Mala Powers, Hollywood Survivor, due in Laguna

THEATER

The word “survivor” is bandied about quite a bit in Hollywood. One

actress who fits this description both figuratively and literally is

Mala Powers.

Powers, who’ll be featured in the Laguna Playhouse’s world

premiere of “Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood,” opening April 5, has more

than six decades of performing behind her. But back in 1950 her

career, not to mention her life, seemed in jeopardy.

Shortly after getting her big break -- as Roxanne opposite Jose

Ferrer’s Oscar-winning performance in “Cyrano de Bergerac” -- Powers

contracted a bone marrow disease which drained the blood from her

body.

Nine months and several transfusions later, she was healthy again

-- but her condition precluded her from qualifying for insurance at

the major studios.

“I felt fine, but the big studios wouldn’t take the chance,”

Powers related. “So I signed with Republic for ‘City That Never

Sleeps,’ my first movie after the illness.

Consigned to B pictures from “City Beneath the Sea” (1953) to “The

Doomsday Machine” (1972), Powers occasionally burst forth into a

major flick such as “Rage at Dawn” and “Tammy and the Bachelor.” But

the stardom predicted for her following “Cyrano” never really

materialized.

Her career, however, has flourished. Powers has performed on

stage, her first love, in the original Broadway production of

“Absence of a Cello,” as well as regional theater roles in “Bus

Stop,” “Affairs of State,” “A Far Country,” “Night of the Iguana” and

“Hogan’s Goat.”

A student of actor-director Michael Chekhov, Powers now is

executive of the Chekhov estate and a master class teacher of his

techniques. She’s conducted workshops and directed productions at

national and international theater conferences, and recently directed

the play “A Few Good Men” at the University of Wyoming.

Currently, she’s in rehearsal for “Mr. Shaw Goes to Hollywood,” in

which she plays the widow of George Bernard Shaw. The story is told

through her recollections.

“I’m delighted to be in this play,” she declared. “It’s a

wonderful blend of comedy and farce, with a great deal of depth in

the characters.

“It’s a broad comedy based on relationships among legendary

figures like Shaw, Marian Davies, William Randolph Hearst, John

Barrymore and Louis B. Mayer.”

The veteran actress had high praise for her director, Daniel

Henning. “He’s really good at getting people to connect quickly,” she

observed. “His warm-hearted approach sets the tone for the show.”

Powers set her sights on a performing career early in life. At the

age of 9, after appearing in several school productions, she was

approached by an agent who suggested she read for a movie at

Universal Studios.

“It was at that moment that a giant flashbulb illuminated my life

path,” she recalled. “I suddenly knew I was going to be an actress.”

Powers broke into moves at 11 in the 1942 Dead End Kids flick “As

Tough as They Come.” When she was at UCLA, she was discovered by

actress-director Ida Lupino, who starred Powers in her 1950 film

“Outrage.” The same year, director Stanley Kramer signed her to star

opposite Ferrer in “Cyrano.”

That movie brought Mala Powers a star on the Hollywood Walk of

Fame -- 53 years ago. It might also have been her swan song when the

bone marrow illness intervened. But Powers proved her survival skills

and went on to perform with some of the legends of the cinema -- John

Wayne, Lionel Barrymore, Steve McQueen, Angela Lansbury, Robert

Mitchum and Clint Eastwood among them.

But the stage, where she started as a child, has always been home

base, and Mala Powers will be “home” from April 5 through May 4 at

the Laguna Playhouse.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Coastline Pilot.