In Peyton Place, Parkins received lead billing for her role as small-town bad girl Betty Anderson. The character was scripted to die in a car crash six weeks into the season, but audience reaction to Parkins was overwhelmingly favorable and her character was kept in the story line. In a late-1965 interview, the actress said she was lucky to have the role of Anderson, calling her character the "salt and pepper in the stew".[5]
Parkins was the only female star nominated for an award throughout the run of the series (1964–1969). In 1966, she was nominated for an Emmy Award as Lead Actress in a Drama Series, but lost to Barbara Stanwyck for The Big Valley. Parkins said while losing the award was painful, she was glad to have lost it to Stanwyck instead of Anne Francis, who was also nominated and whose work Parkins thought was "unfeminine".[7]
Following the close of Peyton Place, producer Paul Monash developed a spin-off series, The Girl from Peyton Place, for Parkins. However, when co-star Ryan O'Neal, who played her husband, declined to participate, the project was shelved.[citation needed]
In Valley of the Dolls, Parkins played Anne Welles, a character based on author Susann. The Welles character was described as "the good girl with a million-dollar face and all the bad breaks".[who?] Although the film was trashed by the critics, it was a commercial success and became a cult classic.
After visiting London in 1968 to be a bridesmaid in the wedding of Valley of the Dolls co-star Sharon Tate and director Roman Polanski,[8] Parkins moved to England, where she starred in several productions, including Puppet on a Chain (1970), The Mephisto Waltz (1971), and Shout at the Devil (1976), Parkins said she moved to London because it was relaxed and simple, and she loved its traditions.[9]
Parkins posed for nude pictorials in the May 1967, February 1970 and May 1976 editions of Playboy magazine.
In 1991, Parkins starred in Canadian mystery series Scene of the Crime. She appeared in two Susann-inspired projects, the biography Scandalous Me and a segment of the Lifetime series Intimate Portrait.
While filming Valley of the Dolls, Parkins met photographer Edward Steichen, a friend of the film's cinematographer, and was influenced to begin a lifetime career in photography.[10] She is also an advocate for endangered wildlife.[11][12]
^Terrace, Vincent. Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials: 1974-1984 (1985), Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft AG. ISBN0-918432-61-8, pp. 34, 75, 264, 409
Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present (2007). Random House, Inc., ISBN0-345-49773-2, pp 220, 1077, 1201
Newcomb, Horace. Encyclopedia of Television (2004). CRC Press. ISBN1-57958-411-X, pp. 1754–1756
