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Actress Eleanor Parker passes away

Actress Eleanor Parker passes away

THE actress Eleanor Parker has passed away at the age of 91.

During her career, Ms. Parker was nominated on three occasions for a best actress Oscar.

But her career had got off to a slightly rocky start when her first film as lead, Of Human Bondage in 1946, ended up being a flop at the box office. It was to be a further 4 years before she landed another lead role, this time in Caged in 1950 (see below).

But the film was to mark her real breakthrough in the business when her portrayal of an inmate who is brutalised in prison resulted in her first Oscar nomination.

A year later, her performance in Detective Story alongside Kirk Douglas brought her another nomination for best actress.

This period was to prove to be the most successful of her career with notable performances in such films as Scaramouche (1952) and The Naked Jungle (1954).

Her third and final nomination for an Academy Award came for performance of opera singer Marjorie Lawrence in Interrupted Melody (1955), see below.

But it was to be one of the most successful musicals in the history of cinema, The Sound Of Music, which was to prove to be the high-point of her career. Ms. Parker played the baroness in the movie alongside Julie Andews and Christopher Plummer. 

In the years which followed the release of the movie in 1965, she failed to regain the success of her earlier career, appearing mostly on television in shows such as The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Love Boat and Murder, She Wrote.

Among the many tributes was one from Christopher Plummer who described his former co-star as “one of the most beautiful ladies I have ever known — both as a person and as a beauty”.

Ms. Parker passed away in Palm Springs. She is survived by two sons and two daughters.

To see the trailer for Caged, click here.

To view an except from Interrupted Melody, click here.

To see a Youtube tribute to Ms. Parker, click here.

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