Maria Palmer

Maria Palmer (born Maria Pichler; 5 September 1917 – 6 September 1981) was an Austrian-born American actress. She appeared on stage as a child actor in various Max Reinhardt productions, then trained as a dancer, joining the Bodenwieser Ensemble. She studied drama and voice at the Vienna Conservatory before emigrating to the United States in 1938 and moving into film, and later television.

Early life

Palmer was born and raised in Vienna, then Austria-Hungary, today Austria, on 5 September 1917. She first appeared on stage as a child actor, in various Max Reinhardt 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 World War II, Palmer emigrated with her parents to the United States.

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 in the 1942 short Nostradamus and the Queen. Her feature film debut was in Mission to Moscow (1943). She continued in 1944 with Days of Glory, opposite Gregory Peck, and later that year, Lady on a Train.

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. Her papers, covering the years 1922–1975, are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Personal life Palmer married Dr. Franz Marmorek at the age of 16; they later divorced.

Later life Palmer died of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center 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

Year Title Role Notes1923 Rumpelstilzchen Girl 1943 Mission to Moscow Tanya Litvinov 1944 Days of Glory Yelena 1945 Lady on a Train Margo Martin 1946 Rendezvous 24 Greta Holvig 1947 The Other Love Huberta 1947 The Web Martha Kroner 1948 13 Lead Soldiers Estelle Prager, alias Estelle Gorday 1950 Surrender Janet Barton 1951 Strictly Dishonorable Countess Lili Szadvany 1952 Dangerous Assignment (Season 1, Episode 16) The Caboose Story Marta Steva 1953 By the Light of the Silvery Moon Renee LaRue 1953 Flight Nurse Captain Martha Ackerman 1956 Three for Jamie Dawn Julia Karek 1958 Outcasts of the City 1964 The Evil of Frankenstein Rena's Mother (additional sequence: US), Uncredited