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Sound of Music actress Eleanor Parker dies | Sound of Music actress Eleanor Parker dies |
(about 7 hours later) | |
Actress Eleanor Parker, who was best known for playing the baroness in The Sound of Music, has died aged 91 in California. | |
Family friend Richard Gale said she died on Monday due to complications from pneumonia in Palm Springs. | Family friend Richard Gale said she died on Monday due to complications from pneumonia in Palm Springs. |
Parker was nominated for Oscars three times - in 1951, 1952 and 1956. | |
Her co-star Christopher Plummer described her as "one of the most beautiful ladies I have ever known - both as a person and as a beauty". | Her co-star Christopher Plummer described her as "one of the most beautiful ladies I have ever known - both as a person and as a beauty". |
He added: "I hardly believe the sad news, for I was sure she was enchanted and would live forever." | |
The actress began her career after being discovered at the Pasadena Playhouse. | |
She then signed a contract with Warner Bros, for whom she played minor roles until she was cast in the lead of 1946 film Of Human Bondage. | |
Lip-sync opera role | Lip-sync opera role |
However, the film flopped and Parker did not secure her real breakthrough performance until 1950 in Caged. | |
Her portrayal of an inmate in a brutal prison, who arrives as a young innocent but becomes a tough convict, earned her a best actress Oscar nomination. | |
Her second Academy nod came the following year as Kirk Douglas' frustrated wife in Detective Story. | |
A string of successful films followed, including Scaramouche with Stewart Granger, Valley of the Kings with Robert Taylor and The Naked Jungle with Charlton Heston. | |
She then scored her third Oscar nomination for playing opera star Marjorie Lawrence in 1955's Interrupted Melody, where she learnt to lip-sync nine arias in three languages. | |
'Diverse individuals' | 'Diverse individuals' |
Parker's last memorable role was in 1965's The Sound of Music, starring opposite Plummer and Julie Andrews. | Parker's last memorable role was in 1965's The Sound of Music, starring opposite Plummer and Julie Andrews. |
However, the actress' career began to wane and she later worked infrequently, appearing in TV shows including The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Murder, She Wrote and The Love Boat. | |
"I'm primarily a character actress,'' Parker said in a 1988 interview, explaining why she never achieved the level of fame of so many of her co-stars. | |
"I've portrayed so many diverse individuals on the screen that my own personality never emerged.'' | "I've portrayed so many diverse individuals on the screen that my own personality never emerged.'' |
Her last credit was the 1991 TV movie Dead on the Money. | |
Parker was married four times, with her first three marriages - to Navy dentist Fred Losse, producer Bert Friedlob and painter Paul Clemens - ending in divorce. | |
She was married to Shubert Theater manager Raymond Hirsch from 1966 until his death in 2001. She is survived by two daughters and two sons. | |
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