Julie Parrish

Julie Parrish, born Ruby Joyce Wilbar, was the actress who played Miss Piper of Starbase 11 in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode. She was born in Middlesboro, Kentucky and died of ovarian cancer in Los Angeles, California.

Parrish began appearing on television and in film in 1962. She made her stage debut the following year, portraying the female lead in a play called Memo. She also made her first credited film appearance in the classic 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy, The Nutty Professor.

In 1964, Parrish appeared on the NBC series Temple Houston, which starred Jeffrey Hunter in the title role. She again worked with Hunter the following year on the pilot episode of The F.B.I., along with Stephen Brooks, Jonathan Lippe, and Paul Sorensen. Hunter was also seen as Captain Christopher Pike via archive footage in Parrish's episode of Star Trek.

Also in 1964, Parrish was seen on the western series Gunsmoke, in an episode with Anthony Caruso. The following year, she appeared on such shows as Ben Casey (with Antoinette Bower and Jon Lormer) and was seen in films like Harlow and Winter A-Go-Go.

In 1966 – the same year she appeared on Star Trek – Parrish won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for her portrayal of Maggie in a Beverly Hills production of Arthur Miller's play After the Fall. In addition, Parrish had supporting roles in the Elvis Presley film Paradise, Hawaiian Style, and the campy action comedy Fireball 500. She also appeared in an episode of the western series Bonanza with Skip Homeier.

In 1967, Parrish made the first of two guest appearances on the CBS comedy series Family Affair, which starred Brian Keith. She made her second appearance on the show in 1970.

Parrish was a regular on the 1967-68 CBS television comedy series Good Morning, World, on which she played Linda, a homemaker married to a Los Angeles disc jockey. In 1972, Parrish was part of the original cast of the NBC soap opera Return to Peyton Place, playing the role of Betty Anderson during the show's first season. John Hoyt also acted on this series.

Her other television credits during the 1970s included guest spots on Mannix (with Steve Ihnat and Paul Sorensen), The Smith Family (directed by Herschel Daugherty), Dallas (with Barbara Babcock and Nicolas Coster and directed by Corey Allen), The Rockford Files (including one episode with Sharon Acker in which she is again directed by Corey Allen), and Laverne & Shirley (with Ed Begley, Jr., David L. Lander, and Michael McKean). She also had a role in the 1978 TV movie adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (with Parley Baer, Whit Bissell, and Bill Zuckert).

Parrish played the female lead in the 1972 bank robbery film The Doberman Gang. Her only other feature film credit after this was the 1981 comedy The Devil and Max Devlin.

From 1982 through 1985, Parrish played the role of Maggie Brady on the CBS soap opera Capitol. During her time on this series, she also made an appearance on the drama series Jessie along with John Anderson.

Parrish again worked with director Corey Allen for the 1987 TV movie The Last Fling, which also featured Scott Bakula. The following year, Parrish appeared on Murder, She Wrote. Following an episode of Hunter in which she worked with Richard Lineback and Richard Lynch, Parrish retired from acting. She returned in 1996 for a recurring role as Joan Diamond (later Joan Bussichio) on the popular series Beverly Hills, 90210.

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Julie Parrish Julie Parrish