Beneath The Sea - Press Release

When Beneath the Sea convenes its three-day weekend Scuba Diving, Oceans Exploration, Environmental, and travel collegiums March 27th, 28th, and 29th at the Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucus, New Jersey they will proudly present their Legend of the Sea for 2009 – Zale Parry.

Zale Parry is the most famous scuba diver in the world today. A pioneer skin diver since the 1940s, in 1953 she was an early underwater equipment tester for Scientific Underwater Research Enterprises. Zale helped run the first civilian hyperbaric chamber for divers in California, and in 1954, set a woman’s depth record to 209 feet, later that same year she became the third female instructor to graduate from the L.A. County UICC program. It was during 1954 that Zale made her screen debut in Kingdom of the Sea, a Jack Douglas Production, which was shown in 70 countries and had a successful run of several years. It was this intimate knowledge of skin and scuba diving, combined with her astounding beauty and grace in Kingdom of the Sea, that made the producers of Sea Hunt cast her immediately, without a screen test. 

Besides her diving expertise, Zale’s artistic talents are manifold from acting to photography to writing. An accomplished underwater photographer herself, in 1957, Zale co-founded the International Underwater Film Festival that ran for 17 years. In 1960, she became the first elected woman president of the newly born Underwater Photographic Society. From the 1950s through the 1990s, Zale remained in demand as an actress and underwater stuntwoman for all the Hollywood studios (she never had to audition for a part). Her credits include, Kingdom of the Sea, Sea Hunt, GE Theatre, Wagon Train, Peter Gunn, and more. She also made over two dozen "wet" and "dry" television commercials and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated several times plus an inside S.I. brief entitled, "Where is she now?"

Even though Zale is "semi-retired" from film, she is not content to rest on her laurels. Zale continues to enthrall and inspire audiences today with her photo presentations and lectures on the beauty of the underwater world. In 2000, she published a book with Al Tillman entitled, Scuba America Vol. I, the Human History of Sport Diving in America, and she is busy working on Volume II. Zale is a recipient of the NOGI Award for Distinguished Service, DEMA’s Reaching Out Award, the Women's Scuba Association Scuba Diver of the Year Award, and the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Education Award. In 2001, Zale was made a "Lifetime Ambassador at Large," by The Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences. In 2002, she was inducted into the Cayman Island International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame and received the Beneath the Sea Diver of the Year Award.  Zale has been a Member and an ardent supporter of The Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) since its inception in 2000. In 2008, she was the recipient of the coveted Mel Fisher Life Time Achievement Award.

In 2005, Zale returned to her movie roots with a role in the film, The Legend of Tillamook Gold now on DVD, which has been her home town in Oregon for the last few years.  Zale has become an active conservation spokesperson throughout the Pacific Northwest and in November 2006, The Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences Board of Directors introduced The Zale Parry Scholarship which is administered by The Academy.  The Zale Parry Scholarship offers $2000 and a travel stipend of $500 annually to young people seeking careers in ocean exploration, hyperbaric research, equipment technology and/or marine conservation. With generous hearts, The Underwater Society of America has presented an extra check to the winning scholar for $500 for the past two years. For more info on The Zale Parry Scholarship, log on to www.auas-nog.org.

2009 will find Zale Parry as Beneath the Sea’s Legend of the Sea, honoring her for years of inspiration, dedication, and enthusiasm for scuba diving and the scuba diving industry.