SECRET OF MUSIC: Eleanor Parker... Part III

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Eleanor Parker... Part III

More of the lovely and talented Miss Parker...

Another vintage postcard I have. In 1946 she was signed on to play the part of Mildred Rogers in Warner's remake of "Of Human Bondage" co-starring Paul Henried and Alexis Smith. Although the film as a whole can not compare to the Bette Davis version from 1934, Eleanor is quite good in the role. She even received a letter from Bette wishing her the same great success with the picture that she had in her version.

Yup, another postcard! Eleanor is sometimes called "The Woman of a Thousand Faces" because she rarely ever looked the same from picture to picture. She campaigned heavily for the role of Dominique Francon in the film version of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead", the role eventually going to Patricia Neal of course. Ironically Eleanor looks much more like a Rand heroine than Patricia Neal does but it all worked out well regardless. My "dream cast" for a film of Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" would have Eleanor playing the role of Dagny Taggart along with Kirk Douglas as Hank Reardon, Gilbert Roland as Francisco d'Anconia, Peter O'Toole as Ragnar Danneskjold and Michael Rennie as John Galt.

"Pile out you tramps!"

That's the opening line of the film that would contain Eleanor's most challenging role to date, that of women's prison inmate Marie Allen in Warner Bros harrowing 1950 production "Caged". Universally considered the women in prison film by which all others are to be measured, a reputation that is highly deserved! Under the expert direction of John Cromwell, Eleanor gives an astonishingly realistic performance as a timid young girl sent to prison for a crime commmited by her husband (who is killed commiting the crime). The subsequent change in her character as she spends more and more time among the inmates and corrupt prison matron (played to the hilt by Oscar nominee Hope Emerson) is unsettling to say the least but it's ultra-compelling. Eleanor received the first of her 3 oscar nominations for her work in Caged. I consider it absolutely essential viewing!

In the 1950's she decided not to renew her Warner's contract and instead went over to MGM and freelanced as well. She did quite well starring in some first-rate films like "Detective Story" with Kirk Douglas, "Above and Beyond" with Robert Taylor, "Escape From Fort Bravo" with William Holden and directed by the great John Sturges and "Interrupted Melody" with Glen Ford, for which she received her 3rd and final oscar nomination.