Leslie Parrish

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Leslie Parrish (born Marjorie Hellen; March 13, 1935) is an 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. By 14, Parrish had become a talented and promising piano and composition student at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. At 16, she earned money for her tuition by working as a maid, waitress, and piano teacher. When she turned 18, her mother persuaded her to model for one year to earn enough money to continue her education at the Conservatory.

Modeling and Acting

In April 1954, as a 19-year-old model with the Conover Agency in New York City, Parrish was under contract with NBC-TV as "Miss Color TV" (she was used during broadcasts as a human test pattern to check the accuracy of skin tones). She was quickly discovered and signed by Twentieth Century Fox in Hollywood. In 1956, she was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Since acting allowed her to help her family financially, she stayed in Hollywood and gave up her music career.

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. 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.[9] 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 adaptation of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" (1973). Among other things, she hired the director of photography Jack Couffer – who later received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts – and 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 ensued, Parrish was appointed as the mediator between the two men; however, the mediation ultimately 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 movie from associate producer to researcher.

In 1975, Parrish appeared in the low-budget B-movie The Giant Spider Invasion, which is now regarded as a cult film.

While acting provided financial stability, her primary interest lay in social causes, including the anti-war and civil rights movements, as well as environmental issues dating back to the mid-1950s.

Political activism

Parrish's interests and activities in social movements and politics evolved into her primary focus. She was a vocal opponent of the Vietnam War and a member of the Jeannette Rankin Brigade, a group of prominent women who campaigned 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 others in removing Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty from office. She supported and campaigned for Tom Bradley, a former police lieutenant and the city's first Black City Councilman. Despite high polling numbers before the election, Bradley lost to Yorty, giving rise to what was later known as "The Bradley Effect." The next day, he decided to run again, and over the next four years, Parrish worked closely with him to help secure his victory in the following 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 select 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 led Parrish to consider a new method for live coverage of such events, aiming to prevent the suppression and manipulation of the news. In 1969, she began developing a television station focused on reporting public events and providing in-depth analysis and discussions of significant global developments. In 1974, KVST-TV (Viewer Sponsored Television, Channel 68, Los Angeles) launched as part of the PBS system of stations. Prominent filmmakers, business leaders, and local activists established the board of directors and contributed support for this unique station. After a challenging start, KVST received positive reviews in Los Angeles and garnered nationwide attention. However, by 1976, internal conflicts among the board of directors led to the station's downfall; the signal was turned off, and the license was returned.

Environmental activism

Parrish's concern for the environment dates back to the 1950s when Los Angeles’s severe smog and its causes troubled her. In 1979, she and her then-husband, Richard Bach, built an experimental home in southwest Oregon that used 100% solar power, without any cooling or heating systems, aiming to prove it could be done.

While living in Oregon, Parrish observed devastated forests managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and chose to protest a local timber sale. Together with two neighbors, she and Bach established an organization called "Threatened and Endangered: Little Applegate Valley" (TELAV). They spent two years researching and drafting a 600-page legal and scientific protest against the BLM's logging of forests that would not regenerate, an illegal practice. The BLM assistant state director ultimately agreed, informing the Medford Mail Tribune that ..."The sale involves enough improprieties in BLM rules and procedures that it can’t be legally awarded. To comply with our guidelines, we had no choice but to withdraw the sale and reject all bids." The TELAV protest document became the foundation for many future timber sale protests in the U.S. and Canada. TELAV continues to advocate 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 protect it from conventional development practices, including logging. She named it the "Spring Hill Wildlife Sanctuary". For seventeen years, she diligently developed the ridge-top property by creating nearly a dozen small, hidden home sites on 25% of the land while preserving the remaining area in perpetuity with the San Juan Preservation Trust. Although the property is now fully developed, there are no interruptions in the heavily forested ridgeline. The developed land is invisible from the island community, and the forest remains intact.

Marriages

Parrish married songwriter Ric Marlow in 1955, but the couple divorced in 1961. In 1981, she married Richard Bach, the author of the 1970 book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, whom she met while making the 1973 movie of the same name. She played a significant role 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.

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External links

More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Leslie_Parrish ]

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