BARBARA PARKINS as Anna Held sings "WON'T YOU COME AND PLAY WITH ME" Two-New York in ZIEGFELD

BARBARA PARKINS is Anna Held, as she performs Wont You Come and Play With Me? one of Helds signature numbers, in the film ZIEGFELD: The Man and His Women. Ms. Parkins, who won the 1965 Photoplay Gold Medal Award for Best Newcomer and became a 60s icon from her starring roles as the notorious Betty Harrington Anderson in Peyton Place [1964] on television and Ann Wells in the cult classic film Valley of the Dolls [1965], has often said that the role of Anna Held [previously portrayed on screen in the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld by Luise Rainer] is her favorite, because it gave her the opportunity to showcase her singing and dancing talents, as well as her acting ability, as the fragile, and ultimately heart-broken International star who became the first wife of the Legendary Florenz Ziegfeld. She performs two versions of this number in the film, this second at the Haymarket Theatre, New York, afte r Flo Ziegfeld has wooed and wed Held, and begun to turn her into a controversial Turn-Of-The-Century Broadway sex symbol. The singing was a new experience for Barbara, but the dancing proved easy since she had started studying ballet at age six and turned professional at 16, two years later traveling with her Mother to Hollywood to begin studying acting. At first I wanted to be a ballerina and even worked for a year with a Canadian ballet troupe, said Parkins. When I decided to become an actress, I continued the weekly dance lessons to keep fit and because I knew someday they would come in handy. She also admits, Im a romantic, I love the costumes of the 1890s and early 1900s. The laces, satins, ribbons are all very feminine. I have always had the feeling I was born during the wrong era. The multi-million dollar three-hour move, which had its US television premiere on May 21, 1978, as part of NBC TVs Sunday night Big Event series, is the longest musical ever filmed for television. [The original 150-minute version was later seen on Showtime, and an edited 100-minute version, retaining most of the musical sequences, has been aired more recently on The Encore Channel]. Headlining as Florenz Ziegfeld was Paul Shenar who began his career on Broadway [Tartuffe, Six Characters In Search of An Author, and Variety Critics-nominee for Tiny Alice and The Three Sisters ], a founding member, actor, director and teacher with William Balls famed American Conservatory Theatre for more than 10 years, who had gained acclaim as Orson Welles, in the TV movie The Night That Panicked America. Starring along with Parkins, as "His Women," were Samantha Eggar [Oscar nominee, Golden Globe/Cannes Film Festival winner for The Collector] as the staunch and lovely Billie Burke; Broadways Pamela Peadon [Celebration, On The Town, Irene, Rodgers & Hart], as beloved 20s icon Marilyn Miller, then receiving acclaim as Cassie in the Los Angeles production of A Chorus Line; Valerie Perrine [Oscar and Golden Globe nominee, Cannes Film Festival/New York Film Critics Award winner for Lenny]