Eleanor Parker in Between Two Worlds

In 1944, co-starred with Paul Henreid, John Garfield and Sydney Greenstreet in Between Two Worlds. It was perhaps Eleanor Parker's most visible role to date and she is billed up front with the three other stars.

Eleanor Parker shares most of her scenes in Between Two Worlds with Paul Henreid (they would be paired up again for the 1946 version of Of Human Bondage) and their story bookends the film. the rest of the movie is dominated by John Garfield and, in the third act, Sydney Greenstreet. Truthfully, Eleanor Parker does not have all that much to do in Between Two Worlds. She looks quite young and lovely and does a decent job with her material (though, to be honest, her acting abilities seemed to have improved greatly in the following years). Still, appearing alongside some of the top stars at Warner Bros was good publicity for the actress and soon after she we would be a leading lady at that studio.

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Here are some images of Eleanor Parker in Between Two Worlds:

Eleanor Parker in Valentino (1951)

In 1951, Eleanor Parker starred in Valentino, the first of many films about the legendary silent screen actor Rudolph Valentino. Since this was the first substantial role for Anthony Dexter, the actor playing Rudolph Valentino, he was billed last with an "introducing" credit. This left Eleanor Parker with top billing in the film.

Reviews from professionals and casual viewers have ranged the entire good/bad spectrum. I actually found Valentino to be quite entertaining and well done. Many people, whether they liked the movie or not, have found the need to mention endlessly that it is not historically accurate. Regardless, Valentino is well cast and is generally fun to watch. It's merit has been underplayed over time (it has not been released on DVD) but the film remains a great artifact and something worthy of being sought out by anyone with a mind to see it. I watched Valentino due to the presence of Eleanor Parker but after viewing it found it to be undeserving of being unknown.

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Here are some images of Eleanor Parker in Valentino:

Eleanor Parker in The King and Four Queens

In 1956, Eleanor Parker made her one and only screen appearance with the legendary Clark Gable in The King and Four Queens. They had almost been paired several years before when there was talk of her co-starring with him in the 1953 film Mogambo (presumably in the role that went to Grace Kelly). Eleanor Parker, a long-time Warner Bros actress, had recently started to work at MGM in the early 1950s and it was somewhat inevitable that she eventually appear with that studio's greatest star, Clark Gable.

Eleanor Parker and Clark Gable have fine chemistry in The King and Four Queens. The film is short and sweet (running at only a little over 80 minutes) and the two stars make great use of their time together  onscreen. It's a movie set in the Old West but not a typical one...this one concerns the interactions between a con-man and a group of women who may be hiding a bunch of gold. Eleanor Parker only did three Westerns during her entire career (this was the final one). She was quite lucky that she didn't get stuck in endless thankless roles in the slew of Westerns that were being made back in those days. In fact, being a Western with Clark Gable was most likely a very good maneuver...especially when it was as the female lead!

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Here are some images of Eleanor Parker in The King and Four Queens (click to enlarge):

Naked Jungle in the newspapers

In 1954, Eleanor Parker co-starred with Charlton Heston in the classic adventure film The Naked Jungle. The following is a collection of original newspaper promotional materials for the movie.