Mala

Mala

Born: December 27, 1906
Died: September 23, 1952
in Alaska
Ray Mala (born Ray Agnaqsiaq Wise) was an American actor. Born to a Native Alaskan Inupiaq mother and Russian Jewish immigrant father, he was one of Hollywood's foremost Native actors from the early 1920s until his death in 1952.

Movies for Mala...

Red Snow
Title: Red Snow
Character: Sgt. Koovuk
Released: July 7, 1952
Type: Movie
Lieutenant Johnson, a U. S. Air Force pilot, on the tip of Alaska, a few miles from the Bering Straits from Siberia, helps foil a Soviet plot to test a new secret weapon by loyal Alaskan Eskimos. He is aided by Sergeant Koovuk, an Alsaka native Eskimo also in the U.S. military service. Along the way there is an ice-floe evacuation, an air-ice rescue and a fight with a polar bear.
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The Tuttles of Tahiti
Title: The Tuttles of Tahiti
Character: Nat
Released: May 1, 1942
Type: Movie
After a long absense from the island, Chester Tuttle returns to Tahiti to find that little has changed. His large family, particularly his scheming Uncle Jonas, would rather dance and romance than earn a living. When Jonas loses the family plantation in a cockfight, Chester saves the day by towing in a large ship abandoned at sea and claiming the salvage. But opening a joint bank account in the name of the Tuttle clan may not have been a wise decision.
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The Girl from Alaska
Title: The Girl from Alaska
Character: Charley
Released: April 16, 1942
Type: Movie
A would-be prospector becomes involved in a plot to deceive an old prospector of his cache, but falls in love with his daughter instead.
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The Mad Doctor of Market Street
Title: The Mad Doctor of Market Street
Character: Barab
Released: February 27, 1942
Type: Movie
A fugitive doctor (Lionel Atwill) tries to raise the dead for South Sea Islanders.
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Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Title: Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake
Character: Marnoa
Released: January 29, 1942
Type: Movie
Sir Arthur Blake has inherited title and lands from his brother. He also has his orphaned nephew Benjamin working for him as a bonded servant. While he believes the lad was born out of wedlock and so cannot claim the inheritance, he is taking no chances. Benjamin eventually rebels against his uncle and sets sail to try and make his fortune. This may enable him to return to prove his claim to being the rightful heir to the estate.
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Honolulu Lu
Title: Honolulu Lu
Character: Native Cop
Released: December 11, 1941
Type: Movie
While in Hawaii, Velez begins the film as a risque nightclub act and due to her involvement with a group of sailors becomes a beauty queen.
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Hold Back the Dawn
Title: Hold Back the Dawn
Character: Young Mexican Bridegroom (uncredited)
Released: September 26, 1941
Type: Movie
Romanian-French gigolo Georges Iscovescu wishes to enter the USA. Stopped in Mexico by the quota system, he decides to marry an American, then desert her and join his old partner Anita, who's done likewise. But after sweeping teacher Emmy Brown off her feet, he finds her so sweet that love and jealousy endanger his plans.
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The Devil's Pipeline
Title: The Devil's Pipeline
Character: Talamu
Released: October 31, 1940
Type: Movie
A secretary sends a coded plea for help in her monthly report; two detectives investigate and find out that men are jailed on phony charges, forced to work in oil fields and then murdered if they try to escape.
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North West Mounted Police
Title: North West Mounted Police
Character: Indian
Released: October 22, 1940
Type: Movie
Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)
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Girl from God's Country
Title: Girl from God's Country
Character: Joe
Released: July 30, 1940
Type: Movie
Jim Holden, a young doctor practicing in Alaska, eagerly awaits the arrival of his new nurse, Anne Webster. All of his previous left within a few weeks by the rigors of the Alaskan winter....
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South of Pago Pago
Title: South of Pago Pago
Character: Native Diver
Released: July 19, 1940
Type: Movie
Sent by cutthroat pirates to turn Kehane’s head while they loot his island paradise of a fortune in pearls, Ruby instead falls for the young chief. Together, the two save Kehane’s people and their island home from the rapacious picaroons but at the tragic cost of their own future together.
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Zanzibar
Title: Zanzibar
Character: Mala
Released: March 8, 1940
Type: Movie
A beautiful young woman organizes an expedition to Africa to search for a sacred skull that is worshiped by the locals.
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Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
Title: Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe
Character: Prince of the Rock People (uncredited)
Released: March 3, 1940
Type: Movie
A mysterious plague, the Purple Death, ravages the earth. Dr. Zarkov, investigating in his spaceship, finds a ship from planet Mongo seeding the atmosphere with dust. Sure enough, Ming the Merciless is up to his old tricks. So it's back to Mongo for Flash, Dale, and Zarkov.
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Green Hell
Title: Green Hell
Character: Mala
Released: January 26, 1940
Type: Movie
A group of adventurers head deep into South American jungle in search of an ancient Incan treasure.
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Coast Guard
Title: Coast Guard
Character: Eskimo Driver (uncredited)
Released: August 4, 1939
Type: Movie
Steady, dependable Coast Guard Lieutenant Raymond "Ray" Dower and reckless aviator Thomas "Speed" Bradshaw are the closest of friends. Ray saves the life of Captain Tobias Bliss, tramp steamer skipper, in a daring rescue at sea. Speed flies the injured man back to the base hospital, where the two officers later visit him. There Ray meets Nancy Bliss, Bliss' grand-daughter, and falls in love with her. Speed meets her at a dance and urges Ray to propose before some other guy does. Ray is assigned to flood rescue duty, and Speed and Nancy start going out together and discover they are in love.
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Mutiny on the Blackhawk
Title: Mutiny on the Blackhawk
Character: Wani - Native Slave Leader
Released: July 31, 1939
Type: Movie
Story deals with slave-running between Hawaii and California in 1840, featuring a wild mutiny aboard a slave ship on the high seas, the bartering of natives for slavery in a tropical paradise, and battle scenes between enraged California settlers and the Mexican Army.
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Union Pacific
Title: Union Pacific
Character: Indian Finding Cigar Store Indian (uncredited)
Released: May 5, 1939
Type: Movie
One of the last bills signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad across the wilderness to California. But financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau; Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost?
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Hawk of the Wilderness
Title: Hawk of the Wilderness
Character: Kias
Released: December 3, 1938
Type: Movie
An expedition arrives on an uncharted jungle island to rescue the local natives, led by a jungle boy, from a volcano that is about to erupt.
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S.O.S. Clipper Island
Title: S.O.S. Clipper Island
Released: August 11, 1938
Type: Movie
Feature version of the 1936 U.S. movie serial, ROBINSON CRUSOE OF CLIPPER ISLAND, for overseas release only.
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The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Title: The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Character: Little Elk
Released: June 30, 1938
Type: Movie
A group of "Phantom Raiders" interfere with a cattle drive from Texas to Abilene; fortunately, U.S. Marshal Wild Bill Hickok is appointed to ensure the success of the mission.
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Call of The Yukon
Title: Call of The Yukon
Character: Olee John
Released: April 18, 1938
Type: Movie
Adventuring author Jean Williams is living in the wilds of Alaska alongside the Eskimo people gathering material for her novel. She befriends several animals who become her loyal friends such as a pair of bear cubs whose mother has been killed by hunter Gaston Rogers, a talking raven and the bereaved collie Firefly who will not leave the grave of her master, a game warden killed in the line of duty. The community is imperiled by a pack of wolves and wild dogs, led by a wild dog called Swift Lightning, who are killing all the reindeer. With the supply of fresh meat gone, the Eskimos are migrating to lands with more food. Hunter Gaston agrees to take Jean to Nenana, Alaska, along with his furs by dog sled. Jean, who despises Gaston as being more savage and blood thirsty than the four-legged predators, is followed by her loyal animals.
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The Jungle Princess
Title: The Jungle Princess
Character: Melan
Released: November 27, 1936
Type: Movie
Christopher Powell is in Malaysia with his fiancée and her father, capturing wild animals. While out hunting, he is attacked by a tiger, and his native guides run away, leaving him for dead. But the tiger is the pet of Ulah, a beautiful young woman who grew up by herself in the jungle. She rescues Chris and takes him back to her cave, where she nurses him to health and falls in love with him. When he eventually returns to camp, she follows. The fiancée is jealous, and the natives don't like Ulah or her pet tiger either, all of which leads to a lot of trouble.
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Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island
Title: Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island
Character: Agent Ray Mala
Released: November 13, 1936
Type: Movie
A 14-episode serial in which Mala, a Polynesian in the employ of U.S. Intelligence investigates sabotage on Clipper Island. A gang of spies causes the eruption of a volcano, for which our hero is blamed. He convinces the local Princess Melani of his innocence and helps her ward off a takeover by rival high priest Porotu.
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Last of the Pagans
Title: Last of the Pagans
Character: Taro
Released: December 20, 1935
Type: Movie
Two South Sea Islanders fall in love, followed by a hurricane.
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Eskimo
Title: Eskimo
Character: Mala, aka Kripik (uncredited)
Released: November 14, 1933
Type: Movie
The happy life of an Eskimo is disastrously changed when he mingles with an unscrupulous white trader.
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Igloo
Title: Igloo
Character: The Young Hunter
Released: July 1, 1932
Type: Movie
Documentary detailing the hardships of life among Alaskan Natives.