Zale Parry, 1933 – 2026

Diver, actress, and stuntwoman Zale Parry, 93, died on July 20. Parry studied both acting and swimming at UCLA, and in 1954, she set a women's depth record to 209 feet. She dove for Sports Illustrated, was on the board of directors (and was eventually president) of the Underwater Photographic Society, and was co-director of the International Underwater Film Festival. She doubled for Sophia Loren in Boy on a Dolphin, and did stunts for Sea Hunt and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. As an actress, Parry also appeared in Sea Hunt and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, as well as Underwater Warrior, and appeared as a Marineland Aqua-Maid in a 1965 episode of The Munsters. “Childhood choices affect our adult lives,” Parry told writer Brett Gilliam. “An advertisement in the Milwaukee Journal in May of 1947 was a call for an audition to perform in the Sam Howard Aqua Follies. I became what I am today on a whim to earn my own allowance that I am today on a whim to earn my own allowance doing what I loved… swimming while entertaining.”