BARBARA PARKINS as Anna Held sings" I JUST CAN'T MAKE MY EYES BEHAVE" in ZIEGFELD

BARBARA PARKINS portrays the International sensation of the 1900s and first wife of Florenz Ziegfeld [who turned her into a Turn-Of-The-Century sex symbol] and performs one of her signature numbers, a most provocative one in its day. The Emmy nominated actress and winner of the 1965 Photoplay Gold Medal Award for Best Newcomer, became a 60s icon from her starring roles in two of the era's more notorious productions as Betty Harrington Anderson, the bad girl on televisions Peyton Place [1964] and Ann Wells in the cult classic film Valley of the Dolls [1965]. Ms. Parkins, whose other films include Kremlin Letter, Puppet On A String, The Mephisto Waltz and, most recently, The Jacqueline Suzanne Story, 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. 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.
ZIEGFELD The Man and His Women was a giant undertaking for television. The multi-million dollar three-hour move, which also starred Paul Shenar, Samantha Eggar, Pamela Peadon, Valerie Perrine, Inga Swenson, Ron Husmann, Walter Willison, Catherine Jacoby [aka Loria Parker] and others, had its US television premiere on May 21, 1978, as part of NBC TVs Sunday night Big Event series, took three years of planning before anyone stepped onto a soundstage, 32 days of shooting, and months of post production, and is the longest musical ever filmed for television [after network repeats, the original 150-minute version went on to be seen on Showtime, and an edited 100- minute ve rsion, which retains the majority of the musical numbers, has been aired in recent years on TVs Encore Channel.