Outrage

Outrage‌
star6.5
calendar 1950

Death in Small Doses

Death in Small Doses‌
star5.0
calendar 1957

The Colossus of New York

The Colossus of New York‌
star5.5
calendar 1958

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting‌
star5.0
calendar 1969

Fear No More

Fear No More‌
star6.0
calendar 1961

Man on the Prowl

Man on the Prowl‌
star2.3
calendar 1957

Doomsday Machine

Doomsday Machine‌
star3.2
calendar 1972

The Unknown Terror

The Unknown Terror‌
star5.1
calendar 1957

Rogue's Gallery

Rogue's Gallery‌
star6.0
calendar 1968

The Storm Rider

The Storm Rider‌
star0.0
calendar 1957

From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff

From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff‌
star7.0
calendar 2002

Rose of Cimarron

Rose of Cimarron‌
star5.0
calendar 1952

The Yellow Mountain

The Yellow Mountain‌
star5.1
calendar 1954

Flight of the Lost Balloon

Flight of the Lost Balloon‌
star5.0
calendar 1961

Sierra Baron

Sierra Baron‌
star4.7
calendar 1958

Six Tickets to Hell

Six Tickets to Hell‌
star0.0
calendar 1981

Bengazi

Bengazi‌
star3.4
calendar 1955

Tough as They Come

Tough as They Come‌
star0.0
calendar 1942

Geraldine

Geraldine‌
star5.0
calendar 1954

Calling the Shots

Calling the Shots‌
star0.0
calendar 1988

Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path

Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path‌
star0.0
calendar 1960

Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo

Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo‌
star0.0
calendar 1960

Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road

Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road‌
star0.0
calendar 1961

Daniel Boone: The Promised Land

Daniel Boone: The Promised Land‌
star0.0
calendar 1961

Tv Credits

Murder, She Wrote

Murder, She Wrote‌
star7.6
calendar 1984

The Gallant Men

The Gallant Men‌
star6.0
calendar 1962

77 Sunset Strip

77 Sunset Strip‌
star6.7
calendar 1958

Cheyenne

Cheyenne‌
star5.8
calendar 1955

Bourbon Street Beat

Bourbon Street Beat‌
star5.0
calendar 1959

Kraft Suspense Theatre

Kraft Suspense Theatre‌
star5.3
calendar 1963

Charlie's Angels

Charlie's Angels‌
star6.6
calendar 1976

Surfside 6

Surfside 6‌
star5.0
calendar 1960

Perry Mason

Perry Mason‌
star7.6
calendar 1957

Arrest and Trial

Arrest and Trial‌
star7.0
calendar 1963

Bewitched

Bewitched‌
star7.9
calendar 1964

Hawaiian Eye

Hawaiian Eye‌
star5.2
calendar 1959

General Electric Theater

General Electric Theater‌
star6.0
calendar 1953

Ironside

Ironside‌
star6.9
calendar 1967

Everglades

Everglades‌
star8.5
calendar 1961

Rawhide

Rawhide‌
star7.0
calendar 1959

Daniel Boone

Daniel Boone‌
star6.9
calendar 1964

Switch

Switch‌
star6.7
calendar 1975

Thriller

Thriller‌
star6.4
calendar 1960

Bronco

Bronco‌
star4.8
calendar 1958

Matinee Theater

Matinee Theater‌
star4.6
calendar 1955

Lock-Up

Lock-Up‌
star6.2
calendar 1959

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Wanted: Dead or Alive‌
star6.9
calendar 1958

The Rebel

The Rebel‌
star5.3
calendar 1959

Sugarfoot

Sugarfoot‌
star4.2
calendar 1957

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre‌
star5.5
calendar 1956

Dr. Kildare

Dr. Kildare‌
star5.4
calendar 1961

Jericho

Jericho‌
star6.5
calendar 1966

Maverick

Maverick‌
star6.8
calendar 1957

Perry Mason

Perry Mason‌
star7.6
calendar 1957

Perry Mason

Perry Mason‌
star7.6
calendar 1957

Perry Mason

Perry Mason‌
star7.6
calendar 1957

Perry Mason

Perry Mason‌
star7.6
calendar 1957

The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen

The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen‌
star0.0
calendar 1958

Mission: Impossible

Mission: Impossible‌
star7.6
calendar 1966