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Born
Nancy Malone on
March 19,
1935, Queens
Village, Long Island, New York, USA
Died
on May 8th, 2014 at City of Hope, in Duarte,
California, USA
Celebrated, ground-breaking and Emmy Award winning
Director/Producer, Emmy and Sarah Siddons nominated Actress, Co-Founder of Women
In Film and the first woman VP at a major studio, Nancy Malone, passed away May
8, 2014 at City of Hope as the result of pneumonia that arose from complications
attributed to her recent battle with Leukemia. Nancy began
her career at age seven as a model for ads ranging from Kellogg’s Cereal to Ford
cars and Macy’s. At ten she was chosen for the cover of Life Magazine’s 10th Anniversary issue: “The
Typical American Girl.”
William Morris signed her and she began her acting career, in a show
broadcast live on DuMont TV Network. She appeared in hundreds of guest
starring roles on TV and theater (including the Broadway stage). She
appeared in TV’s first Soap Opera, “The First Hundred Years” and
extensively on live radio. She joined the Actors Studio and studied with Stella
Adler as well as David Craig, and Milton Katselas and studied ballet with Nora
Kaye.
At fifteen she made her Broadway debut as ‘Ginger,’
co-starring Melvyn Douglas in Time Out for
Ginger. After the
Broadway run, she then toured the USA with the play for a year and received a
nomination as Best Actress from the Sarah
Siddons Society in Chicago. When she
returned to New York, Charles Laughton chose her to play Jenny Hill in
the “All Star” production of Shaw’s Major Barbara, followed by “The
Seven Year Itch,” “A Place for Polly” (a
pre-Broadway tryout); “Requiem for a
Heavyweight,” “The Chalk Garden” with Judith Anderson and “A Touch of the Poet” with Helen Hayes, and “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine.”
Along with her work in theater, she also starred in
the ground breaking and award winning television series, Naked City,
where she received an Emmy Award Nomination for Best Actress, followed by the
role of Clara Varner in the TV series “The
Long Hot Summer,” “The Killing of Randy Webster “and “A Tree
Grows in Brooklyn.” Nancy continued her
guest starring roles in “Bonanza,” “The
Fugitive,” “The Partridge Family,” “Big Valley,” “The Rockford Files,” “Outer
Limits,” “Run for Your Life,”
“Dr Kildare,” “The Andy Griffith Show,”
“Hawaii Five-0,” “The Twilight Zone,”
“Lou Grant” and other leading programs. In addition,
she co-starred with Burt Reynolds in the movie, “The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing.”
In 1971 Nancy Malone was invited to join Tomorrow
Entertainment as a story analyst, which led to a position as Director of Motion Pictures. After leaving Tomorrow Entertainment, she produced
her first TV Movie, “Winner Take
All,” starring Shirley Jones, for NBC,
before joining the 20th Century Fox’s TV department as Director of TV Development. Shortly
thereafter she was appointed Vice President
of Television, the first woman VP at a
major studio. During her time at Fox, Nancy co-founded Women in Film.
She served as Chair of the WIF Foundation and established the Crystal Award,
the Dorothy Arzner Award, the Norma
Zarky Award, and the Founders Award. The named
the Nancy Malone Directors Award after her for her contributions to the Film Finishing Fund.
In 1975 she established Lilac Productions to produce television films. Her
producing credits include: “Sherlock Holmes
in New York” with Roger
Moore and John Huston; “Like Mom,” “Like
Me,” with Linda Lavin; “The Great Pretender,” with Billy Dee Williams, “I Married a Monster” and The
Violation of Sarah McDavid, with Patty
Duke. She developed and produced a one-hour comedy for CBS
– “Husbands, Wives and Lovers.” “The
Nurses” pilot followed, and a season of
“The
Bionic Woman.”
Nancy won an Emmy for
co-producing, “Bob Hope: The First 90
Years.”
During the 1980’s Nancy Malone completed the American
Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for
Women, and began her directing career. Her
first full-length film, “There Were Times,
Dear,” starring Shirley Jones and Len
Cariou, appeared on PBS and was the first film about Alzheimer’s
disease. It was accompanied by a NIMH outreach program and
took the night in most PBS markets.
This film was used as a fundraiser by
various Alzheimer’s chapters around the country to aid caregivers. The film
won many awards, including The John Muir
Film Festival, a Cine Golden Eagle and many more. It went on to raise close to three
million dollars for Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders.
As a DGA director, Nancy directed many top TV
shows. Her first episodic directing assignment was Episode
100 of “Dynasty,” after which she became a staff director at Aaron Spelling Productions. She directed multiples of: “Hotel,” “Melrose Place,” “Dynasty,” and “Beverly
Hills, 90210.” She went on to direct “Knots Landing,” “Sisters,” “Cagney & Lacey,”
“Star Trek Voyager,” “Touched by an Angel,” “Dawson’s Creek,” “Judging Amy,”
“Starman,” “The Guardian,” “Resurrection Blvd,” and a “Bob Hope
Christmas Special.”
Recently, she co-produced and directed a live event
at Ellis Island honoring Bob Hope, and starring Michael
Feinstein. The 2011, “The NY Pops Tribute to Bob Hope at Carnegie Hall”
was co-produced and directed by Nancy
Malone and starred: Angela Lansbury,
Christine Ebersole, Kelli O’Hara, Michele Lee, Tom Wopat, Tyne Daly, Michael
Feinstein, and many more. The event
raised a record amount for the Pop’s music outreach programs for the NY Public
schools.
Her theater work includes directing: “All the Way Home,” “Howie the
Rookie,” and “Big Maggie,”
starring Tyne Daly. For The LA Theatre
Works she directed “Agnes of God,” “Prelude to a Kiss,”
and “The Country Girl.” For the
Ford Theatre in Los Angeles she directed “Long Day’s Journey into Night.”
Additionally Nancy taught Acting, Directing, and
conducted Master Classes at: UCLA, Piscator Institute of New York; Pasadena’s Art
Center College of Design; National University of Ireland, Galway – Nancy Malone:
Directing for Actors; the Stella Adler Academy; San Jose State University;
Women in Film; the American Film Institute, and Women in
the Directors Chair, BANFF, Canada.
In the spring of 2013, Nancy taught a master class at
the Steinhardt School at NYU. In 2010, at the request of the Performing Arts Section UCLA Library: Special
Collections, she organized and presented
her papers and memorabilia to that facility for permanent research and record
keeping.
Ms.
Malone is survived by her colleague and longtime friend, Linda Hope. Services
to be announced. In lieu of flowers, donations to Directing Workshop For Women
at AFI (http://www.afi.com/dww/),
City of Hope or to the
Performing Animals Welfare Society http://www.pawsweb.org/.
INDUSTRY
QUOTES
"Nancy Malone was a delight to
work with on "The Bionic Woman." She was funny and energetic and I had great
admiration for her being one of the early women to be successful in the
television industry."—Lindsay Wagner
"Nancy Malone was a very favorite
colleague. She brought the most energetic and enthusiastic spirit to the set and
managed to keep it through all of the long, long days. Plus she was one of the
funniest known human beings. With her unfailing good taste and a heart of Irish
gold, I loved working and playing with her. We worked on a favorite play of hers
"Big Maggie" in the hope of it's finding a place in Los Angeles theatre, which
in and of itself was a knee-slapper for Nancy. She was a true believer but she
was nobody's fool. I loved her. Many, many people loved her. And Linda loved her
the most. If there is a heaven, Nancy has arrived by limousine and the first
word out of her mouth was her personal favorite code word for the
"innkeeper".... NURSE!!!!"—Tyne Daly For press, high res photos and updated biography
please send an email to harlan@bhbpr.com
or call 626.296.3757
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