Leslie Parrish
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Leslie Parrish (born Marjorie Hellen; March 13, 1935)<ref name="koper" /> is an American retired actress, activist, environmentalist, writer, and producer. She worked under her birth name for six years before changing it in 1959.
Early life
As a child, Parrish lived in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. At the age of 10, her family finally settled in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. At the age of 14, Parrish was a talented and promising piano and composition student at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music.<ref name="guinea pig">Template:Cite news</ref> At the age of 16, Parrish earned money for her tuition by working as a maid and a waitress, and by teaching piano. At the age of 18, to earn enough money to continue her education at the Conservatory, her mother persuaded her to become a model for one year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="guinea pig"/>
Modeling and acting
In April 1954, as a 19-year-old model with the Conover Agency in New York City, Parrish was under contract to NBC-TV as "Miss Color TV" (she was used during broadcasts as a human test pattern to check accuracy of skin tones).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="guinea pig"/> She was quickly discovered and signed with Twentieth Century Fox in Hollywood. In 1956, she was put under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Because acting allowed her to help her family financially,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> she remained in Hollywood and gave up her career in music.
Films and television
Parrish co-starred/guest-starred in numerous films and television shows throughout the 1960s and 1970s. She gained wide attention in her first starring role as Daisy Mae in the movie version of Li'l Abner (1959), where she changed her name from Marjorie Hellen to Leslie Parrish at the director's request.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She appeared in the film The Manchurian Candidate (1962), playing Laurence Harvey's on-screen fiancée, Jocelyn Jordan. Other film credits include starring opposite Kirk Douglas in For Love or Money (1963) and Jerry Lewis in Three on a Couch (1966), among others.<ref name=TVGuide>Template:Cite web</ref>
Parrish amassed an extensive résumé of television credits.<ref name=TVGuide /> Among many other credits, Parrish appeared in guest starring roles on episodes of The Wild Wild West, My Three Sons, Perry Mason, Family Affair, Bat Masterson, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Adam-12, Good Morning World, Police Story, Batman and McCloud.<ref name=TVGuide /> In 1967, she guest-starred on the Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?", portraying Lt. Carolyn Palamas, the love interest of the character Apollo.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=TVGuide /> In February 1968, she played opposite Peter Breck in the episode "A Bounty on a Barkley" of The Big Valley.<ref name=TVGuide /> The following month, Parrish made her first guest appearance on Mannix in the episode "The Girl in the Frame".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Parrish served as associate producer on the film version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973). Among other things, she hired the director of photography Jack CoufferTemplate:Sndwho later received an Academy Award nomination for his effortsTemplate:Sndand she was responsible for the care of the film's real-life seagulls, which she kept inside a room at a Holiday Inn in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California for the duration of the shoot. When the relationship between author Richard Bach and director Hall Bartlett disintegrated and a lawsuit followed, Parrish was appointed as the mediator between the two men, but the mediation failed. Ultimately, the film was released in theaters with Bach's name taken off the screenwriting credits, while Bartlett demoted Parrish's credit in the finished film from associate producer to researcher.<ref> "Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973) | Via Vision Entertainment - info relayed by Leslie Parrish for the Blu-ray commentary track"</ref>
In 1975, Parrish appeared in the low budget B-Movie The Giant Spider Invasion Template:Citation needed span
While acting provided financial stability, her main interest was in social causes including the anti-war and civil rights movements<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and, as far back as the mid 1950s, the environment.
Political activism
Parrish's interests and activities in social movements and politics grew to become her main work. She was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War, and a member of the Jeannette Rankin Brigade, a group of notable women who fought against the war and for civil rights.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Parrish founded "STOP" (Speakers and Talent Organized for Peace), an anti-war organization that trained speakers to engage the public.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Los Angeles municipal government
In 1969, Parrish joined many in an effort to remove Los Angeles mayor Sam Yorty from office. She supported and campaigned for a former police lieutenant named Tom Bradley, who was then the city's first black city councilman. Despite high polling numbers prior to the election, Bradley lost to Yorty, giving rise to what was later known as "The Bradley Effect."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Next day, he decided to run again, and over the next four years Parrish worked with him closely to help secure his victory in the next mayoral election. In 1973, Bradley became Los Angeles's first black mayor. Parrish was one of forty activist citizens who served on Bradley's Blue Ribbon Commission to choose new Los Angeles Commissioners.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Parrish and Tom Bradley remained friends for many years.
Creator of innovative television
The lack of media coverage during the Century City riots in 1967 prompted Parrish to think of a new way to cover such events live to prevent suppression and/or manipulation of the news. In 1969, she began to create a television station that would devote itself to covering public events and provide in-depth analysis and discussions of important developments in the world. In 1974, KVST-TV<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (Viewer Sponsored Television, Channel 68, Los Angeles) went on the air as part of the PBS system of stations. Film notables, business people and local activists formed the board of directors and provided support for the unique station. After a difficult start, KVST was receiving positive reviews in Los Angeles and nationwide attention. However, by 1976, internal dissension on the board of directors led to the demise of the station;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the signal was turned off and the license turned in.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Environmental activism
While living in Oregon, Parrish saw devastated forests managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and decided to protest a local timber sale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> With two neighbors, she and Bach established an organization called "Threatened and Endangered: Little Applegate Valley" (TELAV). They worked for two years researching and writing a 600-page legal and scientific protest of BLM's logging of forests which would not regenerate, which was illegal.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The BLM assistant state director eventually agreed, telling the Medford Mail Tribune that ..."The sale involves enough improprieties in BLM rules and procedures that it can’t be legally awarded. In order to comply with our own procedures we had no choice but to withdraw the sale and reject all bids." The TELAV protest document served as the basis for many future timber sale protests in the U.S. and Canada. TELAV continues to fight for the environment to this day and the Little Applegate Valley has never been logged.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1999, Parrish created a 240-acre (97 ha) wildlife sanctuary on Orcas Island (in the San Juan Islands, Washington State) to save it from normal development techniques which include logging. She named it the "Spring Hill Wildlife Sanctuary".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Citation needed span
Marriages
Parrish married songwriter Ric Marlow in 1955; the couple divorced in 1961.<ref name="people">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1981, she married Richard Bach,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the author of the 1970 book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, whom she met during the making of the 1973 movie of the same name. She was a major element in two of his subsequent books—The Bridge Across Forever (1984) and One (1988)—which primarily focused on their relationship and Bach's concept of soulmates.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="people" /> They divorced in 1999.
Film credits
* credited as Marjorie Hellen
Television credits
General television credits
Variety show credits (live TV)
| Airdate | Series title | Episode title | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:Dts | The Red Skelton Show | "Clem Kadiddlehopper in Dog Patch" | Daisy June |
| Template:Dts | The Red Skelton Show | "Clem's Theatre" | Daisy June |
| Template:Dts | The Red Skelton Show | "Clem and the Kadiddlehopper Hop" | Daisy June |
Talk shows
| Airdate | Series title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Dts | Here's Hollywood | Jack Linkletter (Interviewer) – S.2, Ep.52 |
| Template:Dts | The Tonight Show | Jerry Lewis (guest-host) |
Game shows
| Series title | Notes |
|---|---|
| The Dating Game | several broadcast in the early 1960s |
| Stump the Stars | several broadcast in the 1960s |
References
Sources
- The International Leslie Parrish Website - The Official Site / Full Biography page
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External links
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- Pages with broken file links
- 1935 births
- American film actresses
- American television actresses
- Living people
- Actresses from Bucks County, Pennsylvania
- People from Melrose, Massachusetts
- University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni
- 20th-century American actresses
- 21st-century American women
- Actresses from Middlesex County, Massachusetts
- Pseudonymous actors