36 Facts About Eleanor Parker

1.

Eleanor Parker was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films Caged, Detective Story, and Interrupted Melody, the first of which won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress.

2.

Eleanor Parker was known for her roles in the films Of Human Bondage, Scaramouche, The Naked Jungle, The Man with the Golden Arm, A Hole in the Head, The Sound of Music, and The Oscar.

3.

Eleanor Jean Parker was born on June 26,1922 in Cedarville, Ohio, the daughter of Lola and Lester Day Parker.

4.

Eleanor Parker moved with her family to East Cleveland, Ohio, where she attended public schools and graduated from Shaw High School.

5.

Eleanor Parker got a job as a waitress and was offered a screen test by 20th Century Fox, but turned it down.

6.

Eleanor Parker was in the audience one night at Pasadena Playhouse when spotted by a Warners Bros talent scout, Irving Kumin.

7.

Eleanor Parker offered her a test, and she accepted; the studio signed her to a long-term contract in June 1941.

8.

Eleanor Parker was cast that year in the film They Died with Their Boots On, but her scenes were cut.

9.

Eleanor Parker was given some decent roles in the B films Busses Roar and The Mysterious Doctor, and she had a small role in an Mission to Moscow.

10.

Eleanor Parker stayed in supporting roles for Crime by Night and The Last Ride, then was given the starring role with Dennis Morgan in The Very Thought of You, replacing Ida Lupino.

11.

Eleanor Parker was given a cameo in Hollywood Canteen.

12.

Eleanor Parker later said the "big break" of her career was when she was cast with John Garfield in Pride of the Marines.

13.

Eleanor Parker made the comedy Voice of the Turtle with Ronald Reagan and was in an adaptation of The Woman in White.

14.

Eleanor Parker then had two years off, and during this time, she married and had a baby.

15.

Eleanor Parker turned down a role in The Hasty Heart, which she wanted to do, but it would have meant going to England, and she did not want to leave her baby alone during its first year.

16.

Eleanor Parker heard about Caged, a film Warners was making of a woman in prison, and she lobbied the role.

17.

Eleanor Parker got it, and won the 1950 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.

18.

Eleanor Parker had a good role in the melodrama Three Secrets.

19.

Eleanor Parker had understood that she would star in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros.

20.

In 1951, Eleanor Parker signed a contract with Paramount for one film per year, with an option for outside films.

21.

Eleanor Parker followed Detective Story with her portrayal of an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman in Scaramouche, a role originally intended for Ava Gardner.

22.

Eleanor Parker later claimed that Granger was the only person she didn't get along with during her entire career.

23.

Eleanor Parker was named as star of My Most Intimate Friend and of One More Time, from a script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, but neither film was made.

24.

Back at Paramount, Eleanor Parker starred with Charlton Heston as a 1901 mail-order bride in The Naked Jungle, directed by Byron Haskin and produced by George Pal.

25.

Eleanor Parker returned to MGM where she was reunited with Robert Taylor in Valley of the Kings, and the Western Many Rivers to Cross.

26.

Eleanor Parker had commitments to make two films per year at MGM and one per year at Paramount.

27.

Also in 1955, Eleanor Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man with the Golden Arm, directed by Otto Preminger and released through United Artists.

28.

Eleanor Parker played Zosh, a woman in a wheelchair and the wife of heroin-addicted would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine.

29.

Eleanor Parker supported Frank Sinatra in the popular comedy A Hole in the Head.

30.

Eleanor Parker returned to MGM for Home from the Hill, co-starring with Robert Mitchum, then took over Lana Turner's role of Constance Rossi in Return to Peyton Place, a 1961 sequel to the hit 1957 film.

31.

Eleanor Parker starred with Michael Sarrazin and Gayle Hunnicutt in her final theatrical film of the 1960s, the tense thriller Eye of The Cat, which was written by Joseph Stefano.

32.

Eleanor Parker appeared in the NBC series Ghost Story episode "Half a Death".

33.

Eleanor Parker starred in other TV movies and made guest appearances on series such as Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, Hotel, and Murder, Eleanor Parker Wrote.

34.

Concurrent with her TV career, Eleanor Parker starred in a number of theatrical productions, including the role of Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve.

35.

Eleanor Parker was replaced in the Circle in the Square Theatre revival of Pal Joey during previews.

36.

Eleanor Parker died on December 9,2013 at a medical facility in Palm Springs, California from complications of pneumonia.