Acting
Community Rating
5.5
TMDB estimate
Born
September 5, 1917
Died
September 6, 1981 (age 64)
Born in
Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
This lovely Austrian-born actress was born (in 1917) and raised in Vienna, performing as a child on stage and appearing in various productions for the renowned Max Reinhardt. Trained in dance, she was a member of the Bodenwieser Ensemble, a European troupe. Following a few high school plays and dance recitals, she went on to study drama and voice at the Vienna Conservatory. Maria arrived in the United States at the outbreak of war in 1938 and first performed on the New York stage, notably in the 1942 production of "The Moon Is Down." Spotted for films, she was one of many foreign actresses Hollywood took in at the time to fill their quota of exotic mystery ladies in war-era intrigue and film noir. She made her debut in Mission to Moscow (1943) for Warner Bros. and continued on freelancing for other studios with Days of Glory (1944), opposite Gregory Peck, Lady on a Train (1944), The Web (1947), The Other Love (1947), Strictly Dishonorable (1941), By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953), and Outcasts of the City (1958), among others. Her film career waned in the 1950s and she turned to radio, TV and commercials. She formed her own production company, Maria Palmer Enterprises, and hosted her own local Los Angeles show "Sincerely, Maria Palmer" in the early 1960s. In later years she wrote a number of unproduced teleplays, often under the pseudonym Eliot Parker White. Dying of pulmonary failure while battling cancer in 1981, she kept extensive journals of her life and career which were later available to the public. (IMDB)

The Evil of Frankenstein
as Rena's Mother (uncredited)
1964

One Step Beyond
as Sylvia Ackroyd
1959

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958

Outcasts of the City
1958

The Californians
as Mme. Jouvais
1957

Perry Mason
as Florence Wood
1957

Three for Jamie Dawn
as Julia Karek
1956
Kings Row
1955

Crash of Moons
as Cotondo
1954

Flight Nurse
as Captain Martha Ackerman
1953

Nostradamus and the Queen
as Queen Catherine de Medici
1953

By the Light of the Silvery Moon
as Renee LaRue
1953
Four Star Playhouse
as Elsa
1952

Joe Santa Claus
as Maria Peters
1951

Strictly Dishonorable
as Countess Lili Szadvany
1951

Surrender
as Janet Barton
1950

13 Lead Soldiers
as Estelle Prager, alias Estelle Gorday
1948

The Web
as Martha Kroner
1947

The Other Love
as Huberta
1947

Rendezvous 24
as Greta Holvig
1946