15 Facts About Ray Mala

Ray Mala was one of Hollywood's Native American movie actors along with Lillian St Cyr, Jesse Cornplanter, Chief Yowlachie, William Eagle Shirt, and Will Rogers who had successful careers during that time.

Ray Mala was named a "Top Ten Alaskan" by TIME Magazine in 2009.

Ray Mala was born Ray Wise in the small village of Candle, Alaska, to a Russian Jewish immigrant father and an Inupiaq mother.

Ray Mala was born during a time when Alaska was still only a territory of the United States and was viewed by most Americans as a vast, mysterious frontier.

In 1921 an explorer, Captain Frank Kleinschmidt, ventured to Alaska on an expedition to produce Primitive Love, a film in which a 14-year-old Ray Mala made his screen debut.

Later, from 1921 to 1924, Ray Mala accompanied Knud Rasmussen, the Danish Arctic explorer and writer, as official cameraman on Rasmussen's trip The Great Sled Journey to collect and describe Inuit songs and legends.

In 1925, Ray Mala arrived in Hollywood and got a job as a cameraman with Fox Film Corporation.

Not long after, Ray Mala landed his first lead role in the silent film Igloo for Universal Pictures.

Ray Mala gained praise following Eskimo, and as a result MGM cast him as the lead in Last of the Pagans, directed by Richard Thorpe and filmed on location in Tahiti.

Ray Mala played the lead in Republic Pictures' Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island, which was one of the first serials the studio made.

Ray Mala shared top billing with Herman Brix in Republic's Hawk of the Wilderness.

Ray Mala worked with Academy Award winner Joseph LaShelle on many pictures, including Laura, starring Gene Tierney, and Les Miserables.

Ray Mala was on location in Santa Rosa as a cameraman on Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt.

In 1952, Ray Mala reappeared in front of the camera to play in Red Snow opposite Guy Madison.

Shortly after the release of Red Snow, Ray Mala died from heart problems on the set of his last film.