Eleanor Parker

At 91 years old, Eleanor Parker has this physical status:

Eleanor Jean Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) was an American actress who appeared in many 80 films and television series.

Parker was referred to as Woman of a Thousand Faces by Doug McClelland, author of a Parker biography by the same name, at age 18.

She was nominated three times for the award for Best Actress in the 1950s: for Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951), and Interrupted Melody (1955).

The Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival was also awarded to her in Caged for Best Actress.

Elsa von Schraeder's appearance in The Sound of Music (1965) was one of her most memorable performances.

Early life

Eleanor Jean Parker was born in Cedarville, Ohio, on June 26, 1922, and she was the niece of Lola (née Isett) and Lester Day Parker. She and her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended public schools and graduated from Shaw High School. "All I can remember is act," she said. "I didn't just dream about it, I worked at it."

She appeared in a variety of school plays. She travelled to Martha's Vineyard to work on her acting after graduation. She took up a waitress job and was given a screen test by twentieth Century Fox but turned it down. She moved to California and began appearing at the Pasadena Playhouse, intending to concentrate on films.

Personal life

Parker was married four times:

Chase Parker, a one-time child actor, was the grandmother of her granddaughter.

Parker was raised a Protestant and later converted to Judaism, according to New York Daily News columnist Kay Gardella in August 1969: "I think we're all Jews at heart...I want to convert for a long time." She later converted Messianic Judaism and was a promoter of Messianic Jewish philosopher, professor, and commentator Roy Masters, founder of the Foundation for Human Understanding in Grants Pass, Oregon. She wrote the foreword to Masters' book How Your Mind Can Keep You Well in 1978.

In the 1952 presidential election, Parker, a lifelong Democrat, endorsed Adlai Stevenson for president.

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Career

Irving Kumin, a Warner Bros talent scout, was in the audience one night at Pasadena Playhouse when she was noticed by a Warners Bros talent scout. He gave her a try, and she accepted; the studio agreed to a long-term deal in June 1941.

She was in the film They Died with Their Boots On, but her scenes were cut. In 1942, Nurse Ryan appeared in the short film Soldiers in White.

She appeared in B films, Busses Roar (1942) and The Mysterious Doctor (1943), and she appeared in a small part in Mission to Moscow (1943), as Emlen Davies. Warners were impressed enough, so when Joan Leslie was arrested on Rhapsody in Blue, she was swapped for a large part in a prestige film, Between Two Worlds (1944), portraying Paul Henreid's suicidal wife.

She remained in support roles for Crime by Night (1944) and The Last Ride (1944), then she was given the opportunity to play opposite Dennis Morgan in The Very Thought of You (1944), replacing Ida Lupino. In Hollywood Canteen (1944), she was considered a "name" worthy of a cameo. In a recent remake of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage (1946), Warners gave her the opportunity to Mildred Rogers; however, director Edmund Goulding named him one of America's top actresses, and the film sat on the shelf for two years before being released to an underwhelming reception. However, Parker's favorite role in 1953 was to film it.

Parker later said that the "big break" of her career came when she was cast opposite John Garfield in Pride of the Marines (1945). "It was a great part, and it didn't look good with John Garfield," she later said. "He was absolutely amazing." However, two films that followed Errol Flynn, the romantic comedy Never Say Goodbye (1946) and the film Escape Me Never (1947), were box office disappointments.

Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing to appear in films, including in Stallion Road, where she was joined by Alexis Smith and Love and Learn.

She appeared on Voice of the Turtle (1947, aired today under the name One for the Book) with Ronald Reagan and was in an adaptation of The Woman in White (1948). She refused to appear in Anywhere in the City (1948), so Warners suspended her again; Virginia Mayo played the role.

Parker had two years off before then marrying and having a baby. She turned down a role in The Hasty Heart (1949), which she wanted to do, but it would have required going to England, and she didn't want to leave her baby alone in the first year. "I believe I got my salary for just six months between 1947 and 1948, but I can't regret it," she said. "I wanted a child all my life, and anything else that might happen to me professionally on that front would be a loss."

Humphrey Bogart and she were back in Chain Lightning. In a 1949 interview, she said, "I've had my fling at jobs that have little or no connection to most people's lives." "I want to keep away from such positions as I can from now on," Trump says, "instead of that, acting exercises require your skills and talent."

Parker learned of a film Warners were making of a woman in jail, Caged (1950), and lobbied the role. She deserved it, and she was nominated for an Academy Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1950. She appeared in the melodrama Three Secrets (1950) as well as a good actress.

Parker left Warner Bros. in February 1950 after being under contract there for eight years. Parker had expected that she would appear in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros. reportedly had no intention of making it. Her agents arranged her release due to the misunderstanding.

Parker's time outside of Warner started poorly with Valentino (1951), portraying Rudolph Valentino for producer Edward Small. Fred MacMurray, A Millionaire for Christy (1951), tried a comedy at 20th Century Fox (1951) (originally called The Golden Goose).

Parker signed a one-year contract with Paramount Films in 1951, with a choice for outside films. This plot began with Detective Story (1951) for director William Wyler, as Mary McLeod, the woman who doesn't know the position of her unbalanced detective husband (played by Kirk Douglas); Parker was nominated for the Oscar in 1951; to date, she has been the youngest to be nominated in the category.

Parker performed an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman (played by Stewart Granger) in Scaramouche (1952), a role originally intended for Ava Gardner. Granger, Parker later said, was the only one she didn't get along with throughout her entire career. However, they had chemistry, and the film was a huge hit; MGM rushed her into Above and Beyond (1952), a biopic of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor), the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It was a good hit. Though Parker was shooting Escape from Fort Bravo (1953), she signed a five-year deal with the studio.

She was chosen to appear in a Sidney Sheldon script, My Most Intimate Friend and of One More Time, written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, but no film was made. Parker appeared in The Naked Jungle (1954), directed by Byron Haskins and produced by George Pal.

Parker's return to MGM, where she and Robert Taylor were reunited in an Egyptian adventure film called Valley of the Kings (1954), as well as a Western, Many Rivers to Cross (1955).

"I maintain that if you work, believe in yourself, and do what is right for you without stepping over others," she said in 1953. "I't mean just sitting back." They also have a mile-long list of my suspensions for refusing to attend certain parts. Oricum, I never did a Western. Not once. It's also paid off."

In a 1954 interview, she said that Caged and Detective Story was one of her favorite films, and that her least favorites were Chain Lightning, Escape Me Never, Valentino, and Woman in White. A year at MGM and one a year at Paramount, she had promises to make two films a year at MGM and one at Paramount. "I prefer to be under control," she said.

Marjorie Lawrence, the opera singer, appeared in Interrupted Melody (1955), MGM gave her one of her best roles as an opera singer. This was a big success and earned Parker her third Oscar nomination; she later said it was her favorite film.

Parker appeared in the film version of the National Book Award-winning thriller The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), directed by Otto Preminger and released by United Artists in 1955. (Frank Sinatra): She portrayed Zosh, a woman confined to a wheelchair and the wife of a heroin-addicted would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine. It was a huge commercial and cultural success.

She was billed above the original for the Raoul Walsh-directed Western comedy The King and Four Queens, as well as for United Artists in 1956.

It was then back to MGM for two films, Lizzie (1957), as a woman with a split personality; The Seventh Sin (1957), a remake of The Painted Veil conceived by Greta Garbo and Ava Gardner; Both films failed at the box office, and Parker's attempts to make her own film, L'Eternelle, about French resistance fighters, did not succeed.

In A Hole in the Head (1959), Parker aided Frank Sinatra in a well-known comedy, A Hole in the Head (1959). Lana Turner's role in Return to Peyton Place, a 1961 sequel to the hit 1957 film, was reprised by MGM for Home from the Hill (1960), co-starring Robert Mitchum. It was made by twentieth century Fox, who also produced Madison Avenue (1961) with Parker.

She made her television debut in 1960. "I'm looking for the quality story and for those that I think would be useful or am amused." People told me that I was crazy to do Hole in the Head and Home from the Hill, but both those images captured me. Although I was under contract, I did enough of the bad ones (films) to do so, because I was being told not to do them. Being under contract is the issue. The photographs are either turned off or not suspended. Now, I don't want to work unless I have faith in the career. This has nothing to do with wishing to be famous or something similar. I love acting, but it's just that I love acting."

She appeared on television in the early 1960s, with occasional film appearances like Panic Button (1964).

Baroness Elsa Schraeder appeared in the 1965 Oscar-winning film The Sound of Music, with Parker's most well-known screen role being Baroness Elsa Schraeder. Since being in love with Maria (played by Julie Andrews), the Baroness was unable to keep Captain Georg von Trapp (played by Christopher Plummer).

She appeared in a 1966 film Aspirations, an alcohol scout who discovers a Hollywood star in The Oscar hunt, and a wealthy alcoholic in An American Dream. Television would consume more of her energies from the late 1960s to the present day.

Parker appeared in the NBC medical drama about psychiatry in 1963. In the episode "Why Am I Growing So Young?" the narrator explained it. "Fortue Single Achievement by an Actress in a Leading Role," the actress was nominated for an Emmy Award as "Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role." "A Land More Cruel" on ABC's drama about psychiatry appeared in 1964. Breaking Point is a newspaper distributed in the United States. In 1968, she appeared as a spy in How to Steal the World, a film that was originally shown as the two-part concluding episodes of NBC's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

In her last dramatic film of the 1960s, Parker appeared with Michael Sarrazin and Gayle Hunnicutt, as well as Joseph Stefano's book "Eye of The Cat" (1969).

Parker appeared in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for the 1970 Golden Globe Award as Best TV Actress – Drama. "I wanted to do the series so I could stay put," she said. "Every film I'm offered is shot in Europe, Asia, or somewhere." "I'm sick of running around." Parker left the series after the first 16 episodes, citing the limited appearance of her character.

She continued to act on television after 1969, but except for a small part in Sunburn (1979), she did not appear on television for the first time. Parker appeared in "Half a Death" on NBC's Ghost Story (1972). Parker appeared in the TV show Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring (1971) and in Home for the Holidays (1972). She Wrote, She appeared in other made-for-TV films and made guest appearances on shows including Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, Hotel, and Murder. Her last TV appearance was in the 1991 TV film Dead on the Money.

Parker appeared in a number of theatre productions, including Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve. Lauren Bacall's role was first performed in the musical and by Bette Davis in All About Eve. She appeared in The Night of the Irmo in 1976. During previews, she was seen in Pal Joey's Circle.

Parker was named on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the motion picture industry.

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