Cecilia Parker(1914-1993)
- Actress
Canadian-born Cecilia Parker, daughter of a British army officer, moved
with her family to Hollywood when she was a child. After graduation
from high school she got a job as an extra. She did extra work for
about a year before she was noticed by Fox executives, who signed her
to a contract in 1931. Her career went along steadily if not
spectacularly until 1937, when she was signed by MGM to play the older
sister of Mickey Rooney in the "Andy Hardy" series. Although she had worked
in everything from westerns to jungle serials, it's this part that
people remember her for. She must have given MGM some trouble at one
point, because in 1941 she was "loaned" (exiled is probably a better
word) to ultra-low-rent studio PRC for one picture, a fate that usually
befell actors who displeased the higher-ups at the studios. All was
apparently forgiven, though, as she made five more pictures at MGM
before she retired in 1942. She returned in 1958 for one final Andy
Hardy film, but then went back to the real estate business she and her
husband operated in Ventura, California, where she died in
1993.