Malis was perhaps best known as the second actress to play Dr. Dorian Lord on the ABC daytime soap opera One Life to Live from 1977 to 1979.

Malis went on to guest star on numerous drama and comedy TV series and multiple films.

Between 1983 and 1988 Malis portrayed Rose Polniaczek, mother of series regular Jo, in six episodes of the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life.

Malis suffered from non-Hodgkin lymphoma but recovered through a stem cell transplant administered at City of Hope Helford Clinical Research Hospital in Duarte, California, in 2010.

She is survived by her husband, architectural and interior designer Thomas Callaway;[4] their son Catlin; and her brother Lee.