Culver City,
California
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Dennis Parish Oral History
Date Made: March 5, 2016
Country: United States
Materials: digital files; paper
Dennis James Parrish was born on May 3, 1935 in Culver City, California. He has lived in Culver City his entire life and still owns a home on Mentone Avenue. Parrish is a second generation property master and has worked on more that sixty-five movies and documentaries. Besides props, Parrish has worked as an art director and a set director. In addition, he produced six historical documentaries on Culver City with his daughter, Hope Parrish. The Parrish family came from Akron, Ohio and Dennis’s father, a childhood chum of Clark Gables, followed him to Los Angeles in 1929 to work in the film industry. According to Parrish, Gable called his dad, “Jim, you got to come out here and try this.” Instead of becoming an actor, James Parrish ended up at MGM studios in the prop department. Parrish started working in the film industry at the age of eighteen. He makes a point of saying his father did not facilitate his entry into the film industry, he worked his way up, he began as a driver for celebrities and directors. Parrish retired from the industry in 2010 after fifty-seven years. He now enjoys playing golf in Palm Desert where he currently resides with his wife of sixty-years.
Accession Number: 2016.041.003
Credit Line: Parrish, Dennis (March 5, 2016). Interview by Mercedes G. Ontañon. Cold War Culver City Oral History Project, Claremont Graduate University and The Wende Museum, Culver City.
Collection/Series: Cold War Culver City Oral Histories
Access Restrictions: none