“Forgotten Hollywood”- The Passing of Eleanor Parker…
Manny P. here…
Eleanor Parker was an actress who appeared in over 80 motion pictures for three decades. An actor of notable versatility, she was known as Woman of a Thousand Faces, the title of her biography by Doug McClelland. Like Bill Holden, Robert Preston, Dustin Hoffman, among others, Parker was discovered at the Pasadena Playhouse. ELEANOR PARKER ——>
After high school, she signed with Warner Brothers in 1941. She was cast that year in the film, They Died with Their Boots On, but her scenes were cut. Her actual film debut was as Nurse Ryan in Soldiers in White in 1942. Her breakthrough starring role was in the 1946 remake of Of Human Bondage.
Other cinematic appearances include Pride of the Marines with John Garfield, Hollywood Canteen, Escape Me Never featuring Errol Flynn, It’s a Great Feeling, Chain Lightning starring Humphrey Bogart, The Man with the Golden Arm opposite Frank Sinatra, and The King and Four Queens with Clark Gable. And, Eleanor received three Academy Award nominations: for Caged in 1950, The Detective Story the following year, and Interrupted Melody in 1955. The latter motion picture dealt with the subject of an opera star contracting polio. In the 1960s, she garnered supporting roles in The Sound of Music and The Oscar.
Parker guest-starred on the small screen with parts in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Vega$, Bracken’s World (earning her a Golden Globe Award nod), Hawaii 5-0, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Hotel, and Murder She Wrote. Eleanor headlined in a number of theatrical productions, including Applause, which was originated by Lauren Bacall. She played Maxine in an Ahmanson Theater revival of The Night of the Iguana. She left a revival of Pal Joey during previews.
Turner Classic Movies is altering their schedule on December 17th with a 14-hour motion picture tribute. This is the kind of programming that TCM is great at doing for their audience.
The versatile Eleanor Parker was 91.
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Read Tuesday will be a huge day like Black Friday for buying and gifting books at amazing sale prices. It will also be a great way to help improve literacy. Encourage a person to read! Here are the Amazon links promoting my books:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935359169/?tag=forgothollyw-20
http://www.amazon.com/Son-Forgotten-Hollywood-History/dp/1937454142/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326436846&sr=1-1
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 10th, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
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