Ray Mala
Encyclopedia
Ray Mala was the first Native American
movie star and is the most prolific film star that the state of Alaska
has thus far produced. Ray Mala was recently named a "Top Ten Alaskan" by TIME Magazine. He starred in MGM
's Academy Award-winning Eskimo/Mala The Magnificent
, produced by the legendary Irving Thalberg
and directed by Woody Van Dyke. Louis B. Mayer
was the Executive Producer. "Eskimo/Mala the Magnificent" won the very first Oscar
for Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards
.
). Not long after Mala landed his first lead role in the silent film Igloo for Universal Pictures
. Igloo was a success and led to his being cast as the lead in MGM
's Eskimo/Mala the Magnificent
. Louis B. Mayer
sent director Woody Van Dyke to Alaska to film with an all Alaska
native cast. Eskimo was produced by the legendary Irving Thalberg
. Eskimo/Mala the Magnificent premiered to much fanfare at the famed Astor Theatre
in Times Square
, New York
in 1933 and was a huge success. Eskimo was billed as "The biggest picture ever made" by MGM. Eskimo won the first Oscar for Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards
.
Mala gained international stardom following Eskimo and as a result MGM cast Mala as the lead in Last of the Pagans (1935), written by John Farrow
and directed by Richard Thorpe
. Last of the Pagans was filmed entirely on location in Tahiti and performed respectably at the box office. Mala's next big role came in The Jungle Princess
(1936), which launched Dorothy Lamour
's career (she went on to co-star with Bob Hope
and Bing Crosby
in the wildly popular Road to...
movies). According to the book The Paramount
Story, "The Jungle Princess was a huge success and was a whopping money maker for the studio." He also starred as himself in Republic Pictures
' Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island
(1936) which was one of the first serials the studio had ever made. Mala co-starred with Herman Brix in Republic's Hawk of the Wilderness
(1938) which many consider one of the top 10 best serials ever made. Other notable films include Green Hell
(1940) starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
(1940), Cecil B. DeMille
's Union Pacific
(1939), Son of Fury (1942) starring Tyrone Power
, The Tuttles of Tahiti
(1942) starring Academy Award winner Charles Laughton
, and many other films of Hollywood's golden era.
Mala also spent a considerable amount of time behind the camera as a cinematographer
. He worked with Academy Award winner Joseph LaShelle
on many pictures including the Oscar winning Laura
(1944) starring Gene Tierney
, Les Misérables
(1952) which was directed by Academy Award winner Lewis Milestone
, and many other films. One vintage photograph shows Mala working on location in Santa Rosa as a cameraman on Alfred Hitchcock
's Shadow of a Doubt
(1943). Other films include Meet Me After the Show (1951) starring Betty Grable
, The Fan
(1949)), and many more. Mala was also very close to director Henry Koster
and worked as a cinematographer on several of his pictures with Joseph LaShelle
.
In 1952, Mala reappeared in front of the camera to star in Red Snow opposite Guy Madison
and according to the American Film Institute
, Red Snow is the first film to deal with the cold war
and the atomic bomb.
n Princess
, sometimes known as Galina Liss." Mala and Galina had a very happy personal life together. They counted such luminaries as Johnny Weissmuller
, Bob Hope
, and Stan Laurel
as personal friends. They had one son whom they named Ted Mala. Ted Mala grew up to become the first male Alaska Native doctor. Dr. Mala served as the first Alaska Native Commissioner of Health and Social Services on Governor Walter J. Hickel's cabinet (1990–1993). Dr. Mala has two children: Ted Mala, Jr. and Galina Mala Liss.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
movie star and is the most prolific film star that the state of Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
has thus far produced. Ray Mala was recently named a "Top Ten Alaskan" by TIME Magazine. He starred in MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
's Academy Award-winning Eskimo/Mala The Magnificent
Eskimo (film)
Eskimo was a 1933 film directed by W.S. Van Dyke. It was the first major studio film made in Alaska, and starred Ray Mala, a half-Inupiat actor, and was one of the first dramatic films to use a nearly all-native cast. In 1934, it received the first Academy Award for Best Film Editing, awarded to...
, produced by the legendary Irving Thalberg
Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and his extraordinary ability to select the right scripts, choose the right actors, gather the best production staff and make very profitable films.-Life and...
and directed by Woody Van Dyke. Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
was the Executive Producer. "Eskimo/Mala the Magnificent" won the very first Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
.
Early life
Ray Mala was born Ray Wise in the small village of Candle, Alaska to a Russian Jewish immigrant father and a Native Alaskan mother. He was born during a unique period in Alaskan history. At that time Alaska was still a territory of the United States and still a mystery to many Americans. In 1921 an explorer named Captain Frank Kleinschmidt went to Alaska on an expedition to film a picture called Primitive Love in which Mala makes his film debut at age 14. Not only does Mala act in front of the camera but he serves as a cameraman as well for the picture. From here young Mala accompanied Knud Rasmussen, the Danish Arctic explorer and writer on his trip called The Great Sled Journey from 1921 to 1924 to collect and describe Inuit songs and legends as the official cameraman.Career
Mala is the first non-white actor to have been the lead role in films. In 1925 Mala made his way to Hollywood and got a job as a cameraman with Fox Film Corporation (this was before the creation of 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
). Not long after Mala landed his first lead role in the silent film Igloo for Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
. Igloo was a success and led to his being cast as the lead in MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
's Eskimo/Mala the Magnificent
Eskimo (film)
Eskimo was a 1933 film directed by W.S. Van Dyke. It was the first major studio film made in Alaska, and starred Ray Mala, a half-Inupiat actor, and was one of the first dramatic films to use a nearly all-native cast. In 1934, it received the first Academy Award for Best Film Editing, awarded to...
. Louis B. Mayer
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer born Lazar Meir was an American film producer. He is generally cited as the creator of the "star system" within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its golden years. Known always as Louis B...
sent director Woody Van Dyke to Alaska to film with an all Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
native cast. Eskimo was produced by the legendary Irving Thalberg
Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and his extraordinary ability to select the right scripts, choose the right actors, gather the best production staff and make very profitable films.-Life and...
. Eskimo/Mala the Magnificent premiered to much fanfare at the famed Astor Theatre
Astor Theatre
The Astor Theatre was a New York City Broadway theatre from 1906 to 1925 in the United States of America. It was located at 1537 Broadway, at W. 45th Street. It was first managed by Wagenhals and Kemper, then by George M. Cohan and Sam Harris, and later by the Shuberts. From 1925 to 1972 it was a...
in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1933 and was a huge success. Eskimo was billed as "The biggest picture ever made" by MGM. Eskimo won the first Oscar for Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards
7th Academy Awards
The 7th Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1934, were held on February 27, 1935 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Irvin S...
.
Mala gained international stardom following Eskimo and as a result MGM cast Mala as the lead in Last of the Pagans (1935), written by John Farrow
John Farrow
John Villiers Farrow, CBE was an Australian, later American, film director, producer and screenwriter. In 1957 he won the Academy Award for Best Writing / Best Screenplay for Around the World in Eighty Days and in 1942 he was nominated as Best Director for Wake Island.-Life and career:Farrow was...
and directed by Richard Thorpe
Richard Thorpe
Richard Thorpe was an American film director.Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, he began his entertainment career performing in vaudeville and onstage. In 1921 he began in motion pictures as an actor and directed his first silent film in 1923. He went on to direct more than one hundred...
. Last of the Pagans was filmed entirely on location in Tahiti and performed respectably at the box office. Mala's next big role came in The Jungle Princess
The Jungle Princess
The Jungle Princess is a 1936 motion picture released by Paramount Pictures, directed by William Thiele, and starring Dorothy Lamour in her film debut, Ray Milland, and Ray Mala....
(1936), which launched Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour
Dorothy Lamour was an American film actress. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope .-Early life:Lamour was born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Carmen Louise Dorothy...
's career (she went on to co-star with Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
and Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....
in the wildly popular Road to...
Road to...
Road to ... refers to a series of seven comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. They are also often referred to as the "Road" pictures or the "Road" series. The movies were a combination of adventure, comedy, romance, and music...
movies). According to the book The Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
Story, "The Jungle Princess was a huge success and was a whopping money maker for the studio." He also starred as himself in Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
' Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island
Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island
Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island is a Republic Movie serial starring Ray Mala. It was the fourth of the sixty-six serials produced by Republic and the last to be released in 1936...
(1936) which was one of the first serials the studio had ever made. Mala co-starred with Herman Brix in Republic's Hawk of the Wilderness
Hawk of the Wilderness
Hawk of the Wilderness is a Republic Movie serial based on the Kioga novel of the same name by pulp writer William L. Chester.Kioga is very similar to the character of Tarzan, whom Herman Brix had also played on film in the 1935, Edgar Rice Burroughs produced serial The New Adventures of...
(1938) which many consider one of the top 10 best serials ever made. Other notable films include Green Hell
Green Hell
Green Hell is a 1940 adventure film directed by James Whale with photography by Karl Freund. The cast includes Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Joan Bennett, John Howard, George Sanders, Alan Hale, Sr., Vincent Price and Ray Mala...
(1940) starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.-Early life:...
, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe is a 1940 twelve episode serial film about Flash Gordon. It was the last of three Flash Gordon serials made from 1936 to 1940. The serial was produced and copyrighted by Universal Pictures....
(1940), Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
's Union Pacific
Union Pacific (film)
Union Pacific is a 1939 American dramatic western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Joel McCrea. Based on the novel Trouble Shooter by Western fiction author Ernest Haycox, the film is about the building of the railroad across the American West.-Plot:The 1862...
(1939), Son of Fury (1942) starring Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
, The Tuttles of Tahiti
The Tuttles of Tahiti
The Tuttles of Tahiti is a 1942 film directed by Charles Vidor and starring Charles Laughton and Jon Hall. It was based on the novel No More Gas by James Norman Hall.-Plot:...
(1942) starring Academy Award winner Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...
, and many other films of Hollywood's golden era.
Mala also spent a considerable amount of time behind the camera as a cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
. He worked with Academy Award winner Joseph LaShelle
Joseph LaShelle
Joseph LaShelle, A.S.C. was a Los Angeles born film cinematographer.He won an Academy Award for Laura , and was nominated eight additional times.-Career:...
on many pictures including the Oscar winning Laura
Laura (1944 film)
Laura is a 1944 American film noir directed by Otto Preminger. It stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb. The screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Elizabeth Reinhardt is based on the 1943 novel of the same title by Vera Caspary....
(1944) starring Gene Tierney
Gene Tierney
Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven .Other notable roles include...
, Les Misérables
Les Misérables (1952 film)
Les Misérables is a 1952 American film adapted from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, and featured Michael Rennie as Jean Valjean, Robert Newton as Javert, Sylvia Sidney as Fantine, Debra Paget as Cosette, Edmund Gwenn as the bishop, Cameron Mitchell as...
(1952) which was directed by Academy Award winner Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone was a Russian-American motion picture director. He is known for directing Two Arabian Knights and All Quiet on the Western Front , both of which received Academy Awards for Best Director...
, and many other films. One vintage photograph shows Mala working on location in Santa Rosa as a cameraman on Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...
(1943). Other films include Meet Me After the Show (1951) starring Betty Grable
Betty Grable
Elizabeth Ruth "Betty" Grable was an American actress, dancer and singer.Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the LIFE magazine project "100 Photos that Changed the World"...
, The Fan
The Fan (1949 film)
The Fan is a 1949 American drama film directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Dorothy Parker, Walter Reisch, and Ross Evans is based on the 1892 play Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde...
(1949)), and many more. Mala was also very close to director Henry Koster
Henry Koster
Henry Koster was born Hermann Kosterlitz in Berlin, Germany. He became a film director and later moved to Hollywood. Koster's father, a salesman, left home when Henry was a young man...
and worked as a cinematographer on several of his pictures with Joseph LaShelle
Joseph LaShelle
Joseph LaShelle, A.S.C. was a Los Angeles born film cinematographer.He won an Academy Award for Laura , and was nominated eight additional times.-Career:...
.
In 1952, Mala reappeared in front of the camera to star in Red Snow opposite Guy Madison
Guy Madison
Guy Madison was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Robert Ozell Moseley in Pumpkin Center, California, Madison attended Bakersfield College, a junior college, for two years and then worked briefly as a telephone lineman before joining the United States Coast Guard in...
and according to the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
, Red Snow is the first film to deal with the cold war
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and the atomic bomb.
Personal life
The Los Angeles Times June 2, 1937 - "Into his Hollywood igloo Mala, Eskimo film actor, took as his bride yesterday Galina Kropotkin, RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Princess
Princess
Princess is the feminine form of prince . Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or his daughters....
, sometimes known as Galina Liss." Mala and Galina had a very happy personal life together. They counted such luminaries as Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller
Johnny Weissmuller was an Austro-Hungarian-born American swimmer and actor best known for playing Tarzan in movies. Weissmuller was one of the world's best swimmers in the 1920s, winning five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal. He won fifty-two US National Championships and set sixty-seven...
, Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, and Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel
Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...
as personal friends. They had one son whom they named Ted Mala. Ted Mala grew up to become the first male Alaska Native doctor. Dr. Mala served as the first Alaska Native Commissioner of Health and Social Services on Governor Walter J. Hickel's cabinet (1990–1993). Dr. Mala has two children: Ted Mala, Jr. and Galina Mala Liss.
Death
Shortly after the release of Red Snow, Mala died on the set of his last film at the age of 45 from heart problems, after working in Hollywood for almost 30 years.External links
- TIME Magazine's TOP TEN ALASKANS- Ray Mala
- "Eskimo" at The Oscar Site
- Dr. Ted Mala's profile
- "Eskimo" on the Turner Classic Movies Website
- "Last of the Pagans" on the Turner Classic Movies Website
- "Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island" preserved at the Internet Archive
- Book recounts career of The 'Eskimo Clark Gable' Anchorage Daily News