Helen Parrish | |
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Parrish pictured in 1940
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Born |
Columbus, Georgia, U.S. |
March 12, 1924
Died | February 22, 1959 Hollywood, California, U.S. |
(aged 34)
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1927-1958 |
Spouse(s) | Charles Lang (1942-1954) (divorced) 2 children John Guedel (1957-1959) (her death) |
Helen Parrish (March 12, 1924, Columbus, Georgia – February 22, 1959) was an American movie actress, the daughter of stage and film actress Laura Parrish.
She started in movies at the age of five, getting her first part playing Babe Ruth's daughter in the silent film Babe Comes Home 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. But during this time she was probably most notable as an irritant of Deanna Durbin in several of her vehicles, 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 X Marks the Spot (1931), When a Feller Needs a Friend (1932), A Dog of Flanders (1935), Little Tough Guy (1938), I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now (1940), Too Many Blondes (1941), X Marks the Spot (1942; a remake of her earlier film), and The Wolf Hunters (1949).