Zale Parry, Sea Hunt Diver and LSD Study Participant, Dies at 93
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 16
Zale Parry, Sea Hunt Diver and LSD Study Participant, Dies at 93
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 16
Summary
Zale Parry died on July 20 at her home in Tillamook, Oregon, and her granddaughter Katherine Maloney confirmed the death; she was 93.
Parry built a Hollywood career from her renown as a pioneering scuba diver, doubling for Sophia Loren in the 1957 film “Boy on a Dolphin” and co-starring with Lloyd Bridges on “Sea Hunt.”
Sports Illustrated made her one of the first women on its cover, helping turn her underwater fame into screen work and a public image once summed up as the “prettiest thing underwater.”
Oscar Janiger’s Los Angeles LSD study also became part of her story: Parry took about two dozen trips and later said the experiences deepened her appreciation of the ocean’s interconnected beauty.
Did Zale Parry's glamorous Hollywood image overshadow her groundbreaking scientific contributions to mid-century scuba diving safety and hyperbaric medicine?
What happened to the ocean-inspired paintings this pioneering scuba diver created during her secret LSD sessions in Los Angeles?
How did a 1950s Hollywood stuntwoman and record-breaking scuba diver end up as the acid queen of a massive psychedelic research program?