Leslie Parrish

Leslie Parrish (born Marjorie Hellen; March 13, 1935) is a retired American 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. 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.

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). She was quickly discovered and signed with Twentieth Century Fox in Hollywood. In 1956, she was put under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Because acting allowed her to help her family financially, she remained in Hollywood and gave up her career in music.

Films and television

File:Ralph Taeger Leslie Parrish Acapulco 1961.jpg

With Ralph Taeger in Acapulco (1961)

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. 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.

Parrish amassed an extensive résumé of television credits. 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. 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. In February 1968, she played opposite Peter Breck in the episode "A Bounty on a Barkley" of The Big Valley. The following month, Parrish made her first guest appearance on Mannix in the episode "The Girl in the Frame".

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.

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 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. Parrish founded "STOP" (Speakers and Talent Organized for Peace), an anti-war organization that trained speakers to engage the public.

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." 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. 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 (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; the signal was turned off and the license turned in.

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. 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. 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.

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". Template:Citation needed span

Marriages

Parrish married songwriter Ric Marlow in 1955; the couple divorced in 1961. In 1981, she married Richard Bach, 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. They divorced in 1999.

Film credits

Year	Title	Role
		Anne*
		Newlywed*
	Daddy Long Legs	College Girl*
	How to Be Very, Very Popular	Girl On Bus*
		Florodora Girl*
		Tipsy Girl At Party*
		Telephone Operator*
	Hot Summer Night	Hazel*
	Man on Fire	Honey*
	Missile to the Moon	Moon Girl
1958	Tank Battalion
1959	Li'l Abner	Daisy Mae
1961	Portrait of a Mobster
1962
1963	For Love or Money
1964	Sex and the Single Girl	Susan
1966	Three on a Couch
1968
	The Candy Man
		Cissy
1970	Brother, Cry for Me (aka: Boca Affair)
	D.A.: Conspiracy to Kill
	Banyon
1975		Ev
1976	The Astral Factor (aka: Invisible Strangler)
1977	Crash

* credited as Marjorie Hellen

Television credits

General television credits

Airdate	Series title	Episode title	Role
Template:Dts	Steve Canyon	"Operation Big Thunder"	Jo
Template:Dts		"Lovely Alibi"	Jodie (uncredited)
Template:Dts	Bold Venture	—	unknown
Template:Dts		"Deadfall"	Cleopatra
Template:Dts	Tightrope	"Gangsters Daughter"	Theresa
Template:Dts	Perry Mason
Template:Dts	Bat Masterson
Template:Dts		"Collision"
Template:Dts		"Champagne Lady"
Template:Dts	Bat Masterson
Template:Dts	Hawaiian Eye	"Services Rendered"	Marcella
Template:Dts	Michael Shayne	"Death Selects the Winner"
Template:Dts
Template:Dts	Acapulco	"Fisher's Daughter"	unknown
Template:Dts	Surfside 6	"Circumstantial Evidence"
Template:Dts			unknown
Template:Dts	Bringing Up Buddy		unknown
Template:Dts	Perry Mason
Template:Dts	Follow the Sun	"Busmans Holiday"
Template:Dts	Surfside 6		Lavender
Template:Dts	Perry Mason
Template:Dts	Bachelor Father	"Kelly and the Yes Man"
Template:Dts	Hawaiian Eye	"Four-Cornered Triangle"
Template:Dts	Ichabod and Me	"Bob's Housekeeper"
Template:Dts	Alcoa Premiere	"Chain Reaction"	Vicki
Template:Dts	Channing
Template:Dts		"Operation Actress"
Template:Dts	Kraft Suspense Theatre
Template:Dts	Kentucky Jones
Template:Dts		"Murder by Scandal"
Template:Dts
Template:Dts	Insight	"Fire Within"	Joanne
Template:Dts	Batman
Template:Dts	My Three Sons	"Stag at Bay"
Template:Dts (Fall)	Green for Danger	pilot episode	unknown
Template:Dts			Morn/Maggie
Template:Dts	Tarzan	"Mask of Rona"	Beryl
Template:Dts	Batman
Template:Dts	Batman	"Ice Spy"
Template:Dts	Star Trek	"Who Mourns for Adonais?"
Template:Dts	Good Morning World	"World, Buy Calimari" (pilot episode)
Template:Dts
Template:Dts		"Dry Run to Glory"
Template:Dts
Template:Dts	Mannix
Template:Dts	My Friend Tony	Voices	Lila
Template:Dts	Family Affair	"Speak for Yourself, Mr. French"
Template:Dts	Mannix		Mona
Template:Dts	Petticoat Junction
Template:Dts	To Rome with Love		Elaine
Template:Dts	Love, American Style	"Love and the Mountain Cabin"
Template:Dts	Mannix		T.C.
Template:Dts	Love, American Style	"Love and the Pulitzer Prize"
Template:Dts	Hogan's Heroes	"Kommandant Gertrude"	Karen
Template:Dts	Bearcats!	"Blood Knot"
Template:Dts	Marcus Welby M.D.	"Cross Match"
Template:Dts	Cade's County	"Slay Ride" - Part 1
Template:Dts	Cade's County	"Slay Ride" - Part 2
Template:Dts	O'Hara, U.S. Treasury	"Operation: Smokescreen"
Template:Dts	Adam 12	"Gifts and Long Letters"
Template:Dts		"Shattered Image"	Lydia
Template:Dts	Police Story
Template:Dts	McCloud
Template:Dts	Logan's Run		Joanna
Template:Dts	Police Story	"No Margin for Error"

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

Sources

• The International Leslie Parrish Website - The Official Site / Full Biography page

External links

• / Template:PAGENAMEBASE at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidata