Mala Powers, Acting - KorPlix:Korean Person Archives

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Mala Powers
Acting

Mala Powers
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1931-12-20,San Francisco, California, USA
Gender
Female
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.

Filmography

6.1

Rage at Dawn
1955-03-26

Early Directors on Directing

0

Early Directors on Directing
2014-09-26

City That Never Sleeps

6

City That Never Sleeps
1953-06-12

5.9

Edge of Doom
1950-08-03

Tammy and the Bachelor

7

Tammy and the Bachelor
1957-06-14

Cyrano de Bergerac

6.863

Cyrano de Bergerac
1950-11-16

3.3

Hitters
2002-12-01

City Beneath the Sea

5

City Beneath the Sea
1953-04-21

6.532

Outrage
1950-09-27

Death in Small Doses

5

Death in Small Doses
1957-09-15

The Colossus of New York

5.6

The Colossus of New York
1958-06-18

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

5

Daddy's Gone A-Hunting
1969-05-13

6

Fear No More
1961-11-01

Man on the Prowl

2.3

Man on the Prowl
1957-12-01

Doomsday Machine

3.2

Doomsday Machine
1972-01-01

The Unknown Terror

5.1

The Unknown Terror
1957-08-12

Rogue's Gallery

6

Rogue's Gallery
1968-01-01

The Storm Rider

0

The Storm Rider
1957-03-01

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

7

From Russia to Hollywood: The 100-Year Odyssey of Chekhov and Shdanoff
2002-08-25

Rose of Cimarron

5

Rose of Cimarron
1952-01-28

The Yellow Mountain

5.1

The Yellow Mountain
1954-11-16

Flight of the Lost Balloon

5

Flight of the Lost Balloon
1961-12-28

4.7

Sierra Baron
1958-07-01

Six Tickets to Hell

0

Six Tickets to Hell
1981-09-10

3.4

Bengazi
1955-09-14

Tough as They Come

0

Tough as They Come
1942-06-05

5

Geraldine
1954-01-26

Calling the Shots

0

Calling the Shots
1988-09-08

Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path

0

Daniel Boone: The Warrior's Path
1960-12-04

Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo

0

Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo
1960-12-11

Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road

0

Daniel Boone: The Wilderness Road
1961-03-12

Daniel Boone: The Promised Land

0

Daniel Boone: The Promised Land
1961-03-19

Murder, She Wrote

7.512

Murder, She Wrote
1984-09-30

The Gallant Men

6

The Gallant Men
1962-10-05

77 Sunset Strip

6.7

77 Sunset Strip
1958-10-10

5.8

Cheyenne
1955-09-20

Bourbon Street Beat

5

Bourbon Street Beat
1959-10-05

Kraft Suspense Theatre

5.3

Kraft Suspense Theatre
1963-10-10

Charlie's Angels

6.652

Charlie's Angels
1976-09-22

5

Surfside 6
1960-10-06

7.7

Perry Mason
1957-09-21

Arrest and Trial

7

Arrest and Trial
1963-09-15

7.9

Bewitched
1964-09-17

5.2

Hawaiian Eye
1959-10-07

General Electric Theater

6

General Electric Theater
1953-02-01

6.8

Ironside
1967-03-28

8.5

Everglades
1961-10-09

7.2

Rawhide
1959-01-09

6.9

Daniel Boone
1964-09-24

6.7

Switch
1975-09-09

6.3

Thriller
1960-09-13

5.2

Bronco
1958-09-23

Matinee Theater

4.6

Matinee Theater
1955-10-31

6.2

Lock-Up
1959-09-28

Wanted: Dead or Alive

6.9

Wanted: Dead or Alive
1958-09-06

5.1

The Rebel
1959-10-04

4.8

Sugarfoot
1957-09-17

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre

5.5

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956-10-05

5.3

Dr. Kildare
1961-09-27

6.5

Jericho
1966-09-15

6.8

Maverick
1957-09-22

7.7

Perry Mason
1957-09-21

7.7

Perry Mason
1957-09-21

7.7

Perry Mason
1957-09-21

7.7

Perry Mason
1957-09-21

The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen

0

The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen
1958-09-26

Mission: Impossible

7.6

Mission: Impossible
1966-09-17