American actress whose beauty was first spotted by a talent scout at the Pasadena playhouse. Her flaming red-hair showed well in Technicolor and she worked in bit parts and second leads in the ’40s with a peak between the 1950s and early 1960s. Parker’s film career had been dotted with Academy Award nominations and critical acclaim. She chose to shun the movie studio’s publicity department and worked on establishing a career of strong female characters.
Parker’s father taught math in grade school in Cedarville, Ohio. As a young teenager, she enrolled in the Tucker School of Expressionism. She began to dream about becoming an actress. Her dad gave her permission to appear with the Cleveland Theater repertory while still in high school. After graduation, she left to Martha’s Vineyard to apprentice in summer stock. Parker worked in the theater and waited on tables at the local restaurant to pay her rent. At 19, she moved to Los Angeles and joined the Pasadena Community playhouse.
In 1941, Parker signed a two-year contract with Warner Brothers Studio. She was immediately placed in the military films, “Soldiers in White” and “They Died With Their Boots On” the same year. She went on to critical acclaim in “The Very Thought of You,” 1944, “Of Human Bondage,” 1946, “The Voice of Truth,” 1947 and “Chain Lightning,” 1949. She was nominated for an Academy award and won the Venice Film Festival Award for the film “Caged” in 1950. In 1951, she left Warner Brothers for a non-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures. She received an Oscar nomination for her role in 1951’s “The Detective Story.” She appeared with Frank Sinatra in Otto Preminger’s “The Man with the Golden Arm” in 1955. In the film, “Interrupted Melody” about the courageous polio battle of opera singer, Marjorie Lawrence, Parker earned another Oscar award nomination for Best Actress in 1955. She appeared in the musical “The Sound of Music” with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer in 1965. In 1972, she was working in summer stock in the play, “40 Carats.”
Parker married Fred Losse on 3/21/1943 and they divorced on 12/05/1944. Her second marriage was to Bert Friedlob on 1/05/1946 and ended in divorce on 11/10/1953. Her third marriage was to Paul Clemens on 11/25/1954. The couple raised their son, actor Paul Clemens but divorced on 3/09/1965. Her fourth and present husband is Chicago businessman Raymond Hirsch whom she married on 4/17/1966.
Parker died on 9 December 2013 in Palm Springs, California of complications with pneumonia. She was 91
Link to Wikipedia biography