Acting
Mala Powers
Born 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.
Acting credits
7.0An unsophisticated young woman from the Mississippi swamps falls in love with an unconventional southern gentleman.
Tammy and the Bachelor
1957
6.9France, 1640. Cyrano, the charismatic swordsman-poet with the absurd nose, hopelessly loves the beauteous Roxane; she, in turn, confesses to Cyrano her love for the handsome but tongue-tied Christian. The chivalrous Cyrano sets up with Christian an innocent deception, with tragic results.
Cyrano de Bergerac
1950
5.6A brilliant surgeon encases his dead son's brain in a large robot body, with unintended results...
The Colossus of New York
1958
6.0Music manager Janey Edwards poses as a co-ed to get the rights to a song from one of the professors.
Geraldine
1953
5.1A government agent investigates the use of illegal amphetamines among long-haul truck drivers.
Death in Small Doses
1957
6.0A mentally disturbed man stalks a woman who had once aborted the child he had fathered.
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting
1969
6.1A Catholic priest finds himself investigating the murder of his colleague.
Edge of Doom
1950
6.0Chicago cop Johnny Kelly, dissatisfied with his job and marriage, would like to run away with his stripper girlfriend Angel Face, but keeps getting cold feet. During one crowded night, Angel Face decides she's had enough vacillation, and crooked lawyer Biddel has an illegal mission for Johnny that could put him in a financial position to act. But other, conflicting schemes are also in progress...
City That Never Sleeps
1953
6.5A young woman who has just become engaged has her life completely shattered when she is raped while on her way home from work.
Outrage
1950
5.1Two adventures dive for treasure off the coast of Jamaica.
City Beneath the Sea
1953
5.4A formula brawling-buddies western where one goes bad and then returns to the fold. Pete Menlo owns some gold claims in Nevada where he is joined by his old friend Andy Martin. Crooked mine-owner Bannon wants to merge their interests so they can create a monopoly but is turned down. Pete is interested in "Nevada" Wray, daughter of mine-owner "Jackpot" Wray, but she has eyes only for Andy. The rejected Pete joins forces with Bannon and they learn that, because of location, "Jackpot" Wray may be the owner of all the gold in the respective veins. Bannon and his men try to get rid of Andy.
The Yellow Mountain
1954
5.3A woman leads an expedition into a remote jungle to find her long-lost brother, but instead finds a mad scientist who has created a fungus monster that feeds on the local inhabitants.
The Unknown Terror
1957
3.3A respected civic leader is caught between two rival underworld crime families on the verge of war.
Hitters
2002
6.2In this film's version of the story, four of the Reno Brothers are corrupt robbers and killers while a fifth, Clint is a respected Indiana farmer. A sister, Laura, who has inherited the family home, serves the outlaw brothers as a housekeeper and cook. One brother is killed when they go after a bank, the men of the town appear to have been waiting for them…
Rage at Dawn
1955
7.0A private eye gets in trouble when he tries to help a woman in distress.
Rogue's Gallery
1968
3.2Following the discovery of a doomsday machine capable of destroying Earth, the launch of a US space mission to Venus is taken over by the military.
Doomsday Machine
1972
9.0Six people survive the crash of an airplane and find themselves in a mysterious Central American mansion and ghost town, where they encounter ghosts from their past. They are then judged for their sins by a demonic figure while the jury chants their (predictable) verdict.
Six Tickets to Hell
1981
5.6A white girl raised by Indians sets out to find out who murdered her adoptive parents.
Rose of Cimarron
1952
NRBoone yearns to return to Kentucky, to escape the tax collector, despite his wife’s wishes. With his family remaining home, he leads a small group of farmers to Kentucky, only to be thrilled when his wife and children unexpectedly arrive to join him.
Daniel Boone: And Chase the Buffalo
1960
NRThere were more women directors before 1920 than at any other time in history. The first director to put a narrative story on celluloid was, Alice Guy Blaché in 1896. Few people know that Lillian Gish became a director in her own right in 1920. Ida Lupino directed over a hundred episodes of "Have Gun, Will Travel," "Thriller," "Gunsmoke," and many independent features.
Early Directors on Directing
2009
9.0Documentary about women in the film industry. Numerous notable actresses and female directors share their thoughts.
Calling the Shots
1988
9.0The 'Dead End Kids & Little Tough Guys' are working as collectors for a finance company, when they discover the company's illegal activities and try to stop them.
Tough as They Come
1942
5.0Director James B. Clark's western, set in 1848 California, is about a brother and sister battling a crooked businessman over property rights.
Sierra Baron
1958
3.5A neglected wife (Mala Powers) unknowingly places her family in danger when she becomes friends with a psychologically disturbed deliveryman (James Best).
Man on the Prowl
1957