Leslie Parrish on Steve Canyon (1959)

In an episode that first aired on January 3, 1959, actress Leslie Parrish made her first guest appearance on American television. She had been toiling away in Hollywood since 1955 and for the first several years of her career she was billed under the name Marjorie Hellen. Leslie Parrish's star began to shine more brightly at the end of 1959 when she snagged the female lead in the successful Paramount Pictures production Li'l Abner. Though she continued to work in feature films throughout the years, Parrish was most often seen on the small screen...and it all began with a brief appearance on the short-lived series Steve Canyon.

Steve Canyon was a comic strip adaptation that aired on NBC between 1958 and 1959. Leslie Parrish appeared in an episode called "Operation Big Thunder" and, even though she is only seen in the first few minutes of the program, she manages to make a nice impression. Her scene partner was actor Tom Gilson (who was murdered in real life a few years later). Gilson plays a character named Brannigan and Parrish plays the aptly titled Brannigan's Girl...but around the two minute mark she disappears and the viewer never learns her name or anything else about her. Still, she manages to make the most of her limited time onscreen and is able to leave the viewer hoping that they will see her again on a different TV show in the future.