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!






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










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