Maria Palmer (born Maria Pichler, 5 September 1917 – 6 September 1981) was an Austrian-born American actress.

Early life

Palmer was born and raised in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) on 5 September 1917. She first appeared on stage as a child actor, in various

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

productions. She trained as a dancer, and was a member of the Bodenwieser Ensemble. She later studied drama and voice at the Vienna Conservatory.

Career

In 1938, a year before the outbreak of war, Palmer emigrated with her parents to the United States. She first performed on the stage in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, most notably in the 1942 production of ''

The Moon Is Down ''The Moon Is Down'' is a novel by American writer John Steinbeck. Fashioned for adaptation for the theatre and for which Steinbeck received the Norwegian King Haakon VII Freedom Cross, it was published by Viking Press in March 1942. The story ...

''. She moved into film, helping to meet Hollywood's demand for exotic foreign women for war films and films noir. Her debut was playing

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King ...

in the 1942 short ''Nostradamus and the Queen''. Her feature film debut was in ''

Mission to Moscow ''Mission to Moscow'' is a 1943 film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the 1941 book by the former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union, Joseph E. Davies. The movie chronicles the experiences of the second American ambassador to the Soviet ...

'' (1943). She continued in 1944 with '' Days of Glory'', opposite

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...

, and later that year, ''

Lady on a Train ''Lady on a Train'' is a 1945 American film noir crime film directed by Charles David and starring Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, and David Bruce. Based on a story by Leslie Charteris, the film is about a woman who witnesses a murder in a nea ...

''. In the 1950s, her film career declined and she went into radio, television and commercials. She even started her own production company, called ''Maria Palmer Enterprises''. In the early 1960s, Palmer hosted her own Los Angeles show, entitled "Sincerely, Maria Palmer". She appeared as Nora Krasner in the 1963 Perry Mason episode "The Case of Lawful Lazarus" and as murderer Florence Wood in the 1962 episode "The Case of the Borrowed Baby". In her later years, Palmer wrote a number of unproduced television screenplays, often using the pseudonym ''Eliot Parker White''. In 1962, she played "Elsa" in the episode "The Immigrants" on CBS's '' Rawhide'' and Marushka Vesterhauzy on the episode "A Bird of Warning" on NBC's ''

Sam Benedict ''Sam Benedict'' is an American legal drama that aired on NBC from September 1962 to March 1963. The series was created and executive produced by E. Jack Neuman. The character Sam Benedict is based on real-life lawyer Jake Ehrlich, who served as ...

''. Her papers, covering the years 1922–1975, are held by the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

Personal life

When she was 16, Palmer married Dr. Franz Marmorek; they later divorced.

Later life

Palmer died of cancer at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...

in Los Angeles on 6 September 1981, the day after her 64th birthday. She was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Maria 1917 births 1981 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses Actresses from Vienna Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Deaths from cancer in California 20th-century American actresses Austrian emigrants to the United States