Leslie Parrish, 1935 – 2025

My friends at The Hollywood Reporter (hi, Mike!) have just broken the news that actress Leslie Parrish, 90, died late last year.  The blonde glamour girl starred as Daisy Mae in the movie version of Li’l Abner (Edie Adams played her on Broadway) and was unintentionally hilarious The Manchurian Candidate (not her fault, but I burst into peals of gay laughter when she turned up in that card costume). From the 1950s-70s, Parrish turned up in The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, Missile to the Moon, Tightrope, The Roaring 20’s [sic], Bat Masterson, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6, Perry Mason (three times), Star Trek, Bachelor Father, Sex and the Single Girl, Batman, The Man from U.N.C.,L.E., Petticoat Junction, Hogan’s Heroes, The Giant Spider Invasion, and Police Story, among others. She was married to actor and songwriter Ric Marlow and to author Richard Bach (who inflicted Jonathan Livingston Seagull upon us all). Parrish was also involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement, and campaigned for L.A. mayor Tom Bradley. She co-founded PBS station KVST, and worked against logging and for environmental preservation. Parrish told writer John Harricharan, “I lived in great poverty as a child and young woman, and I used to think of money and how to make money as a means to get away from the constant struggle to survive — as freedom. Now I know it isn’t freedom. It’s not a solution, but a new problem. It comes with its own challenges and tremendous obligations.” (Oh, Leslie, I will step up and take those challenges!).