Known For
Acting
Born
Sep 10, 1886
Died
Aug 05, 1941
Place of Birth
Batley, Yorkshire, England, UK
Credits
47 titles
Barnett Parker
Biography
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
Filmography
Walt Disney's Fables - Vol.6
Dragon (voice) (archive sound) (uncredited)
The Big Parade of Comedy
Arthur Trevelyan in 'Personal Property' (arch. foot.) (uncred.)
New Wine
The Duke
Kisses for Breakfast
Phillips
The Reluctant Dragon
Dragon (segment "The Reluctant Dragon") (voice)
A Man Betrayed
George
Tall, Dark and Handsome
Quentin
Love Thy Neighbor
George - Fred's Chauffeur
One Night in the Tropics
Thompson, Steve's Butler (uncredited)
Hullabaloo
Samuel Stephens
La Conga Nights
Hammond
He Married His Wife
Huggins
At the Circus
Whitcomb
Babes in Arms
William
Hotel for Women
Photographer
She Married a Cop
Bekins, the Butler
The Girl Downstairs
Hugo
Listen, Darling
Abercrombie
Marie Antoinette
Prince de Rohan
Hold That Kiss
Maurice
Sally, Irene and Mary
Oscar
Love Is a Headache
Hotchkiss, Carlotta's Butler
Navy Blue and Gold
Graves
Live, Love and Learn
Alfredo
Double Wedding
Mr. Flint, Margit's Bookkeeper
Wake Up and Live
Foster
Broadway Melody of 1938
Jerry Jason
The Emperor's Candlesticks
Albert, Stephan's Butler
Married Before Breakfast
Tweed
Personal Property
Arthur Trevelyan
Ready, Willing and Able
Waiter
Espionage
Bill Cordell
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
Purser
Dangerous Number
Minehardi
We Who Are About to Die
John Barkley
A Girl's Best Years
Primrose
Born to Dance
Floorwalker
The General Died at Dawn
Dining Car Man (uncredited)
Libeled Lady
Butler (uncredited)
The President's Mystery
Roger
Roaming Lady
Waters
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Butler (uncredited)
The Misleading Lady
Steve
Prudence the Pirate
John Astorbilt
The Traffic Cop
Book Agent
The Flight of the Duchess
The Duke
Bill Bunks the Bandit
Bill - a Gentleman from the East