Irene Champlin (born Irene Parsons; March 16, 1931 – July 10, 1990) was an American

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

Biography

She was born in

Waurika, Oklahoma Waurika is the county seat of Jefferson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,064 at the 2010 census, a 4.36 percent decrease from 2,158 at the 2000 census. An article from 1985 in ''The Oklahoman'' claimed that Waurika promoted ...

. Her most prominent role was as

Dale Arden Dale Arden is a fictional character, the fellow adventurer and love interest of Flash Gordon and a prototypic heroine for later female characters, including Princess Leia and Padme Amidala in '' Star Wars''. Flash, Dale and Dr. Hans Zarkov fi ...

in the 1954–1955 syndicated television series ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' adve ...

''. Her portrayal of Arden has been praised for breaking from the typical

damsel in distress The damsel in distress is a recurring narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has either been kidnapped or placed in general peril. Kinship, love, or lust (or a combination of those) gives the male protagonist the motiv ...

of the earlier comic strip and film serials to present the character as a trained

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

and a "quick thinker who often saved

Dr. Zarkov Dr. Hans Zarkov is a fictional character appearing in the ''Flash Gordon'' comic strip and the following serials, films, television shows and comic books. Zarkov is a brilliant scientist who creates a rocket and forces Flash and Dale Arden to co ...

] from perishing." In addition to her role as Arden, Champlin had lead roles in the stage productions ''Calculated Risk'' and ''For Crying Out Loud'' and played the female lead in the motion picture ''Resistance''. Other television appearances included ''

The Perry Como Show Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...

'', ''

The United States Steel Hour ''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the U.S. Steel, United States Steel Corpor ...

'' and ''

The Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

''.

Personal life

Champlin was married to Paul L. Field, once chairman and chief executive of Essex Communcations Corp., a cable television company in Greenwich, Connecticut. They had two daughters, Alicia Field Taylor and Christiane Field. She died in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...

in 1990 following an extended illness.

References

External links

* 1931 births 1990 deaths People from Waurika, Oklahoma 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Oklahoma American film actresses American television actresses American stage actresses {{US-screen-actor-1930s-stub