Maria Palmer
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)
Acting
TV
Perry Mason
as Florence Wood
1957
Movie
The Evil of Frankenstein
as Rena's Mother (uncredited)
1964
Movie
Lady on a Train
as Margo Martin, Circus Club Singer
1945
Movie
The Web
as Martha Kroner
1947
Movie
Days of Glory
as Yelena
1944
Movie
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
as Renee LaRue
1953
Movie
Mission to Moscow
as Tanya Litvinov
1943
Movie
The Other Love
as Huberta
1947
Movie
Crash of Moons
as Cotondo
1954
Movie
Crash of Moons
as Potonda
1954
TV
One Step Beyond
as Sylvia Ackroyd
1959
TV
Four Star Playhouse
as Elsa
1952
Movie
Strictly Dishonorable
as Countess Lili Szadvany
1951
Movie
Surrender
as Janet Barton
1950
TV
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
1958
Movie
13 Lead Soldiers
as Estelle Prager, alias Estelle Gorday
1948
TV
The Californians
as Mme. Jouvais
1957
Movie
Flight Nurse
as Captain Martha Ackerman
1953
Movie
Nostradamus and the Queen
as Queen Catherine de Medici
1953
Movie
Three for Jamie Dawn
as Julia Karek
1956
Movie
Outcasts of the City
1958
Movie
Rendezvous 24
as Greta Holvig
1946
Movie
Joe Santa Claus
as Maria Peters
1951
TV
Kings Row
1955