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Helen Parrish

{{short description|American actress}}

{{about|an actress|information on the writer/scholar|Helen Parish}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Helen Parrish

| image = Helen Parrish 1940.jpg

| imagesize =

| alt =

| caption = Parrish pictured in 1940

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|3|12}}

| birth_place = Columbus, Georgia, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1959|2|22|1923|3|12|mf=y}}

| death_place = Hollywood, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Hollywood Forever Cemetery

| occupation = Actress

| spouse = Charles G. Lang Jr. (1942–1954; divorced); 2 children
John Guedel (1956–1959; her death)

| children = 2

| yearsactive = 1927–1958

| relatives = Robert Parrish (brother)

}}

Helen Virginia Parrish (March 12, 1923 – February 22, 1959) was an American stage and film actress.{{cite book|last1=Ellenberger|first1=Allan R.|title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory|date=2001|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786450190|page=143|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZraJCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Helen+Parrish%22+actress&pg=PA143|accessdate=5 July 2017|language=en}}

Career

Parrish was born in Columbus, Georgia.{{cite journal |title=Helen Parrish |journal=Films of the Golden Age |date=Summer 2021 |issue=105 |pages=54-55}} She started in movies at the age of 4, getting her first part playing Babe Ruth's daughter in the silent film Babe Comes Home{{cite news|title=Noted Actress, 35, Victim of Cancer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/18048477/?terms=%22Helen%2BParrish%22%2Bactress|work=Independent|agency=United Press International|date=February 23, 1959|location=California, Long Beach|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 5, 2017}} {{Open access}} in 1927. She was featured in the Our Gang comedy shorts and sometimes played the lead character as a child, co-starring with some of the great female stars of the day. In her teens she made herself known as a kid sister. During this time she also starred opposite Deanna Durbin in several of her films, playing a jealous, spiteful rival.

Their first film together, Mad About Music (1938), worked so well that they soon formed a sort of Shirley Temple/Jane Withers team in a couple of other movie confections for Universal. In their second film together, Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), Parrish replaced Barbara Read as sister Kay Craig. Her films included {{film show year|X Marks the Spot|1931}}, When a Feller Needs a Friend (1932), {{film show year|A Dog of Flanders|1935}}, Little Tough Guy (1938), I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now (1940), You'll Find Out (1940), Too Many Blondes (1941), {{film year|X Marks the Spot|1942}} (1942; a remake of her earlier film), Mystery of the 13th Guest (1943) and {{film show year|The Wolf Hunters|1949}}.

By her mid-twenties she had left motion pictures and turned to television, co-hosting Hour Glass,{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Patrick|title=Robertson's Book of Firsts: Who Did What for the First Time|date=2011|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|isbn=9781608197385|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TEEaCrPiWsC&q=%22Helen+Parrish%22+actress&pg=PT818|accessdate=5 July 2017|language=en}} the first U.S. network variety show in 1946–47. In an era when "... it was a social 'taboo' for a pregnant woman to display herself in public", Parrish was forced to leave Hour Glass as a result of her pregnancy.{{cite book|last1=Schilling|first1=Jim Von|title=The Magic Window: American Television ,1939-1953|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136398674|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9bFBQAAQBAJ&q=%22Helen+Parrish%22+actress&pg=PT79|accessdate=5 July 2017|language=en}} In 1953, she was host of It's a Good Idea and This Is Your Music.

One notable TV role was that of Geraldine Rutherford in the first season of the American television situation comedy Leave It to Beaver.{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=591|edition=2nd}}

Her last role on television was as women's editor of a morning program, Panorama Pacific, on the West Coast.

Parrish appeared in TV commercials for a variety of products throughout the 1950s, earning more income from them than from roles in shows. In 1955, she said that making commercials "turned out to be the next best thing to owning an oil well".

Family

Her brother, Robert Parrish,{{cite book|last1=McFarlane|first1=Brian|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition|date=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9781526111975|page=584|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXnXDQAAQBAJ&q=%22Helen+Parrish%22+actress&pg=PA584|accessdate=5 July 2017|language=en}} was a minor child actor who earned respect as a film editor and director and her sister, Beverly Parrish, died suddenly at the age of 11 after filming only one movie.{{cite book |last1=Ellenberger |first1=Allan R. |title=Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory |date=2001 |publisher=McFarland |page=143 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZraJCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA143}}

On July 11, 1942, Parrish married actor Charles G. Lang, Jr. in Hollywood.{{cite news|title=Marriages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgwEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Helen+Parrish%22+actress&pg=PA1909|accessdate=5 July 2017|work=Billboard|date=July 25, 1942}} They had a son and a daughter, then divorced in 1954. On August 3, 1956, she married television producer John Guedel. She had a miscarriage in April 1958.

Recognition

Parrish has a star at 6263 Hollywood Boulevard in the Motion Pictures section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.{{cite web|title=Helen Parrish|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/helen-parrish|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|accessdate=6 July 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170705235748/http://www.walkoffame.com/helen-parrish|archivedate=5 July 2017}}

Death

On February 22, 1959, Parrish died of cancer at Presbyterian Hospital in Hollywood.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19590223&id=mehWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QUMNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4589,2756326|title=Helen Parrish Dies of Cancer|newspaper=Reading Eagle |date=February 23, 1959|accessdate=April 1, 2014|pages=14}}{{cite news|title=Helen Parrish Actress Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/12155042/the_ottawa_journal/|work=The Ottawa Journal|agency=Associated Press|date=February 23, 1959|location=Canada, Ottawa, Ontario|page=23|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = July 5, 2017}} {{Open access}} She is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Partial filmography

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References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

  • Willson, Dixie. Little Hollywood Stars. Akron, OH, e New York: Saalfield Pub. Co., 1935.

External links

  • {{imdb name|id=0663540|name=Helen Parrish}}
  • {{Find a Grave|8235}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parrish, Helen}}

Category:1923 births

Category:1959 deaths

Category:Actresses from Columbus, Georgia

Category:Deaths from cancer in California

Category:American film actresses

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery