Leslie Parrish

Leslie Parrish
Parrish in Follow the Sun, 1962
Born	Marjorie Hellen (1935-03-18)March 18, 1935 Melrose, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	November 14, 2025(2025-11-14) (aged 90) San Juan Island, Washington, U.S.
Occupations	Actress activist writer producer
Years active	1955–1978
Known for	The Manchurian Candidate The Giant Spider Invasion Batman Star Trek: "Who Mourns for Adonais?"
Spouses	Ric Marlow ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1961)​ Richard Bach ​ ​ (m. 1981; div. 1999)​

Leslie Maria Parrish (born Marjorie Hellen; March 18, 1935 – November 14, 2025) was an American actress, activist, environmentalist, writer and producer. She worked under her birth name for six years before changing it in 1959.

Early life

Marjorie Hellen was born in Melrose, Massachusetts on March 18, 1935.

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

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.

She 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 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 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 which is now regarded as a cult film.

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".

Personal life and death

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.

Parrish died on San Juan Island, Washington, on November 14, 2025, at the age of 90. Her death was not publicly announced until August 23, 2026.

Film credits

• * credited as Marjorie Hellen
• † uncredited bit role

Television credits

References

Sources

• The International Leslie Parrish Website - The Official Site / Full Biography page
• Cushman, Marc (2014). These are the Voyages - Star Trek TOS, Season Two. Jacob Brown Media Group. ISBN 978-1199573766.
• Duncan, David Douglas (1969). Self-Portrait: U.S.A.. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-0989238151.
• Armstrong, David (1981). A Trumpet to Arms: Alternative Media in America. South End Press. ISBN 978-0896081932.
• Wagner, Eleanor Klein (1977). Independent Political Coalitions, Electoral, Legislative and Community: Oral History Transcript. Forgotten Books. ISBN 978-1176537408.
• Bach, Richard (1984). The Bridge Across Forever. Pan Publishing. ISBN 9780440108269.
• Green, Paul (2007). Pete Duel: A Biography. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786430628.
• Who's Who in America 1978-1979 - Volume 2 (40th ed.). Marquis Who's Who. 1978. p. 2504. ISBN 9780837901404.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leslie Parrish.

• Official website
• Leslie Parrish at IMDb