Leslie Parrish, the actress who built a long Hollywood career with memorable roles in The Manchurian Candidate, Li’l Abner, Batman and Star Trek, has died. She was 90.
Parrish had been living in Washington state when she died late last year. Her death was only recently made public. Erica Berdan, a daughter of Parrish’s former husband, author Richard Bach, confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter.
Born Marjorie Hellen on March 18, 1935, in Melrose, Massachusetts, Parrish did not originally plan on becoming an actress. Music was her first passion. As a teenager, she studied piano and composition at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and worked several jobs to help pay for her education, including teaching piano, waitressing and working as a maid.
Her path changed after her mother encouraged her to try modeling as a way to earn more money for school. Parrish began modeling with the Conover Agency in New York and eventually landed a contract with NBC. Hollywood soon came calling, and she was signed by 20th Century Fox before later working under contract at MGM.
She initially acted under her birth name before becoming Leslie Parrish in 1959. That same year, she landed one of her first major starring roles, playing Daisy Mae in the movie adaptation of the popular Broadway musical Li’l Abner.
Parrish went on to appear in dozens of movies and television programs during a career that stretched across the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
One of her most remembered performances came in the 1962 political thriller The Manchurian Candidate. Parrish played Jocelyn Jordan, the daughter of a U.S. senator and the love interest of Raymond Shaw, played by Laurence Harvey. The movie also starred Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury. Parrish later described Jocelyn as one of her favorite roles.
Her movie career also included Portrait of a Mobster, For Love or Money, Sex and the Single Girl and the Jerry Lewis comedy Three on a Couch.
Television viewers may remember Parrish from several of the era’s biggest shows. She appeared on Perry Mason, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Big Valley, Mannix, My Three Sons and other popular series.
In 1967, she appeared on Star Trek as Lt. Carolyn Palamas in the episode “Who Mourns for Adonais?” That same year, she entered the colorful world of Batman, playing Glacia Glaze, an ice skater who became involved with the villain Mr. Freeze, portrayed by Eli Wallach.
Parrish’s interests eventually expanded beyond acting. She worked as an associate producer on the 1973 film Jonathan Livingston Seagull, based on Richard Bach’s bestselling book. She later married Bach, and their relationship became an important part of his books The Bridge Across Forever and One.
Away from Hollywood, Parrish devoted considerable time to activism. She became involved in civil rights, opposition to the Vietnam War, environmental causes and politics. After leaving acting behind in the late 1970s, those causes became an even bigger part of her life.
