Born in Manila, the eldest of three sons to American-born parents - war hero Charles Thomas "Chick" Parsons Jr (April 22, 1902 – May 12, 1988), and Katrushka (Katsy) Jurika.
Mike spoke about his upbringing in an interview with Roy Newquist on the set of Too Late The Hero (1970): "I was born here in the Philippines, in Manila. Education was kinda interrupted by the War, and after the War I went to school here in the Philippines and then Hong Kong. I finally ended up at Yale, transferred from the Undergraduate Department to the Drama Department, spent a year there and left.
"The commitment to acting as a way of life and profession, as my only way of life, has only been about the past year and a half. But I started acting in high school plays, and I worked in a couple of plays in New York when I left Yale. But what I have been doing for the past eleven years is... After I got out of the Marine Corps I came back here to work for my father, and ended up as Vice President, General Manager of his corporation [most probably the North American Trading and Importing Company] and sat on the boards of about nine other family corporations [Chick Parson's interests included a minimum 60% ownership of the Luzon Stevedoring Company, the La Insular Cigar and Cigarette Factory, and Japanese mining firm Nihon Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha]. All this time, however, I was doing films. I'd do one film a year, two, instead of taking holidays. And a couple of years ago I just sat down, took stock of what I wanted to do, and I worked on Beach Red (1967) for Cornel Wilde. Beach Red led me to this picture.
"I think I have what it takes, and I'm going to give it a heavy shot anyhow."
1962 - first screen appearance as Lieutenant Robert Grimm in Eddie Romero's war film Target 1-1-1/The Raiders Of Leyte Gulf.1963 - supporting role in the international production To Be A Man/Cry Of Battle; Eddie Romero was Associate Producer. Eddie and Mike subsequently form Filipinas Productions and release Sa Atin Ang Daigdig, Magtago Ka Na, Binata! and Ikaw Ngayon Ako Bukas (Mike also acts in all three), and Dakpin Si Pedro Navarro! (co-producer with Eddie only).
1964 - as Filipinas Productions, co-produced and had a supporting role as Papa in Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon's Intramuros/The Walls Of Hell, and Eddie's Amok/Moro Witch Doctor. Filipinas Productions also make a local version on the set of Flight To Fury (dir. Monte Hellman), released as Cordillera, and a western called Cimarron; an English version, Way Of The West, was also prepared for international release but never sold. Mike makes a brief appearance in the all-star war film Mga Kanyon Sa Corregidor (dirs. Jose de Villa and Mar S. Torres).
1965 - as Filipinas Productions, co-produced and also had a supporting role in Eddie Romero's The Ravagers, and plays an American soldier in the Fernando Poe Jr war film Sa Bawat Hakbang... Panganib. He is also in a solo producer role as "MJP Productions" for Darmo Solo (dir. Jose Dagumboy).
1966 - as producer for MJP Productions as his one and only lead role in Eddie Romero's The Passionate Strangers.
1967 - Quijano de Manila (Nick Joaquin) remembers about the year 1967 in the Philippines Free Press: "Mike Parsons shooting the first Philippine underground film at his Pasay house; and the night at Indios Bravos that the film was 'premiered.'" He fails to mention the film's name - but Parsons is linked to directing the experimental shorts The Wall and Las Munecas (dates unknown). He also acts in Cornel Wilde's Beach Red, (uncredited) as an American POW in The Longest Hundred Miles, and in The Secret Of The Sacred Forest (eventually released 1970) for director Michael DuPont.
1969 - filming for Too Late The Hero (released 1970) on Boracay Island; Parsons is in a supporting role playing Irish soldier Rafferty.
1973 - acted in the "Django" episode of the Sine Pilipino omnibus film Si Popeye atbp/"Popeye etc".
1975 - supported Zaldy Zshornack and Vic Vargas in Dugo Ng Tarikan (dir. Armando A. Herrera).
1976 - co-producer on High Velocity for US production company First Asian Films Of California, as well as co-writer with director Remi Kramer.
1978 - one of the voices in the animated feature Tadhana (dir. Nonoy Marcelo).
1978 - also featured in 1978 Footages, a short film directed by Virgilio “Pandy” Aviado: "This film captures the friendship, collaboration and shared adventurous spirit between two pioneers in Philippine experimental filmmaking. After returning from Europe in 1977, Virgilio Aviado’s vision found a crucial collaborator in veteran actor and producer Michael 'Mike' Parsons. Their partnership led to 'The Monastery', an art workshop in Baguio, which soon became a crucible for their joint creative endeavours. Significant arrivals from Japan—an etching press and a brand new 16mm SLR Canon Scoopic—further solidified their multimedia aspirations."
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| Photo courtesy of Carl Kuntze |
More on Parsons and Aviado: "...at a print workshop at the UP Baguio, he met Mike Parsons. After the workshop, he invited Aviado to be his artist-in-residence at the Parsons compound in Beckel, La Trinidad, Benguet. Parsons invested more than US$50,000 in equipment and art supplies for the Monastery Print Workshop. In all, Aviado stayed 12 years in Baguio (1978-1990), leaving before the big earthquake occurred." [from The Vera Files]2013 - died on 15th September 2013 in Baguio City.
2015 - Mike's film clippings are donated to the De La Salle University in Manila: "Joining in the ranks of the Libraries’ distinguished Special Collections the realm of Filipino film industry is Michael Joaquin Parsons. His contribution to the film arena mostly took place in the 1960s after he decided to leave the molasses business of his family. He soon dedicated himself in acting and producing movies. He starred on three American films that were shot in the Philippines namely, Too Late the Hero; Beach Red; and High Velocity. His donated collection mainly consisted of film albums that he purposely arranged after he started their papermaking operation in Baguio. Researchers may find some newspaper clippings included within a few of the albums, several of them giving accounts of some films making its way to German film festivals as well as to the prestigious Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Awards (FAMAS) distinctions."
From "Mike Parsons: Passionate Friend of Local Movies", The Philippine Star, 9th September 2017
In the mid-’60s, Philippine cinema had a passionate friend in the person of Michael ‘Mike’ Parsons. He received the Dr. Ciriaco Santiago Memorial Award for ‘pushing local motion pictures to greater heights and mould them into a major Philippine industry with international significance.’
He is best remembered for producing and starring in The Passionate Strangers, written and directed by Eddie Romero. Sharing stellar billing with Mike were American actress Valora Noland, Celia Rodriguez, Vic Diaz and Mario Montenegro. It was released internationally.
Mike earlier appeared with Van Helfin and Rita Moreno in To Be A Man, Hollywood co-production filmed in the Philippines.
After The Passionate Strangers, Mike appeared in other joint ventures, usually directed by Gerry de Leon, Cirio H. Santiago and Romero.
His concern with the country was not surprising as he was born in Manila, the son of longtime American resident in the Philippines ‘Chick’ Parsons, famous as an active guerilla leader during the Japanese occupation and one-time publisher of a major Manila daily.
Mike was quoted as saying, ‘We must let the world know that there is a Philippine movie industry,’ adding we should gain a foothold in the international market. He believed in the talent of Filipino filmmakers.
He admired then First Lady Imelda Marcos for supporting the arts, including cinema. The premiere showing The Passionate Strangers was for the benefit of Madame Marcos’ artistic projects.
When not busy with his film commitments, Mike was an executive of several corporations.
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