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Eleanor Parker Profile
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| 26 June 22 | is born in Cedarville, Ohio. Her father's a math teacher. |
| 42 | moves from Cleveland to Hollywood |
| ? | attends Pasadena Community Playhouse |
| ? | is discovered by a Warner Brothers talent agent while sitting in the audience of the Pasadena Playhouse |
| 17 / 21 March 43 | secretly marries dentist Fred L. Losee, a lieutenant in the Marine Corps Medical Division, stationed in San Francisco. He's 25; she's 20. |
| May 43 | news of her marriage leaks to the press |
| 27 October 44 | undergoes an appendectomy |
| 30 October 44 | files for divorce from Losee in Los Angeles, accusing him of causing her "grievous mental suffering." Losee will die at age 58 in 1975 in San Diego, California. |
| January 45 | is seen dining at Mike Lyman's with Don McGuire |
| February 45 | columnist Louella Parsons knows that most of Eleanor's "telephone calls these days go to Bobby Anderson, who used to be seen often with Faye Emerson before she married Elliott Roosevelt" |
| June 45 | Parsons reports that Eleanor "has suddenly become the favorite girlfriend of many of our gay young gents" |
| August 45 | her boyfriend is Joe Kirkwood, Jr. |
| October 45 | is expected to marry Kirkwood, Jr., when her decree becomes final on December 4 |
| Late November 45 | she and Kirkwood call it a day. "There'll be no wedding bells for them. Yes, it was a quarrel." |
| December 45 | columnist Dorothy Kilgallen writes: "Chicago playboy Bert Friedlob has switched from his long-time romance Pat Donnelly, a former 'Miss America,' to Eleanor Parker, the screen actress" |
| Early January 46 | marries Los Angeles businessman Bertram Eli Friedlob, the ex of actress Jeanette Loff, in Las Vegas after a whirlwind courtship. He's 39; she's 23. |
| February 46 | Kirkwood, Jr., heartbroken about her marriage to Friedlob, consoles himself with Martha Vickers |
| will give her home to her parents and move in with Friedlob. "Her mother has been out here with her, and her father, a Cleveland math teacher, shortly will retire and come to California." |
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| April 46 | is chosen "National Buddy Poppy Girl" by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. She will reign during their annual poppy sale the week of Memorial Day. |
| turns down her part in Stallion's Road. Andrea King also nixes the picture. |
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| September 46 | she and Friedlob give a wedding dinner at the Crillon in honour of newlywed Dolores Moran and Benedict Bogeaus, Friedlob's pal |
| October 46 | she and Friedlob are seen dining with Bob Topping, admirer of Lana Turner |
| December 46 | gets her role in The Very Thought of You when Ida Lupino is withdrawn from the picture |
| 28 December 46 | without her knowledge, she, along with Veronica Lake, Lucille Ball, Brian Aherne, June Haver, Ava Gardner, Nancy Guild, Brian Donlevy, Sunny Tufts, Peter Lawford, William Holden, and George Raft, is among the guests scheduled by Bugsy Siegel and Billy Wilkerson to promote their new Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas |
| Late January 47 | is reported to move into a $90,000 mansion after the completion of Woman in White |
| she and her husband hope to be off to Europe as soon as Woman in White is finished. After working steadily for four months, she'll vacation before she starts The Voice of the Turtle. |
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| February 47 | the Friedlobs have the swankiest butler in town. He was formerly chief steward on the Ile de France. |
| March 47 | due to The Voice of the Turtle, her European journey is postponed until May |
| playwright John Van Druten is rumored to be unhappy about Warner's decision to put her and Ronald Reagan in the leads of The Voice of the Turtle |
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| 10 May 47 | is off to Europe with her husband. Friedlob's opening the International Roller Speedway first in Paris, then in Switzerland, and then in England. He was granted permission to send over 60 people. |
| March 48 | Bob Topping and Lana Turner are reported going to join the Friedlobs in a quest of adventure. "They plan to go to Africa and kill lions." |
| 7 March 48 | her daughter, Susan Eleanor, is born in Hollywood |
| ? | her husband's motherhood gift is a pair of jeweled clips combining diamonds, emeralds and rubies; each clip is in the form of a turtle dove, commemorating her latest film, The Voice of the Turtle |
| September 48 | will be selected for the lead in The Moth, the filming of James Cain's book |
| October 48 | is in the hospital to have several teeth extracted. Columnist Sheila Graham reports that Eleanor "is supposed to go to England soon for The Hasty Heart with Ronald Reagan. But unless hubby Bert Friedlob can go too, Eleanor will stay here." |
| November 48 | her part in The Hasty Heart may go to Patricia Neal, "now that Eleanor Parker can't go" |
| December 48 | she and Friedlob plan to tour Europe next year |
| is now on the fourth consecutive picture suspension at Warners. "This is the all-time record. Eleanor, married to wealthy Bert Friedlob, swears she is not interested in the money - she just wants a good picture. Sounds reasonable." |
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| March 49 | smashes a bottle of California champagne, christening the California Zephyr, an orange and silver diesel locomotive, in a ceremony at the San Francisco Ferry Building |
| attends the fifth wedding-anniversary of Dinah Shore and George Montgomery without an escort |
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| August 49 | is back to work on the stage after a bad session with a throat virus. Graham reports that it's nice to hear Eleanor talk about her husband. "He calls her 'Princess.' They adore each other. And that's nice to report in this day of Hollywood marriage break-ups." |
| September 49 | she and her daughter go to Tay Garnett's ranch. Eleanor has to recuperate from the exhausting filming of Locked In. |
| expects her second child on April 15 |
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| February 50 | she and Warner Brothers call it a day |
| 18 April 50 | her daughter Sharon Anne is born in Hollywood |
| May 50 | is chosen "Mother of the Year" by florists |
| is reported paged for a top role in Quo Vadis. "Now the question is: can she finish her Valentino picture in time to accept?" |
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| August 50 | Anthony Dexter wants her as his leading lady again, this time for the upcoming remake of The Sheik, produced by Eddie Small |
| September 50 | producer Edward Small still denies that she portrays silent film queen Agnes Ayres in his Valentino, even though "there's a love scene with Tony Dexter, the Oomph Boy, in a sheik's tent. The Valentino set is closed tighter than Fort Knox, with even the press barred." |
| she and Sam Jaffe are honored at the 11th International Film Festival in Venice, Italy. She, for her performance in Caged, and he, for his work in The Asphalt Jungle. |
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| January 51 | her husband will produce her upcoming No Room for the Groom |
| 13 February 51 | is nominated for the Academy Award in Los Angeles for her role as a woman prisoner in Caged. Other nominees in her category are Bette Davis, Gloria Swanson, Judy Holiday, and Ann Baxter. |
| 6 March 51 | has to abandon her sickbed and flee with her two small children when fire breaks out in her Beverly Hills home. She was in bed with the flu when she was aroused by the smell of smoke. She took her daughters, Susan, 3, and Sharon, 1, and left the house. The blaze destroyed a staircase and a wall with damages estimated at $500. |
| March 51 | is reported out of the running for the Academy Award |
| May 51 | her next film will be A Deep Seductive Wound, from the play by Ken England, produced again by Friedlob |
| June 51 | gives up her Honolulu vacation to make a 30-day personal appearance tour for Friedlob's picture A Millionaire for Christy |
| Early October 51 | upon her return from a personal appearance tour in the East, she announces that any actress "who goes back there without a smart wardrobe is 'just plain crazy.' The press and the fans in the East expect Hollywood stars to look chic, she affirms." Hollywood couturier Don Loper designed for her a 16-piece wardrobe, which cost $25,000. |
| October 51 | Friedlob will accompany her to her hometown of Cleveland for the world premiere of A Millionaire for Christy, but says he will stay in the background |
| January 52 | is reported to be eligible for an Oscar for her part in Detective Story |
| March 52 | she and Friedlob are reported doing "all their celebrating together lately" |
| July 52 | attends Judy Garland’s show with husband Bert Friedlob |
| 1 August 52 | is signed by MGM to a five-year contract. As her first picture under the new contract, she will make One More Time, a comedy-drama by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin about a young war widow. |
| 8 October 52 | her son, Richard Parker, is born in Hollywood |
| October 52 | sinks a hunk of her own savings into her husband's Panic Stricken |
| Late October 52 | she and Vittorio Gassman are named for MGM's upcoming Valley of the Kings |
| January 53 | says about her career: "Things have a way of working out right for me. For instance, I've had no real hard knocks career-wise. I never did any starving in an attic. I happen to come from a non-professional, middle-class background of school teachers, farmers - around Cleveland - without any money." |
| February 53 | spends more time helping her husband sell his picture, The Star, than she is on her own film, Above and Beyond |
| June 53 | was set for the plum role of a neurotic war widow in Take the High Ground, but another contract forces her out of the cast, and sultry Elaine Stewart comes in |
| Late June 53 | announces her separation from Friedlob |
| 2 July 53 | files for divorce from Friedlob in Santa Monica, California. She accuses that he caused her "grievous mental suffering“but does not elaborate on the charge. |
| July 53 | despite the divorce, she will star for her soon-to-be-ex in The Untamed |
| Late July 53 | columnist Hedda Hopper laments about Eleanor's parting with Friedlob: "I hear the gal in the case is Janis Paige." |
| columnist Walter Winchell writes: "Dorian Leigh, the Look cover girl, who has been signed to replace Eleanor Parker (estranged from her husband, the producer of the film), is 36. Has a 16-year-old daughter in Paris..." |
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| continues to reconfirm her stand of no reconciliation with Friedlob. "After finishing The Naked Jungle, Eleanor says, she is just going to rest and spend some time with her children." |
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| Mid-August 53 | friends of her and Friedlob hope for a reconciliation. "Friedlob is moving heaven and earth to win her back, and he has considerable support..." |
| her parents move in with her |
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| Late August 53 | her chill with Friedlob is reported thawing, "but not enough for a reconciliation. She permits her producer-husband to visit the kiddies and is cordial about everything." |
| September 53 | is rumored for Green Fire, "a yarn about emerald mines that may be made in South Africa" |
| will be in Valley of the Kings opposite Robert Taylor. Filming will star mid-October in Egypt. "The schedule also knocks cold chances for a reconciliation between her and Friedlob." |
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| Early September 53 | films Fort Bravo on location near Gallup, New Mexico |
| Friedlob is reported showing up at the Beverly Hills Luau with gorgeous Joan Tyler. "But Joan's not the reason for Eleanor Parker's rift with Friedlob." |
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| Late September 53 | tells Louella Parsons that her mother and father will stay with the children while she's to Egypt. "I will only be away three and a half weeks." |
| columnist Erskine Johnson reports "A custody battle is rippling the calm waters between Eleanor and Friedlob. He wants the kiddies for three months a year, but Eleanor isn't feeling that generous about sharing her brood." |
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| Early October 53 | is not too happy about Valley of the Kings being set back from the middle of November until December. "I've always turned down European pictures," she says, "because I didn’t want to leave the children." |
| Mid-October 53 | she and Friedlob "will air their family fracas in court this week because he insisted on a special hearing she didn't want. All of which delays start of Valley of the Kings." |
| October 53 | there are rumors that Gig Young is the reason why she won't listen to Friedlob's reconciliation plans. Friedlob said he’ll go to any lengths in the courts to win partial custody of his children. |
| Late October 53 | will play a war widow in George Cukor's One More Time, to be filmed after Valley of the Kings |
| her property settlement will be almost a million dollars |
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| 11 November 53 | receives an uncontested divorce from Friedlob in Los Angeles charging he made fun of her at a party while she was awaiting the birth of a third child |
| Mid-November 53 | Robert Taylor hosts a farewell party before going to Egypt with her. She attends in a bright lipstick-red dress, very startling with her new red hair. Parsons writes: "Eleanor is very subdued. She took her divorce from Friedlob very much to heart." |
| Early December 53 | columnist Erskine Johnson knows that she's the new doll in Robert Taylor's life |
| January 54 | either she or Olivia de Havilland is scheduled for Bing Crosby's leading lady in Country Girl |
| March 54 | she and Taylor are the "most unpublicized but for-real romance of the new year. They decided they cared during love scenes for Valley of the Kings." |
| April 54 | there's romance reported between her and Paul L. Clements, famed portrait painter |
| August 54 | will have the title role in MGM's upcoming The Reign of Cleopatra |
| is expected to marry her boyfriend, Paul Clemens, when her decree becomes final November 10 |
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| November 54 | MGM commissions Clemens to paint a portrait of her Marjorie Lawrence character for a sequence in Interrupted Melody |
| 15 November 54 | announces her engagement to Clemens in Hollywood. She says they'll be married Thanksgiving Day at the Hollywood Methodist Church. |
| 24 November 54 | she and Clemens pick up their marriage license in Santa Monica, California |
| 25 November 54 | marries Paul L. Clemens at the First Methodist Church of Hollywood. He has a 13-year-old daughter, Sharon, from a former marriage. It's a brief ceremony and only members of the immediate families attend. |
| 7 December 54 | collapses on a movie set of exhaustion and is ordered by her doctors to remain in Cedars of Lebanon Hospital |
| February 55 | is chosen "National Beauty Salon Week Queen" by the National Hairdressers and Cosmetologists Association; she will reign during the week of February 20 |
| March 55 | advertises for Lux toilet soap |
| April 55 | is pencilled in for the role of Anne Lindbergh opposite Jimmy Stewart in The Spirit of St. Louis |
| February 56 | wins her second Oscar nomination for her part in Interrupted Melody |
| March 56 | at the Academy Awards, she has tears in her eyes when Bill Ludwig and Sonny Levien walk up to get their Oscar for writing Interrupted Melody |
| May 56 | Clemens will accompany her to St. George, Utah, for location filming of The King and Four Queens |
| 7 October 56 | Bert E. Friedlob dies at age 49 of cancer at his home in Hollywood. He underwent two operations in the past seven weeks. He leaves his mother, a brother, and three children from his marriage with Eleanor. |
| November 56 | is ecstatic over her role in the upcoming Lizzie. She gets the chance to delineate three different personalities - a non-descript office worker, a normal healthy extrovert, and a determined wench. |
| 14 May 57 | her three children are converted from Friedlob to Clemens. Susan, 9; Sharon, 7; and Richard, 4, appear in Los Angeles Superior Court, where Judge Bayard Rhone grants a change of name. |
| October 57 | Clemens and Pat Nerney, Jane Powell's husband, adapt their new book The Little Black Book - A Bachelor's Guide as a Broadway musical. Both Jane and Eleanor would be happy to star in the show, but Pat and Paul keep telling them Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield would be much better for the roles. |
| expects her baby around Christmas Day |
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| 7 January 58 | her son Paul Day, Jr., is born in Hollywood |
| July 58 | arranges a screen test for her former high school classmate, 34-year-old Helen Rae Giesse, the new "Mrs. America of 1958" |
| November 58 | her husband accompanies her to Miami, Florida, where she's filming A Hole in the Head. Columnist Hedda Hoper tells that the Clemens "are selling their Beverly Hills home because of smog and are building another on Lido Isle." |
| December 60 | will film The Lady Takes the Floor for MGM in 1961 |
| January 61 | her new hair color is champagne pink |
| producer Jerry Wald asks her to co-star with Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation. She is also wanted for Celebration, the picture title of the play Loss of Roses. |
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| 27 January 61 | announces in Hollywood that she and Clemens embarked on a trial separation, with no action on a possible divorce contemplated so far |
| February 61 | she and Clemens reconcile |
| May 61 | producer Irving Rapper will meet her upon her arrival in Rome with a script of Pontius Pilate and try to persuade her to stay over to make the picture after she finishes her vacation |
| October 63 | wants to change her image |
| February 64 | she and Clemens separate |
| May 64 | announces at London Airport that she has separated from Clemens with "no row, no fuss, no shouting at each other." She is on her way from Los Angeles to Austria "on vacation from marriage." |
| November 64 | plans to seek a divorce from Clemens in the near future |
| March 65 | is awarded an uncontested divorce from Clemens in Santa Monica, California. She claims her husband was "cold and withdrawn" and humiliated her in front of friends. "My husband took less and less interest in our home and our marriage." She waives alimony but will receive $150 a month child support for their seven-year-old son, Paul Day. |
| 17 April 66 | marries businessman Raymond N. Hirsch, treasurer of a Chicago theater, at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. He's 44; she's 43. The half-hour ceremony is performed by a Church of Christ minister. The aides are told not to reveal the couple's honeymoon plans. |
| 19 April 66 | says that she and Hirsch were at the home of her agent, Bill Shiffrin, when they decide to get married and flew to Las Vegas |
| September 69 | announces she will quit her first TV series, "Bracken's World," after 16 episodes "due to lack of creative satisfaction” |
| Early June 76 | leaves the cast of Pal Joey, scheduled to open at the Circle in the Square, June 17 |
| 14 September 01 | becomes the widow of Hirsch |
| 05 | resides in Palm Springs, California |
| 9 December 13 | dies at age 91 in Palm Springs, California |
| Sources: Marc Kagan, Bugsy's Baby by Andy Edmonds, The New York Times, The Hammond Times, Syracuse Herald-American, Oakland Tribune, The Lowell Sun, Waterloo Daily Courier, The Zanesville Signal, The Era, The Newark Advocate and American Tribune, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, Middletown Times Herald, Nevada State Journal, Reno Evening Gazette, The Agitator, The Monessen Daily Independent, Pottstown Mercury, Screenland, Modern Screen, Waukesha Daily Freeman, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Ames Daily Tribune, The Sheboygan Press, Portland Press Herald, The Independent Record, The Herald-Press, Dixon Evening Telegraph, Valley Morning Star, Redlands-California, The Frederick Post, Chronicle-Telegram, The Daily Gleaner, Mansfield News-Journal, The Portsmouth Herald, The Post-Standard, The Odessa American, Traverse Record-Eagle, Pasadena Independent, Photoplay, Burlington Daily Times-News, Silver Screen, The Gettysburg Times, The Lima News, The Valley Independent, The Coshocton Tribune, The Lincoln Star, www.Ancestry.com | |
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| Links: Filmography | |