Cecilia Parker

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Cecilia Parker (April 26, 1914-July 25, 1993) was a motion picture actress from Fort William, Ontario. She was blond, 5 feet three and a half inches tall, and weighed 109 pounds. Her eyes were hazel.

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She was brought to southern California as a child by her mother, Mrs. Naudy Anna Parker. Her father was an English soldier. Parker graduated from the Convent of the Immaculate Heart in Hollywood in June 1931. At the time she resided with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Parker, at 546 North Fuller Street in Los Angeles, California. Parker was selected from among a group of extras to attend the Fox Film studio training school for younger players.

Soon she was selected to play opposite George O'Brien in The Rainbow Trail (1932). Rainbow Trail, written by Zane Grey, was the novelist's sequel to Riders of the Purple Sage. Parker starred with Tom Tyler and Carmelita Geraghty in a 1932-1933 produced by Universal Pictures. It is entitled The Jungle Mystery. In July 1933 she was chosen to play the heroine in the Ken Maynard western, The Trail Drive (1933).

After playing the sister of Greta Garbo in The Painted Veil (1934), Parker signed a seven year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The studio wanted a blonde who resembled Garbo as a young girl. Her new contract called for a starting salary of $75 a week and scales up to $1000 a week for the seventh year.

In November 1935 Parker purchased a new home in Beverly Hills, California. She installed both a barbecue and a basketball court. The following year she joined the ballet school of Dave Gould at M.G.M., along with Maureen O'Sullivan. By the fall of 1936 Parker was studying singing.

She starred as Marian Hardy in a series of Andy Hardy movies in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Beginning with A Family Affair in 1937, the series featured Hollywood luminaries like Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Ann Rutherford, and Fay Holden. The motion pictures were directed by George Seitz. Out West With The Hardys (1938) features the entire Hardy family on a western trek to a large ranch. This was the fifth film of seventeen in the series. The last is Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958). Rooney played Andy and Parker performed the role of his older sister.

Parker's sister, Linda, was an actress who appeared in a number of uncredited roles in the early 1930s. Both sisters once tested for the same part in David Copperfield (1935 film). Parker was a close friend of actress Anne Shirley. During the mid-1930s the two kept a standing dinner date on Thursday nights.

  • Bismarck, North Dakota Tribune, Fifth Hardy Family Picture Delightful, Friday, December 2, 1938, Page 8.
  • Los Angeles Times, Film Outlook During Summer Assumes Rosier Hue, June 14, 1931, Page B9.
  • Los Angeles Times, Chosen By Fortune For Screen Career, October 6, 1931, Page 10.
  • Los Angeles Times, Rainbow Trail Announced For Loew's State, December 22, 1931, Page A7.
  • Los Angeles Times, Tyler To Play Lead, May 31, 1932, Page A9.
  • Los Angeles Times, Cecilia Parker To Lead, July 16, 1933, Page A1.
  • Los Angeles Times, Court Accepts Young Player's Film Contract, July 25, 1934, Page A10.
  • Los Angeles Times, Odd and Interesting, September 25, 1934, Page 19.
  • Los Angeles Times, Around And About In Hollywood, November 6, 1935, Page A15.
  • Los Angeles Times, Around And About In Hollywood, February 17, 1936, Page A15.
  • Los Angeles Times, Around And About In Hollywood, February 18, 1936, Page A19.
  • Portsmouth, Ohio Times, Cecilia Parker, Sunday, November 15, 1936, Page 68.
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