
Jean Parker
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Female
Birthday
1915-08-11
Day of Death
2005-11-30 (90 years old)
Place of Birth
Deer Lodge, Montana, USA
Jean Parker
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Parker (born Lois Mae Green; August 11, 1915 – November 30, 2005) was an American film and stage actress. She landed her first screen test while still in high school. She acted opposite such well-known actors as Katharine Hepburn, Robert Donat, Edward G. Robinson, Randolph Scott, and Laurel and Hardy. She was married four times and had one son, Robert Lowery Hanks.
Parker appeared in 70 movies from 1932 through 1966. In 1932, she posed as a flower girl and living poster in a float in the Tournament of Roses Parade, where she was seen by Ida Koverman, secretary to MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer. The following day the studio called her on the phone and invited her for a screen test.
Parker's film debut came in Divorce in the Family (1932). She had a successful career at MGM, RKO and Columbia including roles in such films as Little Women, Lady for a Day, Gabriel Over the White House, Limehouse Blues, The Ghost Goes West, and Rasputin and the Empress. In 1939, she starred opposite Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in RKO's The Flying Deuces.
Parker remained active in film throughout the 1940s, playing opposite Lon Chaney in Dead Man's Eyes, and a variety of other films. During World War II, she toured many of the veteran hospitals throughout the U.S. and performed on radio. In the 1950s, Parker co-starred opposite Edward G. Robinson in Black Tuesday; had a small but effective role in The Gunfighter, and appeared in A Lawless Street (1955). Her last film appearance was Apache Uprising (1966).
Parker also appeared on Broadway. In 1949, she replaced Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday on Broadway and enjoyed a successful run in this classic. She appeared on Broadway opposite Bert Lahr in the play Burlesque. She did summer stock in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, toured in the play Candlelight and Loco, and performed on stage in other professional productions. In 1954, Parker played the role of "Cattle Kate Watson of Wyoming" in an episode of the syndicated television series Stories of the Century, the first western program to win an Emmy Award. The series starred and was narrated by Jim Davis. Later in her career and life, Parker continued a successful stint on the West Coast theatre circuit and worked as an acting coach.
At age 83, Parker moved into the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, where she died of a stroke on November 30, 2005, at the age of 90. She was survived by her son, Robert, and granddaughters Katie and Nora Hanks. She was buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills.
Known For
Acting
(1968)
Cargo of Love
as Denise
(1965)
Apache Uprising
as Mrs. Hawks
(1961)
Hollywood: The Selznick Years
as 'Little Women' (archive footage) (uncredited)
(1957)
The Parson and the Outlaw
as Sarah Jones
(1955)
A Lawless Street
as Cora Dean
(1954)
Black Tuesday
as Hatti Combest
(1953)
(1952)
Toughest Man in Arizona
as Della
(1950)
The Gunfighter
as Molly
(1946)
Rolling Home
as Frances Crawford
(1945)
Adventures of Kitty O'Day
as Kitty O'Day
(1944)
Lady in the Death House
as Mary Kirk Logan
(1944)
Bluebeard
as Lucille
(1944)
Dead Man's Eyes
as Heather Hayden
(1944)
One Body Too Many
as Carol Dunlap
(1944)
The Navy Way
as Ellen Sayre
(1944)
Detective Kitty O'Day
as Kitty O'Day
(1944)
Oh, What a Night!
as Valerie
(1943)
Minesweeper
as Mary Smith
(1943)
Alaska Highway
as Ann Coswell
(1943)
High Explosive
as Connie Baker
(1943)
The Deerslayer
as Judith Hutter
(1942)
Wrecking Crew
as Peggy Starr
(1942)
Tomorrow We Live
as Julie Bronson
(1942)
I Live on Danger
as Susan Richards
(1942)
Torpedo Boat
as Grace Holman
(1942)
The Girl from Alaska
as Mary 'Pete' McCoy
(1942)
The Traitor Within
as Molly Betts
(1942)
Hello, Annapolis
as Doris Henley
(1942)
Hi, Neighbor
as Dorothy Greenfield
(1942)
Soaring Stars
as Herself
(1941)
The Pittsburgh Kid
as Patricia Mallory
(1941)
No Hands on the Clock
as Mrs. Louise Campbell
(1941)
Power Dive
as Carol Blake
(1941)
Flying Blind
as Shirley Brooks
(1941)
Roar of the Press
as Alice Williams
(1940)
Beyond Tomorrow
as Jean Lawrence
(1940)
Son of the Navy
as Stevie Moore
(1940)
Knights of the Range
as Holly Ripple
(1940)
Young America Flies
as Jane
(1939)
The Flying Deuces
as Georgette
(1939)
Zenobia
as Mary Tibbett
(1939)
She Married a Cop
as Linda Fay
(1939)
Romance of the Redwoods
as June Martin
(1939)
Parents on Trial
as Susan Wesley
(1939)
Flight at Midnight
as Maxine Scott
(1938)
Romance of the Limberlost
as Laurie
(1938)
Penitentiary
as Elizabeth Mathews
(1938)
The Arkansas Traveler
as Judy Allen
(1937)
Life Begins with Love
as Carole Martin
(1937)
The Barrier
as Necia Gale
(1936)
The Texas Rangers
as Amanda Bailey
(1936)
The Farmer in the Dell
as Adie Boyer
(1935)
Murder in the Fleet
as Betty Lansing
(1935)
The Ghost Goes West
as Peggy Martin
(1935)
Princess O'Hara
as Princess O'Hara
(1935)
Sequoia
as Toni Martin
(1934)
Operator 13
as Eleanor
(1934)
Have a Heart
as Sally Moore
(1934)
Lazy River
as Sarah Lescalle
(1934)
A Wicked Woman
as Rosanne Stroud, aka Rosanne Trice
(1934)
Two Alone
as Mazie
(1934)
Caravan
as Timka
(1934)
You Can't Buy Everything
as Elizabeth 'Beth' Burton Bell
(1934)
Limehouse Blues
as Toni
(1933)
Lady for a Day
as Louise
(1933)
Little Women
as Beth
(1933)
Made on Broadway
as Adele
(1933)
Storm at Daybreak
as Danitza
(1933)
Gabriel Over the White House
as Alice Bronson
(1933)
The Secret of Madame Blanche
as Eloise
(1933)
What Price Innocence?
as Ruth Harper
(1932)
Rasputin and the Empress
as Princess Maria (uncredited)
(1932)
Divorce In The Family
as Miss Lucile SmIth