Search Everything

Login

Send feeback or report a bug here

Send feeback or report a bug here

Mala Powers

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.

Personal information

Birthday

1931-12-20

Birth Place

San Francisco, California, USA

Movies and TV shows :

poster

77 Sunset Strip

1958

6.7

TV
poster

Arrest and Trial

1963

7.0

TV
Bengazi

Bengazi

1955

3.4

Movie
poster

Bewitched

1964

7.9

TV
poster

Bourbon Street Beat

1959

5.0

TV
poster

Bronco

1958

5.2

TV
Calling the Shots

Calling the Shots

1988

0.0

Movie
poster

Charlie's Angels

1976

6.7

TV
poster

Cheyenne

1955

5.8

TV
City Beneath the Sea

City Beneath the Sea

1953

5.0

Movie
City That Never Sleeps

City That Never Sleeps

1953

6.0

Movie
Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano de Bergerac

1950

6.9

Movie
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

1969

5.0

Movie
poster

Daniel Boone

1964

6.9

TV
Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo

Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo

1960

0.0

Movie
Daniel Boone: The Promised Land

Daniel Boone: The Promised Land

1961

0.0

Movie
Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path

Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path

1960

0.0

Movie
Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road

Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road

1961

0.0

Movie
Death in Small Doses

Death in Small Doses

1957

5.0

Movie
poster

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

1956

5.5

TV
Doomsday Machine

Doomsday Machine

1972

3.2

Movie
poster

Dr. Kildare

1961

5.3

TV
Early Directors on Directing

Early Directors on Directing

2014

0.0

Movie
Edge of Doom

Edge of Doom

1950

5.9

Movie
poster

Everglades

1961

8.5

TV
Fear No More

Fear No More

1961

6.0

Movie
Flight of the Lost Balloon

Flight of the Lost Balloon

1961

5.0

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

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

2002

7.0

Movie
poster

General Electric Theater

1953

6.0

TV
Geraldine

Geraldine

1954

5.0

Movie
poster

Hawaiian Eye

1959

5.2

TV
Hitters

Hitters

2002

3.3

Movie
poster

Ironside

1967

6.8

TV
poster

Jericho

1966

6.5

TV
poster

Kraft Suspense Theatre

1963

5.3

TV
poster

Lock-Up

1959

6.2

TV
Man on the Prowl

Man on the Prowl

1957

2.3

Movie
poster

Matinee Theater

1955

4.6

TV
poster

Maverick

1957

6.8

TV
poster

Mission: Impossible

1966

7.6

TV
poster

Murder, She Wrote

1984

7.5

TV
Outrage

Outrage

1950

6.5

Movie
poster

Perry Mason

1957

7.7

TV
Rage at Dawn

Rage at Dawn

1955

6.1

Movie
poster

Rawhide

1959

7.2

TV
Rogue's Gallery

Rogue's Gallery

1968

6.0

Movie
Rose of Cimarron

Rose of Cimarron

1952

5.0

Movie
Sierra Baron

Sierra Baron

1958

4.7

Movie
Six Tickets to Hell

Six Tickets to Hell

1981

0.0

Movie
poster

Sugarfoot

1957

4.8

TV
poster

Surfside 6

1960

5.0

TV
poster

Switch

1975

6.7

TV
Tammy and the Bachelor

Tammy and the Bachelor

1957

7.0

Movie
The Colossus of New York

The Colossus of New York

1958

5.6

Movie
poster

The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen

1958

0.0

TV
poster

The Gallant Men

1962

6.0

TV
poster

The Rebel

1959

5.1

TV
The Storm Rider

The Storm Rider

1957

0.0

Movie
The Unknown Terror

The Unknown Terror

1957

5.1

Movie
The Yellow Mountain

The Yellow Mountain

1954

5.1

Movie
poster

Thriller

1960

6.3

TV
Tough as They Come

Tough as They Come

1942

0.0

Movie
poster

Wanted: Dead or Alive

1958

6.9

TV