Barnett Parker

Known for ActingBorn 1886-09-10Died 1941-08-05Batley, Yorkshire, England, UK

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.Read more

Movies & web series

New Wine

Walt Disney's Fables - Vol.6

The Misleading Lady

The Traffic Cop

Bill Bunks the Bandit

The Flight of the Duchess

La Conga Nights

Hotel for Women

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

The Big Parade of Comedy

Love Thy Neighbor

Libeled Lady

Hold That Kiss

Married Before Breakfast

We Who Are About to Die

Espionage

Roaming Lady

Personal Property

She Married a Cop

Sally, Irene and Mary

Listen, Darling

The Reluctant Dragon

Broadway Melody of 1938

Marie Antoinette

Hullabaloo

Love Is a Headache

The General Died at Dawn

At the Circus

Babes in Arms

Double Wedding

Kisses for Breakfast

A Girl's Best Years

Wake Up and Live

Tall, Dark and Handsome

Born to Dance

The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

Navy Blue and Gold

The President's Mystery

He Married His Wife

One Night in the Tropics

Live, Love and Learn

A Man Betrayed

Ready, Willing and Able

The Emperor's Candlesticks

Dangerous Number

The Girl Downstairs

Prudence the Pirate