Leslie Parrish (born Marjorie Hellen; March 13, 1935)[2] is an American actress, activist, environmentalist, writer, and producer.

[4][3] In April 1954, as a 19-year-old model with the Conover Agency in New York City, Parrish was under contract to NBC-TV as "Miss Color TV" (she was used during broadcasts as a human test pattern to check accuracy of skin tones).

She gained wide attention in her first starring role as Daisy Mae in the movie version of Li'l Abner (1959), where she changed her name from Marjorie Hellen to Leslie Parrish at the director's request.

Among other things, she hired the director of photography Jack Couffer – who later received an Academy Award nomination for his efforts – and she was responsible for the care of the film's real-life seagulls, which she kept inside a room at a Holiday Inn in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California for the duration of the shoot.

[citation needed] While acting provided financial stability, her main interest was in social causes including the anti-war and civil rights movements[14] and, as far back as the mid 1950s, the environment.

[15] In June 1967, the then-32-year-old Parrish participated in a peace march in the Century City district of Los Angeles, where she and thousands of other protestors were attacked and beaten by the LAPD and the National Guard.

President Lyndon Johnson was present at the Century Plaza Hotel and helicopters were flying overhead with machine guns pointed at the marchers.

[16][17] Parrish started to make speeches in the Los Angeles area, telling residents what the media did not report and speaking out against the war.

[18] On August 6, 1967, Parrish helped organize a protest march of 17,000 people on the "Miracle Mile" of Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, which received extensive media coverage and national attention.

Someone later published the bumper sticker, changing the original wording to 'WHAT IF they gave a war and no one came' but to Parrish, the important thing was spreading that message.

[26] On March 16, 1968, when Kennedy announced that he would run for president, Parrish remained loyal to McCarthy and was elected a delegate to represent him in August at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

On the night of the nomination, August 28, Parrish joined the McCarthy delegates outside the Hilton Hotel, where violent actions by police against anti-war demonstrators and spectators were being covered by live television.

Her last major production was the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE), held November 16, 1969 at San Francisco's Polo Grounds.

Parrish was one of forty activist citizens who served on Bradley's Blue Ribbon Commission to choose new Los Angeles Commissioners.

The lack of media coverage during the Century City riots in 1967 prompted Parrish to think of a new way to cover such events live to prevent suppression and/or manipulation of the news.

In 1969, she began to create a television station that would devote itself to covering public events and provide in-depth analysis and discussions of important developments in the world.

Film notables, business people and local activists formed the board of directors and provided support for the unique station.

In 1979, she and her then-husband, Richard Bach, built an experimental home in southwest Oregon using 100% solar power with no cooling or heating systems, in order to prove it could be done.