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Barbara Parkins is a Actor Canadienne born on 22 may 1942 at Vancouver (Canada)

Barbara Parkins

Barbara Parkins
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Nationality Canada
Birth 22 may 1942 (81 years) at Vancouver (Canada)

Barbara Parkins (born May 22, 1942) is a Canadian-American television and film actress.

Biography

Early life and rise to stardom
Parkins was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the age of sixteen, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where she enrolled at Hollywood High School and began to study acting, tap, ballet, and fencing at the Falcon School, where her mother played the piano. Her earliest employment was as a backup singer and dancer in the nightclub acts of major stars, including comedian George Burns. She made her film debut in a low-budget crime caper, 20,000 Eyes, in 1961, and also guested in a number of television series, including Leave It to Beaver, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, and The Wide Country.

Shortly before gaining nationwide fame, Parkins worked as an usher in a cinema to pay for drama lessons.


Peyton Place and Valley of the Dolls

Parkins was involved in two of the most highly publicized projects of the 1960s—the ABC primetime serial, Peyton Place, and the film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel, Valley of the Dolls.

In Peyton Place Parkins received lead billing for her role as small town bad girl Betty Anderson. As initially conceived, the character was scheduled to die in a car crash six weeks into the season, but audience reaction to Parkins was overwhelmingly favorable, and it was decided to keep her in the story line. In a late 1965 interview the actress said about her role:


I'm lucky in the role I have. Mine was the big story when the series started off. I haven't had much to do lately, but when I do have scenes, they are important to the plot, You might say I'm the salt and pepper in the stew.
She was the only female star to remain with the series through its entire run (1964–1969). In 1966 she was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Actress in a Lead Role in a Dramatic Series, but lost to Barbara Stanwyck for The Big Valley. About losing the award on her 24th birthday, Parkins told the press:


I was hurt, but if I had to lose I was glad it was to Barbara Stanwyck, who is a grand lady and fine actress. I would have hated to lose to Anne Francis. I don't care much for her work. A woman should be feminine and not go around hitting people with judo chops the way she does in that Honey West show.
Eventually shedding her "other side of the tracks" image, Betty endured many of the trials and tribulations of soap opera life. The character achieved such popularity that when the show ended its run, producer Paul Monash developed a spin-off series, The Girl from Peyton Place, for Parkins. However, when co-star Ryan O'Neal, who played her husband, declined to participate, the project was shelved. Nevertheless, Parkins insisted she often felt very insecure on the set, saying


Sometimes I think I hold myself in too tightly. I would watch Lee Grant do those wild things when she played Stella Chernak and think I should try something like that, but when I did I was pathetic. I'm very critical of what I see of myself, but I did get an Emmy nomination, didn't I?.
In Valley of the Dolls Parkins played Anne Welles, the naive small-town girl, described as "the good girl with a million dollar face and all the bad breaks"—a character based on author Susann. The film was trashed by the critics, although Parkins was one of the few to emerge unscathed. The movie, however, was a huge commercial success and eventually became a campy cult classic. "Jackie was ...taken with Barbara, who she felt resembled an earlier Jackie Susann, dark and intense and with a distinctive voice."

In the late 1960s Parkins was linked to several men, but she insisted most of the stories were made up by gossip magazines. Some of the men included Omar Sharif, Adam West, David Hedison, and Marcel Marceau. In a 1965 interview Parkins said:


I get calls now, from young actors I used to have crushes on. They'll ask me out now, when they wouldn't a year ago. And I love to say "No" to them. I'd have liked it once, but now I don't need them.
Later life and career
After visiting London in 1968, when she served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Valley of the Dolls co-star Sharon Tate and director Roman Polanski, Parkins decided to move to England, where she starred in several productions. Among them: Puppet on a Chain, Shout at the Devil, and The Mephisto Waltz, with Alan Alda and Jacqueline Bisset. Parkins explained why she moved to London by saying: "It's more relaxed; there's a simplicity; I love the traditions."

Parkins posed for nude pictorials in the May 1967, February 1970, and May 1976 editions of Playboy magazine. She spent most of the mid-70s appearing on American television in several mini-series, including Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill with Lee Remick, Captains and the Kings with another Dolls co-star, Patty Duke, and The Testimony of Two Men with William Shatner. She also appeared in guest spots on Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Hotel, and Vega$.

In the late 1970s, Parkins moved to France and married; and, in the late 1980s, she adopted her only child, daughter Christina.

In the 1980s, she continued to work in television movies, including To Catch a King, in which she portrayed the Duchess of Windsor, and opposite Sharon Stone in The Calendar Girl Murders. She also auditioned for the title role in the James Bond film Octopussy (1983) but lost to Maud Adams. She returned to the role of Betty Anderson in Peyton Place: The Next Generation (1985), a one-shot sequel to her popular series.

In 1991, she starred in a Canadian mystery series entitled Scene of the Crime, then spent most of the remainder of the decade in semi-retirement. She emerged in the late 1990s to participate in two Susann-inspired projects, the biopic Scandalous Me and a segment of the Lifetime series Intimate Portrait. In 1995, she was chosen by Empire magazine as number 81 on their list of 100 Sexiest Stars in film history.

In 2006, she participated with Ted Casablanca on the audio commentary for the DVD release of Valley of the Dolls and attended the release party on June 13, 2006.

Usually with

Don Sharp
Don Sharp
(2 films)
John Huston
John Huston
(1 films)
Joe Bini
Joe Bini
(1 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Barbara Parkins (16 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

Peyton Place: The Next Generation
Genres Drama
Actors Barbara Parkins, Evelyn Scott, Patricia Morrow, Ed Nelson, Dorothy Malone, Christopher Connelly
Rating71% 3.593423.593423.593423.593423.59342
The film starts with a young, blonde woman, very much resembling Allison MacKenzie - who has disappeared years ago - arriving in town, and startling Allison's mother Constance (Dorothy Malone). She identifies herself as Megan MacKenzie (Marguerite Hickey), Allison's long lost daughter who believes that she was conceived during a night when Allison was raped, severely beaten and left for dead in a ditch. Megan is immediately taken in by Constance and Elliot Carson (Tim O'Connor), and she tells them that Allison has been in a Boston mental institution for twenty years now. She has not spoken a word since, until Megan gave her a visit recently, she said 'Peyton Place'.
Calendar Girl Murders, 1h40
Directed by William A. Graham
Genres Horror, Crime
Actors Tom Skerritt, Sharon Stone, Barbara Bosson, Alan Thicke, Robert Beltran, Claudia Christian
Roles Cleo Banks
Rating48% 2.410062.410062.410062.410062.41006
The plot revolves around the relationship between Sharon and Tom's characters. Tom's character is married and must protect calendar girls from murder, Sharon is a former calendar girl he must protect, but they get very close throughout the film. In the end, Tom does not have an affair with Sharon, and she is enraged and tries to kill his wife but he stops her.
Breakfast in Paris
Directed by John D. Lamond
Genres Romance
Actors Barbara Parkins, Rod Mullinar, Elspeth Ballantyne, Christopher Milne
Roles Jackie Wyatt
Rating63% 3.165653.165653.165653.165653.16565
Fashion executive Jackie Wyatt discovers her boyfriend has been cheating on her. She flies to Paris and bumps into photographer Michael who she at first dislikes but grows to love.
Bear Island, 1h58
Directed by Don Sharp
Origin Canada
Genres Thriller, Action, Adventure
Actors Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Lloyd Bridges, August Schellenberg
Roles Judith Rubin
Rating58% 2.9006352.9006352.9006352.9006352.900635
A UN expedition of scientists from different countries come to barren arctic Bear Island, between Svalbard and northern Norway, to study climate change. However, several of them turn out to be more interested in the fact that (according to the film) there was a German U-boat base on the island during World War II. American scientist Frank Lansing (Donald Sutherland) has come because his father was a U-boat commander who died there, and as accidents start to decimate the expedition he begins to realize that some of his colleagues are after a shipment of gold aboard the U-boat that his father commanded.
Shout at the Devil, 2h4
Directed by John Glen, Peter Hunt
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Thriller, Action, Adventure
Themes Films set in Africa, Political films
Actors Lee Marvin, Roger Moore, Ian Holm, Barbara Parkins, Reinhard Kolldehoff, George Coulouris
Roles Rosa O'Flynn / Oldsmith
Rating60% 3.049953.049953.049953.049953.04995
Colonel Flynn O'Flynn (Lee Marvin), a hard-drinking American, manipulates British aristocrat Sebastian Oldsmith (Roger Moore) into helping poach ivory in Tanganyika, which is part of the German-controlled pre-World War I territory of German East Africa. On hearing news that the American has returned, Herman Fleischer, the local German Commander of the Southern Provinces, relentlessly hunts O'Flynn with his Schutztruppen.
Snatched
Snatched (1973)

Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Actors Howard Duff, John Saxon, Leslie Nielsen, Sheree North, Barbara Parkins, Robert Reed
Roles Barbara Maxvill
Rating64% 3.2270753.2270753.2270753.2270753.227075
The wives of three wealthy men are kidnapped and held for a $3 million ransom. One of the wives, a diabetic, needs medication or she will soon die. One of the husbands refuses to pay his share of the ransom. There is also an unseen mastermind behind the kidnapping.
Asylum
Asylum (1972)
, 1h28
Directed by Patrick Magee, Roy Ward Baker
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Horror
Themes Medical-themed films, Psychologie, Films about psychiatry, Films set in psychiatric hospitals
Actors Peter Cushing, Britt Ekland, Robert Powell, Herbert Lom, Barry Morse, Patrick Magee
Roles Bonnie
Rating64% 3.2453153.2453153.2453153.2453153.245315
Dr Martin (Robert Powell) arrives at a secluded asylum "for the incurably insane" to be interviewed for a job by the wheelchair-bound, authoritarian Dr Lionel Rutherford (Patrick Magee). Rutherford explains that he owes his current incapacitation to an attack by an inmate.
The Mephisto Waltz, 1h55
Directed by Paul Wendkos, David S. Hall
Origin USA
Genres Fantastic, Horror
Themes Films about music and musicians, Films about religion, Demons in film, Children's films
Actors Alan Alda, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbara Parkins, Bradford Dillman, William Windom, Curd Jürgens
Roles Roxanne Delancey
Rating61% 3.050763.050763.050763.050763.05076
Myles Clarkson, long ago frustrated in his hope for a career as a pianist, is now a music journalist and interviews Duncan Ely, perhaps the world's greatest virtuoso on the instrument. At first annoyed with Myles' presence, Duncan soon takes notice that Myles' hands seem perfect for the piano. From that point, Duncan and his adult daughter, Roxanne, strongly pursue a friendship with Myles and wife Paula.
The Deadly Trap, 1h36
Directed by René Clément
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller
Actors Faye Dunaway, Frank Langella, Barbara Parkins, Karen Blanguernon, Raymond Gérôme, Patrick Dewaere
Roles Cynthia
Rating55% 2.7553152.7553152.7553152.7553152.755315
Un couple d'Américains et leurs deux enfants viennent vivre à Paris. Déjà fragile, le couple est meurtri lors de l'enlèvement de leurs enfants. Le père voit alors resurgir son passé trouble d'agent spécial et d'espion industriel...
A Taste of Evil, 1h13
Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror
Actors Barbara Stanwyck, Barbara Parkins, Roddy McDowall, William Windom, Arthur O'Connell, Bing Russell
Roles Susan Wilcox
Rating62% 3.146733.146733.146733.146733.14673
Susan Wilcox (Barbara Parkins) is a young woman who was raped by an unknown man when she was a 13-year-old. Traumatized by the experience, she suffered a mental breakdown, did not speak a word for two years, and was entered in a Swiss sanatorium. Upon leaving the psychiatric institution for the first time, she returns to her old home where her mother Miriam (Barbara Stanwyck) is now in an unstable marriage with Harold Jennings (William Windom), an alcoholic. Susan returns to the woods where she was raped, and is followed there by someone. She suspects that this person is Harold, but Miriam tells her that Harold left her the previous night.
The Kremlin Letter, 2h1
Directed by John Huston
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Spy
Themes Spy films, Films about sexuality, LGBT-related films, Transgender in film, Political films, Children's films, LGBT-related films, LGBT-related film, Cross-dressing in film
Actors Bibi Andersson, Richard Boone, Nigel Green, Dean Jagger, Patrick O'Neal, George Sanders
Roles B. A.
Rating61% 3.098243.098243.098243.098243.09824
Late in 1969, a brilliant young United States Navy intelligence officer named Charles Rone (Patrick O'Neal) finds his commission revoked so that he can be recruited into an espionage mission. Rone is told that the mission is being undertaken independently of governmental intelligence agencies, as was commonplace prior to World War II, when espionage operations were handled by a small community of agents operating on a freelance basis.
Valley of the Dolls, 2h3
Directed by Mark Robson
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Musical theatre, Musical, Romance
Themes Films about television, Children's films
Actors Barbara Parkins, Sharon Tate, Patty Duke, Susan Hayward, Lee Grant, Tony Scotti
Roles Anne Welles
Rating60% 3.000083.000083.000083.000083.00008
Three young women meet when they embark on their careers. Neely O'Hara (Duke) is a plucky kid with undeniable talent who sings in a Broadway show—the legendary actress Helen Lawson (Hayward) is the star of the play—while Jennifer North (Tate), a beautiful blonde with limited talent, is in the chorus. Anne Welles (Parkins) is a New England ingenue who recently arrived in New York City and works as a secretary for a theatrical agency that represents Lawson. Neely, Jennifer, and Anne become fast friends, sharing the bonds of ambition and the tendency to fall in love with the wrong men.