Gudrun Johanna Bjerring Parker was a Canadian filmmaker, writer, and producer.
17 Facts About Gudrun Parker
1.
2.
Gudrun Parker worked on films with the National Film Board of Canada during the Second World War and in the early 1950s.
3.
Gudrun Parker's husband travelled to locations and filmed for their production company while she stayed at home producing, editing, and eventually working as a film studies teacher at Vanier College.
4.
Gudrun Parker was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2005.
5.
Gudrun Parker was of Icelandic descent; her parents came from the north of Iceland and immigrated to Canada.
6.
Gudrun Parker attended the University of Winnipeg.
7.
Gudrun Parker met documentary filmmaker John Grierson, who was travelling across the country recruiting workers for the NFB.
8.
Gudrun Parker later said that she did not even know the film board existed when she was offered the job.
9.
Gudrun Parker travelled from Winnipeg to Ottawa to begin working with the NFB in March 1942.
10.
Gudrun Parker secured the funding for the film herself, asking for sponsorship from the Department of National Health and Welfare.
11.
Cinematographer Judith Crawley filmed and Parker directed the production, which was called Vitamins A, B, C The film educated viewers about maintaining nutrition with wartime shortages and featured a great deal of footage of children.
12.
In 1944 Gudrun Parker became the head of the NFB Educational Unit, continuing her focus on children.
13.
Gudrun Parker's award-winning Opera School profiles a young opera singer at the Royal Conservatory of Music.
14.
Gudrun Parker wrote the script for The Stratford Adventure, a documentary about the creation of the Stratford Festival.
15.
Gudrun Parker was slated to direct that film but she was pregnant at the time so her husband, filmmaker Morten Gudrun Parker stepped in.
16.
Gudrun Parker later called the film a "historical document" The Stratford Adventure features British director Tyrone Guthrie, and stage stars Irene Worth and Alec Guinness.
17.
Gudrun Parker died on November 15,2022, in Edmonton, Alberta, at the age of 102.