Barnett Parker
Within the British colony of expatriate actors in Hollywood during the 1930's, Barnett Parker, born 11 September 1886, in Batley, Yorkshire, England, was among the most stereotypical. Harrowgate College-educated, straight-backed, balding and well-intoned, Parker caricatured a multitude of unctuous, stiff-upper-lip butlers, man-servants or waiters, though his performances could, at times, verge on the brink of being camp. When driven to frustration his characters commonly resorted to incoherent twitter or wild gesticulation.
Parker was trained under Marie Tempest and George Alexander in England. He first acted on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre as Wilfred Tavish in Arthur Wing Pinero's "The "Mind the Paint" Girl" in 1912. He was well served with further roles in hit plays like "Hobson's Choice" (1915), "Artists and Models" (1924) and "The Red Robe" (1928). He was at first prone to reject film offers, professing to favor acting on stage. Nonetheless, the celluloid medium eventually beckoned, enticing him to sign with the East Coast-based studio Thanhouser in 1915. He worked in films during the daytime (while treading the boards at night) and quickly landed a plum role as a weak socialite, rescuing Gladys Hulette in Prudence, the Pirate (1916). He was seldom thereafter afforded the opportunity for heroic acts. During the 1930's, he was primarily in demand for small roles as dandified or 'silly ass' Britishers, giving value for money in films like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Personal Property (1937), Live, Love and Learn (1937) and Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937). Looking rather older than his years, Barnett Parker died at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles after multiple heart attacks on August 5, 1941.
Known For | Acting |
---|---|
Most Rating | 2.362 |
Birthday | 1886-09-10 |
Place of Birth | Batley, Yorkshire, England, UK |
Also Known As | William Barnett Parker, |
1937
Double Wedding
6.5/31
A bohemian free spirit helps meek Waldo win back his fiancée and falls in love with her over-controlling sister in the process.
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Double Wedding
1939
At the Circus
6.292/84
Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Carter's accomplices steal the money so he can take ov...
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At the Circus
1941
The Reluctant Dragon
6.631/145
Humorist Robert Benchley attempts to find Walt Disney to ask him to adapt a short story about a gentle dragon who would rather recite poetry than be f...
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The Reluctant Dragon
1937
Broadway Melody of 1938
6.3/11
Steve Raleight wants to produce a show on Broadway. He finds a backer, Herman Whipple and a leading lady, Sally Lee. But Caroline Whipple forces Steve...
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Broadway Melody of 1938
1937
Personal Property
6.889/9
Raymond Dabney returns to his family after trouble with the law. He convinces the sheriff to give him a job watching the house and furniture of widow...
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Personal Property
1936
Born to Dance
6/23
On leave, a sailor falls in love with a young lady aspiring to become a Broadway dancer, but their relationship is jeopardized by an established Broad...
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Born to Dance
1937
The Emperor's Candlesticks
5.2/7
Spies on opposite sides fall in love in pre-revolutionary Russia.
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The Emperor's Candlesticks
1938
Listen, Darling
6.5/11
To stop Pinkie's widowed, struggling mother Dottie from marrying a well-off older man they know she doesn't love, teenager Pinkie and her best friend...
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Listen, Darling
1941
Tall, Dark and Handsome
5.4/6
Robin Hoodish gangster in 1929 Chicago is an object of affection, kind to New York hood and bad to a bad crook.
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Tall, Dark and Handsome
1936
The President's Mystery
5.3/7
The screenplay for this mystery is based upon a story suggested to Liberty Magazine by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is the tale of a prominent...
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The President's Mystery
1937
Married Before Breakfast
5/1
A madcap inventor tries to market a razor-less shaving cream.
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Married Before Breakfast
1938
The Girl Downstairs
4.5/8
A wealthy playboy surreptitiously romances a scullery maid to gain access to her mistress with whom he is in love, but doesn't count on the maid falli...
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The Girl Downstairs
1940
He Married His Wife
5.063/8
Race horse owner pays so much attention to business he winds up divorced from his wife. His alimony payments are so steep he plots with his lawyer to...
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He Married His Wife
1937
Wake Up and Live
5.3/3
Satire on radio, built around the supposed feud between bandleader Ben Bernie and journalist Walter Winchell.
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Wake Up and Live
1938
Hold That Kiss
6.5/2
Two young people meet at a wedding and begin dating, each thinking the other is extremely wealthy. Comedy.
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Hold That Kiss
1940
Love Thy Neighbor
6.5/2
Capitalizing on the famous radio 'feud' between comedians Jack Benny and Fred Allen. The two stars play versions of themselves, constantly at each oth...
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Love Thy Neighbor
1938
Sally, Irene and Mary
6/3
Manicurists Sally, Irene and Mary hope to be Broadway entertainers. When Mary inherits an old ferry boat, they turn it into a successful supper club.
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Sally, Irene and Mary
1937
Live, Love and Learn
5.8/6
A starving, uncompromising artist and an heiress fall in love on first sight and immediately get married. She loves his outrageous behaviour, his stra...
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Live, Love and Learn
1937
We Who Are About to Die
6.8/4
John Thompson is kidnapped by mobsters after quitting his job. Then he is arrested, tried, and sentenced to death for murders they committed. A suspic...
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We Who Are About to Die
1937
Ready, Willing and Able
5/4
Two starving songwriters will only get funding if they get British actress Jane Clarke to star in their show.
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Ready, Willing and Able
1937
Navy Blue and Gold
5.9/7
Three Navy Cadets become friends, support each other and struggle to survive the rigorous training.
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Navy Blue and Gold
1939
Babes in Arms
6.4/40
Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decides to put up his own vaudeville show with his girlfriend Patsy Barton. But child actress Rosalie wa...
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Babes in Arms
1937
Espionage
6.5/4
Two reporters pose as man and wife in order to get the goods on a munitions supplier and the rumours of war in Europe.
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Espionage
1936
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
7.5/340
Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the bi...
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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936
Libeled Lady
7.3/110
When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the pub...
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Libeled Lady
1939
She Married a Cop
5/2
This comedy is set in New York and centers upon a singing Irish cop who causes quite a sensation among two producers when he sings at the annual Polic...
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She Married a Cop
1939
Hotel for Women
6/1
Guests at a women's residence club help a jilted small-town girl turn to modelling.
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Hotel for Women
1936
A Girl's Best Years
5/1
A woman reporter is hired by an author-songwriter to help him avoid additional breach-of-promise suits.
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A Girl's Best Years
1938
Love Is a Headache
5.7/3
A press agent for a Broadway actress whose career is going downhill, attempts to get her some publicity by having her adopt two orphans, without her k...
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Love Is a Headache
1940
One Night in the Tropics
5.6/19
Jim "Lucky" Moore, an insurance salesman, comes up with a novel policy for his friend, Steve: a 'love insurance policy', that will pay out $1-million...
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One Night in the Tropics
1940
Hullabaloo
4/1
A radio actor faces trouble when a science-fiction story causes the audience to panic.
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Hullabaloo
1940
La Conga Nights
7.5/2
In this comedy, actor Hugh Herbert plays six different roles. Only one of the roles is a man. The story centers around a dizzy music lover, who has gr...
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La Conga Nights
1937
Dangerous Number
5/5
Hank Medhill, artificial silk manufacturer, has returned to the U.S. from Japan to learn that his former girlfriend, Eleanor Breen is about to marry....
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Dangerous Number
1941
New Wine
0/0
The romantic story of Franz Schubert 's fight for recognition of his music. The 1941 Reinhold Schunzel biographical musical composer melodrama.
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New Wine
1938
Marie Antoinette
6.22/25
The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the riv...
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Marie Antoinette
1936
Roaming Lady
5/1
Joyce Reid, a wealthy young debutante, stows away on a cargo ship to China, carrying as passengers her dashing aviator sweetheart, Dan Bailey and and...
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Roaming Lady
2004
Walt Disney's Fables - Vol.6
8.8/6
Two classic animated shorts from the Disney studios. In 'The Reluctant Dragon' (1941), a young boy and a famous dragon fighter team up to teach a doci...
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Walt Disney's Fables - Vol.6
1964
The Big Parade of Comedy
6.3/3
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
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The Big Parade of Comedy
1941
A Man Betrayed
5.5/10
Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is ac...
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A Man Betrayed
1916
Prudence the Pirate
0/0
To her aunt's dismay, Prudence isn't interested in society life. She'd rather listen to the butler's tall tales of being a pirate. Nixed from a boat t...
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Prudence the Pirate
1937
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
6/18
A chic American jewel thief falls in love with one of her marks, an English lord.
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The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
1936
The General Died at Dawn
6/15
China, 1930s, during the ravaging civil war. General Pen entrusts O'Hara, an intrepid American adventurer, with the mission of providing a large sum o...
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The General Died at Dawn
1941
Kisses for Breakfast
5.5/2
A newlywed develops amnesia and can't remember his wife.
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Kisses for Breakfast
1916
The Flight of the Duchess
0/0
Based on Browning's poem, a widowed Duchess raises a son that decides to abandon modern ways and act like it's the medieval days. When he wishes to ma...
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The Flight of the Duchess
1920
The Misleading Lady
0/0
Jack Craigen, an engineer who has just finished a construction job in South Africa, returns to New York. There, at the home of his Uncle Cannell, he m...
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The Misleading Lady
1916
The Traffic Cop
0/0
During his daily duties, Casey the Cop rescues a woman who's soon his sweetheart. Later, she learns from her banker uncle that her inheritance has bee...
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