Nancy Malone

Nancy Malone, born Ann Josefa Maloney on March 19, 1935, in Queens Village, New York City, was an American actress, producer, and director whose career spanned stage, television, and film production from the 1940s through the 1990s. She died on May 8, 2014, at age 79, of pneumonia while battling leukemia.

Malone was one of at least three children born to James Maloney, a longshoreman, and Winnifred Shields, an Irish immigrant from Crossmaglen, County Armagh. Census records from 1930 and 1940 document two older brothers, Roger Charles and James Francis. Her middle name, Josefa, was chosen by her mother because her birthday fell on March 19, Saint Joseph's Day.

Her public career began in childhood. Working with the John Robert Powers Agency as a model, she appeared on the cover of Life magazine's 10th anniversary issue on November 25, 1946, at the age of 11. Early television work followed, with appearances on programs including I Remember Mama, Robert Montgomery Presents, and Suspense.

Malone made her Broadway debut in Time Out for Ginger, and her stage work continued through 1958, encompassing productions of A Touch of the Poet, The Makropoulos Secret, and Major Barbara. Her television career ran concurrently and beyond, with a recurring role as Libby on Naked City from 1960 to 1963 and the role of Robin Lang Bowden Fletcher on the daytime serial Guiding Light during the same period. She subsequently portrayed Clara Varner in the ABC series The Long Hot Summer and appeared in individual episodes of The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. Her guest credits also included a 1963 episode of 77 Sunset Strip, an episode of Route 66 alongside Robert Redford, a 1967 Bonanza episode in which she played Katherine Rowen, and a 1968 episode of The Big Valley. That same year she portrayed Dr. Edith Gibson in the penultimate original episode of The Andy Griffith Show and appeared as Steve McGarrett's sister in a Hawaii Five-O episode. In 1971 she played Cathleen, Rueben Kincaid's love interest, in episode 20 of The Partridge Family.

Malone transitioned into the business side of the entertainment industry in 1976, when she became the first female vice-president of television at 20th Century Fox. She also worked as a producer on The Bionic Woman and directed episodes of Melrose Place and Diagnosis Murder. In 1977 she received one of the first Crystal Awards presented by Women in Film, given to women whose work and endurance helped expand the role of women in the entertainment industry. Emmy Award nominations for directing followed in 1991 and 1992 for episodes of Sisters and The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, and she won the Emmy in 1993 for producing the televised retrospective Bob Hope: The First 90 Years. She held lifetime membership in The Actors Studio and served on the board of The Alliance of Women Directors, an organization composed of female directors who are alumnae of the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women.