Actress and singer. Born Victoria Morales, she moved as a child to Columbus, Georgia, where she graduated from Baker High School in 1966. She came to fame when she starred as Maria, opposite Kurt Peterson as Tony, in the first revival of "West Side Story" in the State Theater at Lincoln Center, which ran June 24 to September 7, 1968, with 89 performances. She and Peterson remained connected personally for the following eight years or so, during which time they appeared separately in a range of Broadway productions, including "Dear World," "Carnival," "Dames at Sea," and "The Baker's Wife," among others. They also appeared together, though not opposite each other, in the legendary original production of "Follies", with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Goldman, directed by Hal Prince and Michael Bennett. She played a relatively minor role, that of Young Heidi. However, she so impressed Sondheim that he tapped her to originate the lead female character of Anne Egerman in the multi-Tony Award nominated original production of his "A Little Night Music," which played February 27, 1973 to August 3, 1974, with a total of 601 performances. On television, she perhaps was best known for her portrayal of Leslie Brooks on the soap opera "The Young and the Restless," which character she took over from Janice Lynde in 1977. Mallory remained with that series until 1984. In 1990 and 1991, she played Dr. Denise Foxworthy on the soap opera "Santa Barbara." Since that time, she has made numerous guest appearances on various television series, including "Touched by an Angel," "Promised Land," and "Everwood." She has also made additional theatrical appearances and several movie appearances. For instance, she appeared with Robert Hays, Dean Stockwell, and Tobin Bell in "Unabomber: The True Story" in 1996. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance on "After Hours: Singin', Swingin', And All That Jazz," a musical special that aired on CBS. She was wed to "A Little Night Music" co-star, actor Mark Lambert, to whom she was married for 40 years. Their daughter, Ramona Mallory Lambert, is an actress in her own right; she has starred as Luisa in an Off-Broadway production of "The Fantasticks" and, in the 2009 Broadway revival of "A Little Night Music," she resurrected the role of Anne Egerman, which her mother had pioneered twenty-five years previous.
At New York City Center, Mallory and Kurt Peterson debuted a review called "When Everything Was Possible--A Concert (with Comments)," which provided a musical and narrative review of the paths their respective careers and lives took, initially together and then divergently. This retrospective also played in her hometown of Columbus, Georgia, where in 1970 she and Peterson had appeared together at the State Theatre of Georgia, the Springer Opera House, in "The Fantasticks."
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On 08 SEP 2021, Mark Lambert (Contributor #50981245) submitted the following addition: ". . .married to her husband, Mark Lambert, for 40 years."