Jean Parker
Active - 1932 - 1982 | Born - Aug 11, 1915 in Deer Lodge, MT | Died - Nov 30, 2005 in Woodland Hills, CA | Genres - Drama, Comedy, Romance, Western, Crime | Height: 5', 3"
While still a junior high student, American actress Jean Parker was discovered by MGM when she posed for a poster contest. Her first film under her MGM contract was Divorce in the Family (1932), and her first important film was Rasputin and the Empress (1933), in which the novice performer failed to wilt despite the formidable presence in the cast of Lionel, John and Ethel Barrymore.
Pretty and vivacious, Parker became the queen of the MGM B-pictures but never quite made it in the studio's top-drawer productions. Gaining a reputation of working quickly, efficiently and inexpensively, she became a valuable commodity on the independent-film market; two of her free-lance appearance, in Laurel and Hardy's Flying Deuces (1939) and director Eddie Sutherland's ultra-sentimental Beyond Tomorrow (1940), are familiar public-domain additions to video stores throughout America.
At Monogram in the mid '40s, Parker inaugurated a comedy-mystery series as Detective Kitty O'Day, but only two films were made, with her performance overshadowed by costar Peter Cookson in both. The actress was a regular in B-plus Technicolor westerns of the '50s, seen to best advantage as a faded society belle in Randolph Scott's A Lawless Street (1955). Parker made her final appearance in a western, billed eleventh after several other movie veterans in Apache Uprising (1966), in which she had only one scene. While never a big star in films, Parker did considerably better on stage, appearing in the west-coast productions of such hits as Dream Girl and Born Yesterday. Jean Parker worked as an acting coach in the '60s and early '70s, but by the '80s she was a recluse, accepting few visitors outside of her grown son.
Available Films:
Active - 1932 - 1982 | Born - Aug 11, 1915 in Deer Lodge, MT | Died - Nov 30, 2005 in Woodland Hills, CA | Genres - Drama, Comedy, Romance, Western, Crime | Height: 5', 3"
While still a junior high student, American actress Jean Parker was discovered by MGM when she posed for a poster contest. Her first film under her MGM contract was Divorce in the Family (1932), and her first important film was Rasputin and the Empress (1933), in which the novice performer failed to wilt despite the formidable presence in the cast of Lionel, John and Ethel Barrymore.
Pretty and vivacious, Parker became the queen of the MGM B-pictures but never quite made it in the studio's top-drawer productions. Gaining a reputation of working quickly, efficiently and inexpensively, she became a valuable commodity on the independent-film market; two of her free-lance appearance, in Laurel and Hardy's Flying Deuces (1939) and director Eddie Sutherland's ultra-sentimental Beyond Tomorrow (1940), are familiar public-domain additions to video stores throughout America.
At Monogram in the mid '40s, Parker inaugurated a comedy-mystery series as Detective Kitty O'Day, but only two films were made, with her performance overshadowed by costar Peter Cookson in both. The actress was a regular in B-plus Technicolor westerns of the '50s, seen to best advantage as a faded society belle in Randolph Scott's A Lawless Street (1955). Parker made her final appearance in a western, billed eleventh after several other movie veterans in Apache Uprising (1966), in which she had only one scene. While never a big star in films, Parker did considerably better on stage, appearing in the west-coast productions of such hits as Dream Girl and Born Yesterday. Jean Parker worked as an acting coach in the '60s and early '70s, but by the '80s she was a recluse, accepting few visitors outside of her grown son.
Available Films:
Trivia:
In an interview with Jean by writer Marcia Borie in 1972 at Jean's home in Eagle Rock, CA, she admitted that at age 16 she invented her real last name and birthplace to make herself more interesting. The truth is she was born in Butte, MT, not Deer Lodge, which to her sounded more romantic. She also changed her real name, Luis Stephanie Zalinska (she was of Polish-French descent), to Lois Mae Green. Child star Mitzi Green was the Broadway rage at the time so she adopted her last name, changed the Mitzi to Mae and inverted a vowel in her first name to Lois.
"Acting is truly a glorious and noble profession. When anyone can give other people a few hours of escape or enchantment away from the ills of the world and their own personal lives, that's a very worthwhile occupation."
In an interview with Jean by writer Marcia Borie in 1972 at Jean's home in Eagle Rock, CA, she admitted that at age 16 she invented her real last name and birthplace to make herself more interesting. The truth is she was born in Butte, MT, not Deer Lodge, which to her sounded more romantic. She also changed her real name, Luis Stephanie Zalinska (she was of Polish-French descent), to Lois Mae Green. Child star Mitzi Green was the Broadway rage at the time so she adopted her last name, changed the Mitzi to Mae and inverted a vowel in her first name to Lois.
"Acting is truly a glorious and noble profession. When anyone can give other people a few hours of escape or enchantment away from the ills of the world and their own personal lives, that's a very worthwhile occupation."
