HARVEY PARRY

April 23, 1900

Harvey Parry was born in San Francisco, California, in 1900. He became a stuntman and actor whose career spanned the silent era and the disaster movie genre of the 1970s.

Parry worked as a circus aerialist in his youth and was working as a property man at the studios prior to discovering that his talents as both a boxer and high diver made him ideally suited for stunt work.  He made his stunt debut in 1914 as a driver in The Rose Bush of Memories.  He made his acting debut in William W. Wellman’s Beggars of Life in 1928. 

He was a stunt man on Lucille Ball’s second film, The Bowery (1933).

He worked with Ball again as stuntman and actor on There Goes My Girl (1937), although Ball’s scenes were deleted before the film was released. 

In 1950, he began doing television as both stunt man and actor, appearing on “Dangerous Assignment” (stunts), and “The Buster Keaton Show” (acting).

In February 1957, he appeared in an episode of Desilu’s “The Sheriff of Cochise.”  In October 1958, he appeared in an episode of “Yancy Derringer,” filmed at Desilu Studios. 

On January 24, 1966, he was seen as one of the Keystone Kops in “Lucy Meets Mickey Rooney” (TLS S4;E18). Lucy and Mickey re-enact a Charlie Chaplin silent movie and the Keystone Kops chase them across the stage. 

He returned to the series For “Lucy Meets Sheldon Leonard” (TLS S5;E22) on March 6, 1967. 

He played a character known as Harry (above right), who is actually a stunt man, but Lucy believe he is one of Sheldon Leonard’s criminal gang come to rob the bank!

In November 1967, Parry was seen on an episode of Desilu’s “Mannix” as Ed Regan.  “The Lucy Show” did a crossover with “Mannix” in October 1971, although Parry was not involved. 

He continued acting and doing stunts until he was 85 years old. His last screen appearance as in the film A Fine Mess starring Ted Danson. The film was released a few months after Parry’s death on September 18, 1985 at age 85. 

He had been married twice: to Lavinia Virgil and Dorothy Abril. 

“A good stuntman–his mind has to be at least fourteen feet ahead of his body. That’s the way to stay alive, you know.” ~ Harvey Parry