Cecilia Parker (April 26, 1914 – July 25, 1993) was a Canadian-born American film actress. She was best known for portraying Marian Hardy, the sister of

Andy Hardy Andrew "Andy" Hardy is a fictional character best known for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer series of 16 films in which he was played by Mickey Rooney. The films were released from 1937 to 1946, except for a final one made in 1958 in an unsuccessful att ...

in eleven of the Andy Hardy film series.

Early life and career

Cecilia Parker was born in

Fort William, Ontario Fort William was a city in Ontario, Canada, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Since th ...

, Canada on April 26, 1914. She was brought to southern California as a child by her mother Mrs. Naudy Anna Parker. Her father was from England as English soldier. Parker graduated from the Convent of the Immaculate Heart in Hollywood in Los Angeles in 1931. At the time she resided with her parents, Mr & 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). '' The Rainbow Trail'', written by

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontie ...

, was the novelist's sequel to ''

Riders of the Purple Sage ''Riders of the Purple Sage'' is a Western novel by Zane Grey, first published by Harper & Brothers in 1912. Considered by scholars to have played a significant role in shaping the formula of the popular Western genre, the novel has been called ...

''. Parker starred with

Tom Tyler Tom Tyler (born Vincent Markowski; August 9, 1903 – May 1, 1954) was an American actor known for his leading roles in low-budget Western films in the silent and sound eras, and for his portrayal of superhero Captain Marvel in the 1941 ...

and

Carmelita Geraghty Carmelita Geraghty (March 21, 1901 – July 7, 1966) was an American silent-film actress and painter. Early life The daughter of screenwriter Tom Geraghty, she was the sister of writers Maurice and Gerald Geraghty. Her father wrote scenario ...

in a 1932-1933

movie serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

produced by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

entitled ''

Jungle Mystery ''Jungle Mystery'' is a 1932 American pre-Code Universal 12-chapter movie serial directed by Ray Taylor. The serial was based on a book called "The Ivory Trail" by Talbot Mundy. A 1935 feature version was also released, edited down to 75 mi ...

''. In July 1933, she was chosen to play the heroine in the

Ken Maynard Kenneth Olin Maynard (July 21, 1895 – March 23, 1973) was an American actor and producer. He was mostly active from the 1920s to the 1940s and considered one of the biggest Western stars in Hollywood. Maynard was also an occasional screenwri ...

western, ''The Trail Drive'' (1933). That same year, she was

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Go ...

's leading lady in one of the first

singing cowboy A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films. It references real-world campfire side ballads in the American frontier, the original cowboys sang of life on the trail with all the challenges, hardships, an ...

movies, ''

Riders of Destiny ''Riders of Destiny'' is a 1933 pre-Code Western musical film starring 26-year-old John Wayne as Singin' Sandy Saunders, the screen's second singing cowboy (the first being Ken Maynard in the 1929 film '' The Wagon Master''). It was the first ...

'', and also appeared in '' Rainbow Ranch''. After playing the sister of

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic c ...

in 1934's '' The Painted Veil'', Parker signed a seven-year contract with

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

. 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 Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Be ...

. The following year she joined the ballet school of Dave Gould at MGM, along with

Maureen O'Sullivan Maureen O'Sullivan (17 May 1911 – 23 June 1998) was an Irish-American actress, who played Jane in the ''Tarzan'' series of films during the era of Johnny Weissmuller. She performed with such actors as Laurence Olivier, Greta Garbo, William ...

. By the fall of 1936, Parker was studying singing. Cecilia Parker in Grand Central Murder trailer

She played Marian Hardy in the extremely popular

film series in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She was in the original Hardy film, '' A Family Affair'', in 1937.

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...

played Andy Hardy in the series, supported by

Lewis Stone Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular ''Andy H ...

Ann Rutherford Therese Ann Rutherford (November 2, 1917 – June 11, 2012) was a Canadian-born American actress in film, radio, and television. She had a long career starring and co-starring in films, playing Polly Benedict during the 1930s and 1940s in the And ...

, and

Fay Holden Dorothy Fay Hammerton (26 September 1893 – 23 June 1973), known professionally as Fay Holden, was a British-born, American-based actress. She was known as Gaby Fay early in her career. Biography Holden was born in Birmingham, England. After ...

. The movies were directed by

George B. Seitz George Brackett Seitz (January 3, 1888 – July 8, 1944) was an American playwright, screenwriter, film actor and director. He was known for his screenplays for action serials, such as '' The Perils of Pauline'' (1914) and ''The Exploits of ...

. Her character, Marian, appeared in most of the films, and her romances were a recurring feature of the series. Though she and the character she played were absent from the last two Andy Hardy films of the 1940s, she came out of retirement to play Marian Hardy in one more movie, in 1958. ''

Andy Hardy Comes Home ''Andy Hardy Comes Home'' is a 1958 comedy film directed by Howard W. Koch. It is the 16th and final film in the Andy Hardy series, with Mickey Rooney reprising his signature role. It was produced 12 years after the previous Hardy film, and was ...

'' was an attempt to revive and update the series, but it was not a success. Parker then returned to the real estate business that she and her husband operated in Ventura, California and she acted rarely, thereafter.

Personal life

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 ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from in ...

''. Parker was a close friend of actress

Anne Shirley Anne Shirley is a fictional character introduced in the 1908 novel ''Anne of Green Gables'' by L. M. Montgomery. Shirley is featured throughout the classic book series, which revolve around her life and family in 19th and 20th-century Prince Edw ...

. During the mid-1930s the two kept a standing dinner date on Thursday nights. In 1938 she married actor Robert Baldwin, who helped her to become a naturalized American citizen in 1940.

Death

On July 25, 1993, Parker died age of 79 after what ''The New York Times'' called "a long illness". She was survived by her husband, a daughter, two sons, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Her husband died in 1996.

References

Sources

Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck () is the capital of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Burleigh County. It is the state's second-most populous city, after Fargo. The city's population was 73,622 in the 2020 census, while its metropolitan popul ...

Tribune, ''Fifth Hardy Family Picture Delightful'', Friday, December 2, 1938, Page 8. *

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

, ''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 Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. Th ...

Times, ''Cecilia Parker'', Sunday, November 15, 1936, Page 68.

External links

* *
Photographs and Literature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Cecilia 1914 births 1993 deaths Canadian film actresses Western (genre) film actresses Canadian television actresses Canadian silent film actresses Canadian emigrants to the United States Canadian people of English descent People from Thunder Bay Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players Actresses from Ontario 20th-century Canadian actresses