in memoriam
Good morning, gentle readers ... and, alas, I have to pass on some bad news this morning as it looks like veteran screen actress Leslie Parrish has left us. I saw some indications regarding this yesterday on Facebook but wanted to wait until a major news outlet confirmed it. While that hasn't quite happened yet this morning, I did see it reconfirmed by several smaller outlets.
Though the actress hasn't appeared in anything in quite some time (which only means to say younger readers will likely not have heard of her), she was a somewhat regular face from television programs of the 1960's and 1970's. According to her IMDB.com profile, she got her professional start in an uncredited bit from a biographical drama titled A Man Called Peter back in 1955 ... and, as they say, the sky was the limit from there on out. She followed that up with another uncredited role aboard the Academy Award nominated musical Daddy Long Legs, but 'uncredited' opportunities didn't last much longer and audiences were better off for it.
As for genre work?
Well, it really wasn't until 1958 that she was gainfully employed exploring the realms of the Fantastic: Missile To The Moon -- from Layton Film Productions, Inc. and Legend Films -- might otherwise be a forgettable SciFi/Drama, but it does bear the distinction giving the lovely lady (under the name of Marjorie Hellen) of a pretty respectable role for genre fans to find.
Flash forward a few years later, and theatrical Cold War thrillers were all the rage. It was 1962, and one of very best flicks of that type -- indeed, some might argue it's a film amongst the screens very best -- The Manchurian Candidate from M.C. Productions tapped into our deepest fears about identity and consciousness set against the backdrop of a U.S. Presidential campaign. In it, Parrish played 'Jocelyn Jordan,' a somewhat ill-fated woman trapped between two powerful men -- her father and the Manchurian candidate himself, Raymond Shaw (played by Laurence Harvey) -- in a battle for control of these fifty states. While many don't consider the film Science Fiction in any way, I've often argued that it's central use of brainwashing definitely puts the John Frankenheimer-directed masterpiece in a SciFi-adjacent category, one definitely deserving our attention. Plus, it's just an exceptional picture.
Still, it was the period between 1965 and 1967 that likely saw the woman's work truly find grounding in Science Fiction and Fantasy. She paid two visits to The Wild Wild West, one to TV's Tarzan, three to that superhero camp classic that was TV's Batman, and one to Gene Roddenberry's seminal Science Fiction 'wagon train to the stars' -- Star Trek. In the guise of the Enterprise's 'Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas, she captured the eye and heart of an alien entity who took the image of the Greek god Apollo in the Season 2 adventure, "Who Mourns For Adonais?"
About her work aboard one of the greatest television shows ever, Parrish once told an interviewer (according to Facebook) that she considered the appearance a high point in her professional career. "Whenever I watch it, I go right back to the whole thing again and cry my way through it. I relive it," she said. "Of all the work I did, this is outstanding because it is rooted in something I believe so deeply." (Source: Google.com)
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Leslie Parrish.
May she rest in eternal peace ...
-- EZ
Though the actress hasn't appeared in anything in quite some time (which only means to say younger readers will likely not have heard of her), she was a somewhat regular face from television programs of the 1960's and 1970's. According to her IMDB.com profile, she got her professional start in an uncredited bit from a biographical drama titled A Man Called Peter back in 1955 ... and, as they say, the sky was the limit from there on out. She followed that up with another uncredited role aboard the Academy Award nominated musical Daddy Long Legs, but 'uncredited' opportunities didn't last much longer and audiences were better off for it.
As for genre work?
Well, it really wasn't until 1958 that she was gainfully employed exploring the realms of the Fantastic: Missile To The Moon -- from Layton Film Productions, Inc. and Legend Films -- might otherwise be a forgettable SciFi/Drama, but it does bear the distinction giving the lovely lady (under the name of Marjorie Hellen) of a pretty respectable role for genre fans to find.
Flash forward a few years later, and theatrical Cold War thrillers were all the rage. It was 1962, and one of very best flicks of that type -- indeed, some might argue it's a film amongst the screens very best -- The Manchurian Candidate from M.C. Productions tapped into our deepest fears about identity and consciousness set against the backdrop of a U.S. Presidential campaign. In it, Parrish played 'Jocelyn Jordan,' a somewhat ill-fated woman trapped between two powerful men -- her father and the Manchurian candidate himself, Raymond Shaw (played by Laurence Harvey) -- in a battle for control of these fifty states. While many don't consider the film Science Fiction in any way, I've often argued that it's central use of brainwashing definitely puts the John Frankenheimer-directed masterpiece in a SciFi-adjacent category, one definitely deserving our attention. Plus, it's just an exceptional picture.
Still, it was the period between 1965 and 1967 that likely saw the woman's work truly find grounding in Science Fiction and Fantasy. She paid two visits to The Wild Wild West, one to TV's Tarzan, three to that superhero camp classic that was TV's Batman, and one to Gene Roddenberry's seminal Science Fiction 'wagon train to the stars' -- Star Trek. In the guise of the Enterprise's 'Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas, she captured the eye and heart of an alien entity who took the image of the Greek god Apollo in the Season 2 adventure, "Who Mourns For Adonais?"
About her work aboard one of the greatest television shows ever, Parrish once told an interviewer (according to Facebook) that she considered the appearance a high point in her professional career. "Whenever I watch it, I go right back to the whole thing again and cry my way through it. I relive it," she said. "Of all the work I did, this is outstanding because it is rooted in something I believe so deeply." (Source: Google.com)
Our warmest prayers are extended to the family, friends, and fans of Leslie Parrish.
May she rest in eternal peace ...
-- EZ
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