Who is Eleanor Parker?

Eleanor Parker was an American actress born on June 26, 1922 at Cedarville, Ohio, USA, the daughter of Lester Day Parker and Lola. Also known as Eleanor Jean Parker was a glamorous redheaded leading lady of the 1940s and 50s,an actress with depth and versatility. Her father was a maths teacher and she had two elder siblings. She was the youngest of three children. Her family had no theatrical background. She appeared in many films and TV series in her over 50 years from 1941. Doug McClelland who is author of biography of Eleanor called her Woman of a Thousand Faces.

Education

She attended Shaw High School after her family moved to East Cleveland, Ohio. She developed her acting taste in her school plays, fell in love with the stage and developed her ambition to become an actress. At age 15, she attended the Rice Summer Theater in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. She graduated from Shaw High School. After she graduated at the age of 18, she continued her acting training at the Pasadena Playhouse in California and gained her stage experience in summer stock in Cleveland.

Height,Weight & Zodiac sign

Eleanor Parker photos

Acting career and movies of Parker

From an ealy age, she performed many plays at school. In 1941 at the age of 18, just after finishing her high school, she was given a screen test by Warner Brothers signed by the studio. She was debuted in the film in Raoul Walsh’s “They Died with Their Boots On” (1941) but the scenes in which she appeared were cut. Her actual first film was ‘Soldiers in White'(1942), In which she was playing nurse Ryan. She appeared in several shorts as part of her movie education until she finally appeared in her first feature ‘Busses Roar’ in 1942. Before her graduation she worked in distinguished films and gave polished performance such as in 1943-‘Mission to Moscow’, ‘The Very Thought of You’, in 1945 “Pride of the Marines”, in 1947 “Voice of the Turtle” alongside Ronald Reagan. She recieved good reviews for her role in “Voice of the Turtle”. She also worked in some supporting roles- Crime by Night (1944) and The Last Ride (1944).

The ‘big break’ of her career was when she was cast alongside John Garfield in Pride of the Marines (1945). Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing to work in films one in “Stallion Road” and another in “Love and Learn”. Parker reached the zenith of her popularity and acclaim in the early 50s and her successes continued through the rest of the decade and became a top billed hollywood actress. In the 1950’s she was nominated three times for the Best Actress Academy Award.

Her most memorable works included-

Her role playing a loving wife to detective James McLeod (Kirk Douglas) in Detective Story (1951),  “The Man with the Golden Arm(1955)” alongside with Frank Sinatra. She gave high quality performances and made an unforgettable impression by playing as Frank Sinatra’s as disable wife, “Interrupted Melody” (1955) in which she played the role of polio-afflicted Australian opera singer Majorie Lawrence.

Alongside with Clark Gable in “The King and Four Queens(1956)”, her role as unhappy wife in “The Seventh Sin (1957), alongside with Frank Sinatra “A Hole in the Head’ in 1959. “Home from the Hill’ with Robert Mitchum in 1960 playing the long- suffering wife of a wealthy Texas land baron (Robert Mitchum).

Her last starring role came in ‘Madison Avenue’ in 1962 opposite Dana Andrews. After playing some secondary role in the ealry 1960’s came one of her greatest role as the Baroness Schraeder in the Oscar-winning ” The Sound of music”. She was 43 years old at the time when “The Sound of music came”. In the late 1960′ came ‘Warning Shot’ in 1967 and ‘Eye of the Cat’ in 1969. Her last movie appearance came in 1979 in “Sunburn”.

Television was also a bigger part of her acting career. In 1960 she appeared in the Buick-Electra Playhouse drama series, playing a nun. Later she works on many ‘The Eleventh Hour’, ‘Kraft Suspense Theatre’ and ‘The Man from Uncle’. In 1969 she was nominated a golden globe award for 16 episodes of Bracken’s World, in 1972 came “Home for the Holidays”, in 1975 “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and one of her last appearance was in 1991  “Dead on the Money”.

Oscar Awards and Honours

Eleanor Parker was one of the best and most beautiful actresses of Golden age of Hollywood and a three-time Best Actress Academy Award nominee. Her first oscar nomination came in 1950 for the fim “Caged” in which she performed her role brilliantly as a wrongly convicted prisoner. Her second nomination came for the film “Detective Story” in 1951 cast opposite Kirk Douglas, the third and last oscar nomination was in 1955 for the highly successful biopic ‘Interrupted Melody’ playing a polio-afflicted Australian opera star. In 1965 she starred in “The Sound of Music” which won oscar for best picture.

In 1963 she also won an Emmy Award for her role in the NBC series “The Eleventh Hour”.

In 1970, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role in the television series Bracken’s World.

In 2013 she was honoured as the ‘Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month’ and a star on the ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’.

Eleanor Parker spouse

Eleanor married four times, for the first time she married in 1943 to Fred Losse, a Navy dentist. She met him while filming ‘Mission to Moscow’ in 1943. But unfortunately the marriage was too short. It lasted only 21 months and the couple divorced in 1944. Her second marriage was with Bert Friedlob, a producer, on January 5, 1946. The couple had two daughters and a son but they divorced in 1953.

The third marriage was with Paul Clemens, an artist, on November 25, 1954. It also ended in a divorce on 1965. They together had a son. Her Fourth and last marriage was in 1966 to Raymond N. Hirsch, a businessman from Chicago, but was left a widow when he died in 2001.

How did Eleanor Parker died?

Eleanor Parker died from pneumonia on December 9, 2013 in Palm Springs, California, United States at the age of 91.