Actress Mala Powers died 11 June 2007 of leukemia. Born Mary Ellen Powers on 20 December 1931 in San Francisco, California, she is perhaps best known for playing Roxane to José Ferrer’s Cyrano de Bergerac in 1950 (her fourth film role; he won an Oscar).
Her genre movie appearances include: The Doomsday Machine (1972); The Colossus of New York (1958); and The Unknown Terror (1957).
Her genre television appearances include: two episodes of Bewitched (1967-68); The Wild Wild West (1966); Thriller (in the episode “The Bride Who Died Twice,” 1962); and Matinee Theatre (in the episode “Elementals,” 1957).
Her first screen appearance was an uncredited role at the age of 11 in the Bowery Boys movie, Tough as They Come.
She also taught acting and appeared at major universities across the country. She made her final stage appearance in 2003 in Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood at the Laguna Playhouse in California.
Powers is survived by Toren Vanton, her son from her first marriage, which ended in divorce. Her second husband was the publisher M. Hughes Miller, who died in 1989.