Eleanor Parker of the "Sound of Music" fame passed away at the age of 91 at a hospital in Palm Springs, California, Monday, Dec.9. She succumbed to complications from pneumonia, according to several news reports.
"She passed away peacefully, surrounded by her children at a medical facility near her home in Palm Springs," Richard Gale, a family friend told the Associated Press.
Parker was perhaps best known for her role in the 1965 hit movie "Sound of Music", where she played a scheming baroness who wanted to send the Von Trapp children to boarding school. She started her Hollywood career at the age of 18, debuting in 1940 with the movie "Died with her Boots On."
Some of her most notable early works were "Voice of the Turtle,", which also starred Ronald Reagan and "Pride of the Marines". She also co-starred with Frank Sinatra in "The Man with the Golden Arm". She was nominated for the Oscars multiple times in the fifties and Parker also played some memorable characters on television, working on NBC's "Bracken World", ABC's "Once Upon a Spy" and TNT's "Dead on Money."
Parker was an actress of immense versatility and was called a 'Woman of Thousand Faces' in her biography by Doug McClelland. Today, she is not only remembered as an excellent actress but also as a wonderful human being.
"Eleanor Parker was and is one of the most beautiful ladies I have ever known. Both as a person and as a beauty. I hardly believe the sad news for I was sure she was enchanted and would live forever," actor Christopher Plummer added.
Parker was married four times, three of which ended in divorce. She last married Raymond Hirsch, manager of Shubert Theater, who died in 2001. She is survived by her four children through the several marriages.
Just like her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Parker's memories are etched deep in fans, friends and family's minds forever.
