page_title: Eleanor Parker
section_title: Later films, and transition into television and theatre
hierarchical_section_title: Eleanor Parker / Later films, and transition into television and theatre
caption_attribution_description: English: Eleanor Parker's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
context_page_description: Eleanor Jean Parker was an American actress who appeared in some 80 movies and television series. An actress of notable versatility, she was called Woman of a Thousand Faces by Doug McClelland, author of a biography of Parker by the same title.
  At age 18, Parker was signed by Warner Brothers in 1941. She was nominated three times for the Oscar for Best Actress in the 1950s: for Caged, Detective Story, and Interrupted Melody. Her role in Caged also won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. One of her most memorable roles was that of Baroness Elsa von Schraeder in The Sound of Music.
context_section_description: Parker supported Frank Sinatra in a popular comedy, A Hole in the Head (1959). She returned to MGM for Home from the Hill (1960), 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. That was made by 20th Century Fox who also produced Madison Avenue (1961) with Parker.
  In 1960, she made her TV debut. "I look for the quality story and for parts that I think will be good or fun. People told me I was crazy to do Hole in the Head and Home from the Hill, but both those pictures appealed to me. I did enough of the bad ones (films), while I was under contract – because I was being told to do them. That's the problem with being under contract. You do the pictures, or be suspended. Now, I don't want to work unless I have faith in the part. This has nothing to do with wanting to be famous, or anything like that. It's just that I love acting."
  In the early 1960s, she worked increasingly in television, with the occasional film role such as Panic Button (1964).
  Parker's best-known screen role was playing Baroness Elsa Schraeder in the 1965 Oscar-winning musical The Sound of Music. The Baroness was famously and poignantly unsuccessful in keeping the affections of Captain Georg von Trapp (played by Christopher Plummer) after he falls in love with Maria (played by Julie Andrews).
  In 1966, she played an alcoholic widow in the crime drama Warning Shot, a talent scout who discovers a Hollywood star in The Oscar, and a rich alcoholic in An American Dream. From the late 1960s, television would occupy more of her energies.
  In 1963, Parker appeared in the NBC medical drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour in the episode "Why Am I Grown So Cold?", for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. In 1964, she appeared in the episode "A Land More Cruel" on the ABC drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point. In 1968, she portrayed a spy in How to Steal the World, a film originally shown as the two-part concluding episodes of NBC's The Man from U.N.C.L.E..
  In 1969–1970, Parker starred in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for a 1970 Golden Globe Award as Best TV Actress – Drama. "I wanted to do the series so I could stay put", she said. "Every movie I'm offered is shot in Europe or Asia or somewhere. I'm tired of running around." Parker left the series after the first 16 episodes, citing the limited nature of her role.
  After 1969, she continued to work steadily, but with the exception of a small role in the 1979 Farrah Fawcett vehicle Sunburn, her onscreen acting work was all on television. Parker appeared in the NBC series Ghost Story episode "Half a Death" (1972), a suspense-thriller about a wealthy woman reconciling the lives of her two daughters. She starred in a number of made for TV movies, and made guest appearances on series such as Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, Hotel, and Murder, She Wrote. Her final TV role was a small supporting role in the 1991 TV movie Dead on the Money.
  Concurrent with her TV career, 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. The role was originally played in the musical by Lauren Bacall and in All About Eve by Bette Davis. In 1976, she played Maxine in the Ahmanson Theater revival of The Night of the Iguana. She was replaced in the Circle in the Square Theatre revival of Pal Joey during previews.
  For her contributions to the motion picture industry, Parker was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Boulevard.
caption: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6340 Hollywood Blvd.
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