Barbara Parkins Movies
Raven-haired, well-scrubbed Canadian actress Barbara Parkins made her film bow in the 1961 British crime drama 20,000 Eyes. Parkin's most fondly remembered role was the much-married Betty Harrington in the American TV series Peyton Place, which ran from 1964 through 1969. She reprised Betty for a 1985 "reunion" TV movie, and played a variation of the character in the 1967 theatrical feature Valley of the Dolls. While her stardom pretty much ended with the 1960s, she has remained most active in made-for-TV features, playing Anna Held in Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women (1978) and the Duchess of Windsor in To Catch a King (1984). In 1991, Barbara Parkins returned to the weekly-TV grind on the Canadian-filmed dramatic anthology Scene of the Crime, essaying a different role in each episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A cinematic take on a 1960s best-seller, Valley of the Dolls traces the ups and downs of three young women as fame, booze, pills, and men consume their lives. Well-bred, small-town Anne Welles (Peyton Place star Barbara Parkins) arrives in New York eager for fame but settles for a job assisting theatrical attorney Henry Bellamy (Robert H. Harris). The job leads her to cross paths with Helen Lawson (Hollywood veteran Susan Hayward), the grand dame of Broadway musicals, and Neely O'Hara (sitcom star Patty Duke), an up-and-coming performer whom Lawson unceremoniously boots from her latest show. Neely lands on her feet thanks to a series of nightclub gigs, and soon she and Anne befriend Jennifer North (Sharon Tate), a buxom starlet. As Neely becomes a huge star of stage and screen and Jennifer appears topless in a string of European "art" films, Anne becomes a wealthy cosmetics spokeswoman and suffers though a passionate but failed affair with aspiring writer Lyon Burke (Paul Burke). As the pressures of fame and failed romance take their toll on all three women, they take refuge in food, sex, liquor, and pills -- especially Neely, who becomes downright monstrous (the titular "dolls" are the uppers and downers to which she becomes hopelessly addicted). Although the film's characters are fictitious composites, Neely most closely resembles Judy Garland; Garland herself was originally cast as Lawson, but she was replaced after only a few days by Hayward. Although the film's trailer played up the story's titillating subject matter, the script for Valley of the Dolls actually toned down Jacqueline Susann's novel. And despite the fact that Dionne Warwick can be heard singing "(Theme From) The Valley of the Dolls" twice during the film, contractual snags kept her from releasing the soundtrack version; a different arrangement later became a number two pop hit in 1968. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke, (more)
- 1962
Dickie Durham (Liam Sullivan), proverbial black sheep of his wealthy family, returns home after nineteen years at sea and puts the bite on his rich brother Russell (Ford Rainey). Dickie wants enough money to open a pub in Australia--and if he doesn't get it, he will reveal that he is the actual father of Russell's "daughter" Paula (Barbara Parkins). Later on, Dickie is killed in a waterfront brawl, and his shipmate "Lord Harry" Fothergill (Sean McClory) is charged with the crime. Lawyer Perry Mason must prove that, despite his disreptuable demeanor, Harry is the soul of honesty and wouldn't harm a fly--even though there's a $100,000 inheritance that could be considered a motive for the murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Well-made considering its six-day shooting schedule, this "B"-grade cops 'n robbers drama by Jack Leewood features Gene Nelson as Dan, an ingenious thief living on the edge at the moment. Dan has just cheated a mobster out of some stock in order to use it as collateral on a loan -- and now he has to save himself by replacing the stock with the money its worth. In order to do that, he figures out a complex scheme to steal some diamonds from a display case in a museum, use them to get an insurance sum, and put the real diamonds back before his fake substitutes are found. He co-opts a few people to help him on this plot, and the action begins. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gene Nelson, Merry Anders, (more)
- 1961
Now that he's in the sixth grade, Beaver (Jerry Mathers) insists that he doesn't need a babysitter any more. So certain is he that his parents will agree that Beaver brags to his pals that he will never again require a sitter's services. Unfortunately, his parents have already hired a teenager named Judy to look after him while they're on a night out -- and worse, it's the same night that Beav's friends plan to drop in. The role of babysitter Judy Walker is played by future Peyton Place and Valley of the Dolls leading lady Barbara Parkins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stephen Talbot, Richard Correll, (more)
