"What am I doing down here, Doctor?" - as Carolyn Palamas from Star Trek, Who Mourns for Adonais? (1966) Leslie Parrish appeared in more than 100 TV shows and is known as one of the first women producers in television. Leslie Parrish was born March 18th 1935 in Melrose, Massachusetts and was a promising piano student at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music but discovered that she could earn more money as a model than as a concert pianist. Having briefly worked as a waitress Parrish left for New York City in 1953 to pursue a career in modeling. She was signed by the Conover Agency and was soon hired by NBC TV as a live model for color broadcast tests. (She was used as a human test pattern to check balance with skin tones). Parrish relocated to Los Angeles in 1954 and was soon signed to a contract with 20th Century Fox. In 1956 she signed with MGM Pictures for a brief period of time. She acted under her birth name, Marjorie Helen, until 1959. Afterwards she was known as Leslie Parrish. After freelancing for a few years and working in such films as "Tank Battalion" and "Missile To The Moon" (both released in 1958) her breakthrough role came as Daisy Mae in the 1959 musical comedy "Li'l Abner" (above) along with future Catwoman, Julie Newmar. Another significant role was as the doomed Jocelyn Jordan in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). In Portrait of a Mobster (1961) Parrish plays the wife of a detective who consorts with criminals. She is the daughter of a bootlegger who rebuffs the advances of Dutch Schultz, played by Vic Morrow. Parrish appeared in more than 100 TV shows including U.N.C.L.E., Batman, The Wild Wild West, Petticoat Junction, Mannix, Adam 12, Hogan's Heroes, Love American Style, McCloud, The Big Valley and Star Trek, playing Lieutenant Carolyn Palamas in the episode Who Mourns for Adonais? (pictured above with William Shatner). During the sixties to the mid seventies Parrish became politically active. She protested against President Lyndon B. Johnson and became a delegate for presidential democratic candidate George McGovern. In 1973 she also sat on a citizens committee in Los Angeles in support for Mayor-elect Tom Bradley. Parrish's last movie role was in the 1977 film "Crash!". Her last TV appearances wereon "Logan's Run" in 1977 and "Police Story" in 1978. Parrish was married twice. Her first marriage was to Ric Marlow (1955-1961). Her second marriage was to author Richard Bach (1977-1999). She was the subject of two of his books "The Bridge Across Forever" and "One" which focused on their relationship and Bach's concept regarding 'Soulmates'. Selected Leslie Parrish TVography 77 Sunset Strip - The Positive Negative (1961) - Lovely Alibi (1959) Acapulco - Fisher's Daughter (1961) Adam-12 - Gifts and Long Letters (1972) Alcoa Premiere - Chain Reaction (1963) The Aquanauts - Collision (1960) Bachelor Father - Kelly the Yes Man (1962) Banyon - Pilot (1971) Bat Masterson - A Time to Die (1960) - The Elusive Baguette (1960) Batman - The Duo Defy (1967) - Ice Spy (1967) - The Penguin's a Jinx (1966) Bearcats! - Blood Knot (1971) The Big Valley - Bounty on a Barkley (1968) Cade's County - Slay Ride: Part 1 and 2 (1972) Channing - A Doll's House with Pom Pom and Trophies (1963) Family Affair - Speak for Yourself, Mr. French (1969) Follow the Sun - Busman's Holiday (1961) Good Morning, World - Buy Calimari (1967) Hawaiian Eye - Four-Cornered Triangle (1962) - Services Rendered (1960) Hogan's Heroes - Kommandant Gertrude (1971) Iron Horse - Dry Run to Glory (1968) Insight - The Fire Within (1965) Kentucky Jones - The Sour Note (1964) Kraft Suspense Theatre - The Kamchatka Incident (1964) The Lieutenant - Operation - Actress (1964) Logan's Run (TV Series) - The Collectors (1977) Love, American Style - Love and the Pulitzer Prize (1971) - Love and the Mountain Cabin (1969) The Magician - Shattered Image (1974) The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - The Master's Touch Affair (1967) Mannix - The Other Game in Town (1970) - The Playground (1969) - The Girl in the Frame (1968) Marcus Welby, M.D. - Cross-Match (1971) McCloud - The Gang That Stole Manhattan (1974) Michael Shayne - Death Selects the Winner (1960) My Three Sons - Stag at Bay (1966) O'Hara, U.S. Treasury - Operation: Smokescreen (1972) Perry Mason - The Case of the Left-Handed Liar (1961) - The Case of the Impatient Partner (1961) - The Case of the Madcap Modiste (1960) Petticoat Junction - The Tenant (1969) Police Story - No Margin for Error (1978) - The Ripper (1974) The Red Skelton Show - Clem and the Kadiddlehopper Hop (1962) - Clem's Theatre (1961) - Clem Kadiddlehopper in Dog Patch (1960) The Reporter - Murder by Scandal (1964) The Roaring 20's - Champagne Lady (1960) The Rough Riders - Deadfall (1959) Star Trek - Who Mourns for Adonais? (1967) Steve Canyon - Operation Big Thunder (1959) Surfside 6 - The Affairs at Hotel Delight (1961) - Circumstantial Evidence (1961) Tarzan - Mask of Rona (1967) Tightrope - Gangster's Daughter (1960) The Wild Wild West - The Night of the Flying Pie Plate (1966) - The Night the Wizard Shook the Earth (1965) To Rome with Love - A Palazzo Is Not a Home (1969) Selected Leslie Parrish Filmography 1977 Crash! 1975 The Giant Spider Invasion 1970 Brother, Cry for Me 1969 The Devil's 8 1967 The Money Jungle 1963 For Love or Money 1962 The Manchurian Candidate 1961 Portrait of a Mobster 1959 Li'l Abner 1958 Missile to the Moon Tank Battalion 1957 Man on Fire (uncredited) Hot Summer Night (uncredited) 1956 The Opposite Sex (uncredited) The Power and the Prize (uncredited) The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (uncredited) 1955 The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (uncredited) How to Be Very, Very Popular (uncredited) The Virgin Queen Daddy Long Legs (uncredited) A Man Called Peter (uncredited) Leslie Parrish links slideshow