Mala Powers

Mala Powers
Credits
Roles	Mary Jane Nilesmunster Adrienne Sebastian
Biographical Information
Birth Name	Mary Ellen Powers
Birthdate	December 20, 1931
Birthplace	San Francisco, California, United States
Death Date	June 11, 2007 (age 75)
Death Place	Burbank, California, United States

Mala Powers portrayed two characters in Bewitched - Mary Jane Nilesmunster in "No Zip in My Zap" and Adrienne Sebastian in "Instant Courtesy" (1967-1968).

Biography

Mala Powers was an American actress. She was born Mary Ellen Powers on December 20, 1931 in San Francisco, California. Her father was a United Press executive, while her mother was a minister. In 1940, her family moved to Los Angeles. That summer, Powers attended the Max Reinhardt Junior Workshop where she played her first role in a play before a live audience. She continued with her drama lessons and a year later, at age 10, she auditioned and won a part in William Nigh's 1942 film Tough as They Come, starring the Little Tough Guys, a group of actors who made a series of films and serials released by Universal Studios from 1938 through 1943.

At the age of 16, Powers began working in radio drama before becoming a film actress in 1950, when she played roles in Mark Robson's Edge of Doom and in Ida Lupino's Outrage. The same year, director and producer Stanley Kramer signed her to star with José Ferrer in what may be her most-remembered role as Roxane in Cyrano de Bergerac. She was nominated for a Most Promising Newcomer Golden Globe Award for her part in this movie.

Next year, at age 19, while on a USO entertainment tour in Korea, she contracted a blood disease and nearly 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 when she starred in the title role of Harry Keller's Rose of Cimarron. She then appeared in other films, like Budd Boetticher's 1953 City Beneath the Sea, John H. Auer's 1953 City That Never Sleeps, Tim Whelan's 1955 Rage at Dawn, Edward Bernds' 1957 The Storm Rider, Joseph Pevney's 1957 Tammy and the Bachelor, Joseph M. Newman's 1957 Death in Small Doses, and Bernard Wiesen's 1961 Fear No More, but gradually her career focused on television.

She guest starred in over fifty television series, including Studio 57, Appointment with Adventure, The Restless Gun, Bonanza, The Rebel, Bronco, Maverick, The Magical World of Disney, Cheyenne, Rawhide, Thriller, 77 Sunset Strip, Everglades!, Hawaii Eye, Dr. Kildare, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Perry Mason, The Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, Daniel Boone, Here Come the Brides, Ironside, The Man and the City, This Is the Life, The Rookies, Charlie's Angels, and Murder, She Wrote.

She played the recurring character Mona Williams in ten episodes of the final season of Hazel (1965–66).

Powers trained directly under Michael Chekhov, nephew of the famous playwriter Anton Chekhov, for many years during her time in Hollywood in both group and private sessions. During this period, Powers and Chekhov grew very close and, after his death, she was named executrix of the Chekhov estate. She continued the development and proliferation of the Chekhov technique throughout the United States and the world. Powers was 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-narrated with Gregory Peck a documentary on Chekhov titled From Russia to Hollywood, which was co-produced by her colleague Lisa Loving.

Mala Powers married Monte Vanton in 1954, and they had a son, Toren Vanton. The couple divorced in 1962. In 1970, she married Morris Hughes Miller, a book publisher who died in 1989.

Mala Powers died from complications of leukemia on June 11, 2007 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, California. She was 75.

Sources

• Mala Powers on the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on January 29, 2025. Updated on February 21, 2025.
• Mala Powers on Wikipedia. Retrieved on February 21, 2025.