Powers, Mala 1931-2007 (Mary Ellen Powers)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born December 20, 1931, in San Francisco, CA; died of complications from leukemia, June 11, 2007, in Burbank, CA. Actress, educator, and writer. Powers is best remembered as José Ferrer's love interest in the 1950 film Cyrano de Bergerac. She was only nineteen years old when she played the role of the beautiful Roxane, but her film career had actually begun several years earlier when she appeared in the "Dead-End Kids" movie Tough as They Come at the age of eleven. Powers was still acting into her seventies, when she appeared in a stage production of Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood in Laguna Beach, California, in 2003. During her long career, Powers acted for radio, television, the silver screen, and the stage. Her other films include Outrage (1950), a controversial movie at the time because of its theme: Powers portrayed a rape victim at a time when such matters were rarely discussed in public, much less blazoned across the screen. She also appeared in more conventional films, such as Rose of Cimarron and City That Never Sleeps, and she appeared in episodes of popular television series, including Bonanza, Dr. Kildare, and Charlie's Angels. Later in life Powers worked as an acting teacher and lecturer at universities, film festivals, and other venues. During the early 1980s Powers was a storyteller for a "Dial-a-Children's-Story" service offered by a New York telephone company. Her interest in children's stories resulted in the publication of her Christmas book, Follow the Star, and a sequel, Follow the Year, on holidays from season to season.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Chicago Tribune, June 13, 2007, sec. 2, p. 12.

Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2007, p. B10.

New York Times, June 14, 2007, p. A25; June 25, 2007, obituary correction notice, p. A2.

Times (London, England), July 2, 2007, p. 61.

Washington Post, June 13, 2007, Bob Thomas, p. B7.