She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951), and Interrupted Melody (1955), the first of which won her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress.

She was also known for her roles in the films Of Human Bondage (1946), Scaramouche (1952), The Naked Jungle (1954), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), A Hole in the Head (1959), The Sound of Music (1965), and The Oscar (1966).

[2] She was in the audience one night at Pasadena Playhouse when spotted by a Warners Bros talent scout, Irving Kumin.

This performance impressed Warners, so when Joan Leslie was held up on Rhapsody in Blue, Parker replaced her in Between Two Worlds (1944), playing the wife of Paul Henreid's character.

Although director Edmund Goulding called Parker one of the five greatest actresses in America,[6] previews were not favorable, and the film sat on the shelf for two years before being released to an underwhelming reception.

Parker was suspended twice by Warners for refusing parts in films – in Stallion Road (where she was replaced by Alexis Smith) and Love and Learn.

[9] She made the comedy Voice of the Turtle (1947, aired today under the title One for the Book) with Ronald Reagan and was in an adaptation of The Woman in White (1948).

Parker had understood that she would star in a film called Safe Harbor, but Warner Bros. apparently had no intention of making it.

[14] This arrangement began brilliantly with Detective Story (1951) for director William Wyler, playing Mary McLeod, the woman who doesn't understand the position of her unstable detective husband (played by Kirk Douglas); Parker was nominated for the leading actress Oscar in 1951 for her performance, which, to date, remains the shortest performance to be nominated in the category.

[15] Parker followed Detective Story with her portrayal of an actress in love with a swashbuckling nobleman (played by Stewart Granger) in Scaramouche (1952), a role originally intended for Ava Gardner.

MGM rushed her into Above and Beyond (1952), a biopic of Lt. Col. Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. (Robert Taylor), the pilot of the aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

[16] She was named as star of My Most Intimate Friend[17] and of One More Time, from a script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, but neither film was made.

Back at Paramount, Parker starred with Charlton Heston as a 1901 mail-order bride in The Naked Jungle (1954), directed by Byron Haskin and produced by George Pal.

Parker returned to MGM where she was reunited with Robert Taylor in Valley of the Kings (1954) and the Western Many Rivers to Cross (1955).

[8] Also in 1955, Parker appeared in the film adaptation of the National Book Award-winner The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), directed by Otto Preminger and released through United Artists.

She played Zosh, a woman in a wheelchair and the wife of heroin-addicted would-be jazz drummer Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra).

It was then back to MGM for two movies, both dramas: Lizzie (1957), in the title role, as a woman with a split personality, and The Seventh Sin (1957), a remake of The Painted Veil.

Both films flopped at the box office, and as a result, Parker's plans to produce L'Eternelle, about French resistance fighters, did not materialize.

In 1969–1970, Parker starred in the television series Bracken's World, for which she was nominated for a 1970 Golden Globe Award as Best TV Actress – Drama.

She starred in other TV movies and made guest appearances on series such as Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, Hotel, and Murder, She Wrote.

Concurrent with her TV career, Parker starred in a number of theatrical productions, including the role of Margo Channing in Applause, the Broadway musical version of the film All About Eve.

She embraced and was a supporter of Messianic Jewish philosopher, teacher, and commentator Roy Masters, owner of the Foundation of Human Understanding in Grants Pass, Oregon.

[29] Eleanor Parker died on December 9, 2013, at a medical facility in Palm Springs, California, from complications of pneumonia.