About Me
I'm Harold, and this is my tribute to one of my favorite actresses, Miss Eleanor Parker.
Eleanor Parker was born in Cedarville, Ohio, and was signed by Warner Brothers in 1941, at the age of 19.
By 1946, she had starred in Between Two Worlds, Hollywood Canteen, Pride of the Marines and Of Human Bondage. In 1950 she received the first of three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for Caged, in which she played a prison inmate. She was also nominated in 1951 for her performance as Kirk Douglas's wife in Detective Story and again in 1955 for her portrayal of opera singer Marjorie Lawrence in the film bio, Interrupted Melody. Parker was overlooked for her superb role opposite Charlton Heston as a circa 1900 mail-order bride in George Pal's jungle fantasy film about attacking killer ants, The Naked Jungle. That same year, Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man With The Golden Arm, in which she plays Zosh, the invalid wife of a morphine addict played by Frank Sinatra, and directed by Otto Preminger. In 1956, she was billed above the title alongside Clark Gable for the Raoul Walsh-directed western comedy The King and Four Queens. A year later, she starred in another W. Somerset Maugham novel, a remake of a The Painted Veil in the role originated by Greta Garbo, released as The Seventh Sin. She also appeared in Home from the Hill. Her most famous screen role was as "Baroness Elsa Schraeder" in 1965's The Sound Of Music.
She broke the champagne bottle on the nose of the inaugural train-set for the California Zephyr in San Francisco, California on March 19, 1949. Parker was famous in Hollywood during the Golden Era, but she is less remembered now despite numerous movies and Oscar nominations. She played an erotically charged drunken, mature widow in Warning Shot in 1966 where she demonstrated both elegance and sex appeal. Parker could play the sexy evil dame, too. She was especially delicious as a sultry spy in "How to Steal the World" in 1968; this over-the-top espionage film was originally shown as a two-part episode on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. television series. In 1969-70 she starred in the television series Bracken's World and several made-for-television movies. She has also starred in a number of theatrical productions, including the musical Applause. She is the mother of actor Paul Clemens, as well as 3 other children by another marriage.
Eleanor Parker has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Blvd.
Paul Henreid, Eleanor Parker, George Tobias in BETWEEN TWO WORLDS 1944.
Eleanor Parker, John Garfield in THE PRIDE OF THE MARINES 1945.
Ronald Reagan, Eleanor Parker in THE VOICE OF THE TURTLE 1947.
Eleanor Parker, Gig Young in THE WOMAN IN WHITE 1948.
Eleanor Parker, Humphrey Bogart in CHAIN LIGHTENING 1950.
Eleanor Parker (far right) and the cast of CAGED 1950.
Ruth Roman, Eleanor Parker, Patricia Neal in THREE SECRETS 1950.
Fred MacMurray, Eleanor Parker in A MILLIONAIRE FOR CHRISTY 1951.
Kirk Douglas, Eleanor Parker in DETECTIVE STORY 1951.
Stewart Granger (in mask), Eleanor Parker (far right) in SCARAMOUCHE 1952.
Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker in ABOVE AND BEYOND 1952.
Eleanor Parker, William Holden in ESCAPE FROM FORT BRAVO 1953.
Charlton Heston, Eleanor Parker in THE NAKED JUNGLE 1954.
Eleanor Parker, Robert Taylor in VALLEY OF THE KINGS 1954.
Eleanor Parker, Robert Taylor in MANY RIVERS TO CROSS 1955.
Glenn Ford, Eleanor Parker in INTERRUPTED MELODY 1955.
Eleanor Parker, Clark Gable in THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS 1956.
Eleanor Parker as LIZZIE 1957.
Eleanor Parker, Bill Travers in THE SEVENTH SIN 1957.
Eleanor Parker, Eddie Hodges in A HOLE IN THE HEAD 1959.
Eleanor Parker, Robert Mitchum in HOME FROM THE HILL 1960.
Mary Astor, Tuesday Weld, Eleanor Parker in RETURN TO PEYTON PLACE 1961.
Dana Andrews, Eleanor Parker in MADISON AVENUE 1962.
Eleanor Parker, Mike Connors (right) in PANIC BUTTON 1964.
Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker and cast in THE SOUND OF MUSIC 1965.
Milton Berle, Eleanor Parker in THE OSCAR 1966.
