Heather Menzies-Urich(1949-2017)
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Beautiful, sunny, and engaging blonde actress Heather Menzies was born
on December 3, 1949 in Toronto, Canada. Her family moved to the United
States when Heather was eleven. She graduated from Hollywood High
School and subsequently attended the Falcon Studio's University of the
Arts in Hollywood. Heather made a strong and promising film debut as
Louisa von Trapp in the delightful classic musical La Mélodie du bonheur (1965). Menzies
also appeared with La Mélodie du bonheur (1965) star Julie Andrews in the epic drama Hawaï (1966).
After initially establishing herself as an innocent ingénue in the
1960s, Heather reinvented herself with a much sexier image in the
1970s. She did a nude pictorial for the August 1973 issue of "Playboy."
Heather gave an extremely sweet and appealing performance as mad
scientist Strother Martin's lovely and loyal daughter in the enjoyably oddball
horror feature SSSSnake, le cobra (1973). Menzies was likewise quite spirited and
personable as a feisty skip tracer in the terrific fright film cult
favorite Piranha (1978).
On television, Heather achieved her greatest fame as scantily clad fugitive Jessica in the short-lived, but still popular L'âge de cristal (1977) science fiction TV series. Among the numerous TV shows Menzies did guest spots on are The Farmer's Daughter (1963), Dragnet 1967 (1967), Docteur Marcus Welby (1969), La croisière s'amuse (1977), Hooker (1982), Bonanza (1959), Section 4 (1975), and Love, American Style (1969). Heather appeared with her late actor husband Robert Urich on several occasions: She acted in three episodes of Vegas (1978) and one episode of Spenser (1985), plus had a small role in the offbeat science fiction mystery thriller Espèce en voie de disparition (1982). Moreover, Menzies first met Urich on the set of a TV commercial they acted in together. An ovarian cancer survivor, Heather resided in Los Angeles with her three children and worked for the Urich Fund for Sarcoma Research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Menzies died from brain cancer at age 68 on December 24, 2017.
On television, Heather achieved her greatest fame as scantily clad fugitive Jessica in the short-lived, but still popular L'âge de cristal (1977) science fiction TV series. Among the numerous TV shows Menzies did guest spots on are The Farmer's Daughter (1963), Dragnet 1967 (1967), Docteur Marcus Welby (1969), La croisière s'amuse (1977), Hooker (1982), Bonanza (1959), Section 4 (1975), and Love, American Style (1969). Heather appeared with her late actor husband Robert Urich on several occasions: She acted in three episodes of Vegas (1978) and one episode of Spenser (1985), plus had a small role in the offbeat science fiction mystery thriller Espèce en voie de disparition (1982). Moreover, Menzies first met Urich on the set of a TV commercial they acted in together. An ovarian cancer survivor, Heather resided in Los Angeles with her three children and worked for the Urich Fund for Sarcoma Research at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Menzies died from brain cancer at age 68 on December 24, 2017.
