Actress Barbara Parkins arrived in the world as a Gemini on Wednesday May 22, 1946 (some records show her birth year of being 1942, but on her own accord she states 1946). She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her height is 5' 4" with measurements of 34-24-34 (source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine). It has been reported that she was adopted by a Candanian couple and her adopted father passed away when she was in grade school. At the age of sixteen, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles where she enrolled at Hollywood High School (records indicate she graduated in 1960) 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 did guest spots in a number of television series, including Leave It to Beaver, The Untouchables, Perry Mason, and The Wide Country. Shortly before gaining nationwide fame, Barbara worked as an usher in a cinema to pay for drama lessons. In 1962 Barbara recorded a song on Baronet Records called "A Tiny Little Teardrop" B/W Unbelievable was reviewed on the September 22, 1962 issue of Billboard Music Week Magazine.
She was soon offered the pivotal role of "Betty Anderson" in what would become television's first prime-time soap opera, Peyton Place in which Barbara received lead billing for her role as small town bad girl as initially conceived, the character was scheduled to die in a car crash six weeks into the season, but audience reaction to Barbara was overwhelmingly favorable and the show was an immediate success
and turned her into a household name. Due to her great success Barbara was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1966 for "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series. Other Nominees were Barbara Stanwyck for "The Big Valley" and Anne Francis for "Honey West". Barbara lost to Barbara Stanwyck who she would later star with in the Made for Television Movie "A
Taste of Evil" (1971). She stayed for the entire 5 year run of the show. When the show ended its run, producer Paul Monash had developed a spin-off series, "The Girl from Peyton Place" for Barbara. However, when co-star Ryan O'Neal, who played her husband, declined to sign on to the project it was shelved. In 1968 she was nominated for "Golden Laurel" Award as Female New Face.
Her popularity was further solidified when, in 1967, she starred as Anne Wells in star studded cast of the motion picture "Valley of the Dolls". It was based on a novel written by Jacqueline Susann. The film was trashed by the critics, although it was a commercial success (over 100 million in gross revenue and only cost 5 milllion to make) Barbara was one of the few to emerge unscathed. The movie today is a cult classic. During the filming of Valley of the Dolls, Barbara become close friends with costar Sharon Tate and had traveled to London to be her bridesmaid when Sharon married director Roman Polanski in 1968. It was then that Barbara fell in love with England and after Sharon's horrific murder she decided to leave Hollywood and took up residence in London. There she appeared on the BBC and starred in such international productions as "The Kremlin Letter" (1970), "The Mephisto Waltz" (1971), "The Deadly Trap" (1971) "Puppet on a Chain" (1971), "Asylum" (1972) "Christina" (1974) and "Shout at the Devil" (1976).
Her career, however, was no longer the prime focus of her life. It was reported that she married in the late 1970's and lived in France for
awhile. During the years Barbara had done photo pictorials for Playboy magazine. The first issue being in May, 1967, February, 1970 and May, 1976. She was a beautiful as ever and when her marriage ended, Barbara returned to the United States and again started acting. She appeared in many popular television movies and guest starred on shows such as "Captain and the Kings" (1976), "Testimony of Two Men" (1977), "Young Joe, the forgotten Kennedy" (1977), and a great performance in "Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women" (1978), "The Critical List" (1978) and returned to film in "Bear Island" (1979). The early eighties had appearances on TV shows such as "Vegas" (1980), "Fantasy Island" (1980), the mini-series "The Manions of America" (1981), the film "Breakfast in Paris" (1982), "Uncommon Valor" (1983), "Hotel" (1983), "To Catch a King"(1984), "Calendar Girl Murders" (1984) and "The Love Boat"(1984).
Barbara joined other original cast members for a Peyton Place reunion TV movie "Peyton Place: The Next Generation" (1985). Her career was placed on hold when she gave birth to her beautiful daughter Christina Madison who was born on May 25, 1986. Christina graduated from Pacific Palisades High School in 2004 and lived in Los Angeles as well as her last address Las Vegas. Barbara made infrequent appearances since the late 1980's in the TV movie "Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun", "Jake and the Fatman" (1988) and "Murder She Wrote" (1989). Although she did return to weekly television for a brief stint in the CBS-TV series "Scene of the Crime" (1991) which was filmed in the city she was born, Vancouver.and did a guest spot on "Picket Fences" (1996). In 1997, Barbara was the guest of honor at a 30th anniversary screening of Valley of the Dolls (1967) in San Francisco (June 13, 2006). During a question-and-answer segment with columnist Ted Casablanca, she announced to the sold-out audience that she planned to retire. The following year, however, she did appear in Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story (1998) (TV), based on the life of Valley of the Dolls' controversial author Jacqueline Susann.
Today, Barbara spends her time retired but very active in her environmental causes such as the World Wildlife Organization, The Dian Fossey Organization (the Gorilla Fund as a Supporter), and the Woodlands Trust Organization U.K. She travels and has given her stamp of approval of the Official Fan Page on FaceBook managed by Andy Zambella. There you can find updates on her we can look forward to her own personal official website of her photo's and information.
Interesting Trivia (unknown sources from IMDB)
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.
1965: was named "Hollywood's Deb Star of the Year" by the Association of Hollywood Makeup Artists and Hairstylists.
1965: Won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award for Best Newcomer.
Former residences are reported as 805 Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 and 1025 Swall Drive West Hollywood, CA
Is an adopted child.
Is an accomplished photographer (which is stated to be true and she is planning a website of her photographs).
She auditioned for the title role in the James Bond film Octopussy (1983) but lost the role to Maud Adams.
In 1995 she was chosen by Empire magazine as number 81 on their list of 100 Sexiest Stars in film history.
In 1966 she co-hosted the Miss Teen International Pageant with Ryan O'Neal.
Was among the women chosen by famed photographer Patrick Lichfield to be included in his 1983 book "The Most
Beautiful Women"
Chosen by Empire Magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#81) (1995).
Was signed to star in the 1980 mini-series Scruples (1980), but backed out before filming started.
She was soon offered the pivotal role of "Betty Anderson" in what would become television's first prime-time soap opera, Peyton Place in which Barbara received lead billing for her role as small town bad girl as initially conceived, the character was scheduled to die in a car crash six weeks into the season, but audience reaction to Barbara was overwhelmingly favorable and the show was an immediate success
and turned her into a household name. Due to her great success Barbara was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1966 for "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series. Other Nominees were Barbara Stanwyck for "The Big Valley" and Anne Francis for "Honey West". Barbara lost to Barbara Stanwyck who she would later star with in the Made for Television Movie "A
Taste of Evil" (1971). She stayed for the entire 5 year run of the show. When the show ended its run, producer Paul Monash had developed a spin-off series, "The Girl from Peyton Place" for Barbara. However, when co-star Ryan O'Neal, who played her husband, declined to sign on to the project it was shelved. In 1968 she was nominated for "Golden Laurel" Award as Female New Face.
Her popularity was further solidified when, in 1967, she starred as Anne Wells in star studded cast of the motion picture "Valley of the Dolls". It was based on a novel written by Jacqueline Susann. The film was trashed by the critics, although it was a commercial success (over 100 million in gross revenue and only cost 5 milllion to make) Barbara was one of the few to emerge unscathed. The movie today is a cult classic. During the filming of Valley of the Dolls, Barbara become close friends with costar Sharon Tate and had traveled to London to be her bridesmaid when Sharon married director Roman Polanski in 1968. It was then that Barbara fell in love with England and after Sharon's horrific murder she decided to leave Hollywood and took up residence in London. There she appeared on the BBC and starred in such international productions as "The Kremlin Letter" (1970), "The Mephisto Waltz" (1971), "The Deadly Trap" (1971) "Puppet on a Chain" (1971), "Asylum" (1972) "Christina" (1974) and "Shout at the Devil" (1976).
Her career, however, was no longer the prime focus of her life. It was reported that she married in the late 1970's and lived in France for
awhile. During the years Barbara had done photo pictorials for Playboy magazine. The first issue being in May, 1967, February, 1970 and May, 1976. She was a beautiful as ever and when her marriage ended, Barbara returned to the United States and again started acting. She appeared in many popular television movies and guest starred on shows such as "Captain and the Kings" (1976), "Testimony of Two Men" (1977), "Young Joe, the forgotten Kennedy" (1977), and a great performance in "Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women" (1978), "The Critical List" (1978) and returned to film in "Bear Island" (1979). The early eighties had appearances on TV shows such as "Vegas" (1980), "Fantasy Island" (1980), the mini-series "The Manions of America" (1981), the film "Breakfast in Paris" (1982), "Uncommon Valor" (1983), "Hotel" (1983), "To Catch a King"(1984), "Calendar Girl Murders" (1984) and "The Love Boat"(1984).
Barbara joined other original cast members for a Peyton Place reunion TV movie "Peyton Place: The Next Generation" (1985). Her career was placed on hold when she gave birth to her beautiful daughter Christina Madison who was born on May 25, 1986. Christina graduated from Pacific Palisades High School in 2004 and lived in Los Angeles as well as her last address Las Vegas. Barbara made infrequent appearances since the late 1980's in the TV movie "Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun", "Jake and the Fatman" (1988) and "Murder She Wrote" (1989). Although she did return to weekly television for a brief stint in the CBS-TV series "Scene of the Crime" (1991) which was filmed in the city she was born, Vancouver.and did a guest spot on "Picket Fences" (1996). In 1997, Barbara was the guest of honor at a 30th anniversary screening of Valley of the Dolls (1967) in San Francisco (June 13, 2006). During a question-and-answer segment with columnist Ted Casablanca, she announced to the sold-out audience that she planned to retire. The following year, however, she did appear in Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story (1998) (TV), based on the life of Valley of the Dolls' controversial author Jacqueline Susann.
Today, Barbara spends her time retired but very active in her environmental causes such as the World Wildlife Organization, The Dian Fossey Organization (the Gorilla Fund as a Supporter), and the Woodlands Trust Organization U.K. She travels and has given her stamp of approval of the Official Fan Page on FaceBook managed by Andy Zambella. There you can find updates on her we can look forward to her own personal official website of her photo's and information.
Interesting Trivia (unknown sources from IMDB)
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.
1965: was named "Hollywood's Deb Star of the Year" by the Association of Hollywood Makeup Artists and Hairstylists.
1965: Won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award for Best Newcomer.
Former residences are reported as 805 Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 and 1025 Swall Drive West Hollywood, CA
Is an adopted child.
Is an accomplished photographer (which is stated to be true and she is planning a website of her photographs).
She auditioned for the title role in the James Bond film Octopussy (1983) but lost the role to Maud Adams.
In 1995 she was chosen by Empire magazine as number 81 on their list of 100 Sexiest Stars in film history.
In 1966 she co-hosted the Miss Teen International Pageant with Ryan O'Neal.
Was among the women chosen by famed photographer Patrick Lichfield to be included in his 1983 book "The Most
Beautiful Women"
Chosen by Empire Magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#81) (1995).
Was signed to star in the 1980 mini-series Scruples (1980), but backed out before filming started.