She initially aspired to be an illustrator and artist, but was discovered at age 16 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executive Louis B. Mayer after a photograph of her was published in a Los Angeles newspaper when she won a poster contest.

She made her feature film debut in the pre-code drama Divorce in the Family (1932), before being loaned to Columbia Pictures, who cast her in Frank Capra's Lady for a Day (1933).

The same year, she starred as Elizabeth March in George Cukor's adaptation of Little Women opposite Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, and Frances Dee.

Green, a gunsmith, hunter, and chef from South Dakota,[1] and Melvina Burch (later known professionally as Mildred Brenner, who worked in the MGM set department), a native of Deer Lodge.

[a] Despite these discrepancies, Parker's son, Robert, insisted she was born Lois May Green in Deer Lodge in 1915,[11] which is consistent with contemporaneous Montana birth records from the United States Census Bureau.

[2] In 1933, MGM loaned Parker to Columbia Pictures, who provided her with larger parts in their films, beginning with a major supporting role in Frank Capra's comedy-drama Lady for a Day, playing the estranged daughter of an indigent saleswoman in New York City.

[2] The same year, Parker was loaned to RKO Pictures to appear in George Cukor's film adaptation of Little Women, portraying Elizabeth March opposite Katharine Hepburn, Joan Bennett, and Frances Dee.

[14] She also starred in the British film The Ghost Goes West for United Artists, playing the daughter of an American businessman opposite Robert Donat and Elsa Lanchester.

[2] Though forging a successful acting career at the time, Parker continued to utilize her artistic talents, contracting in June 1935 to make eight original sketches a month for a Beverly Hills shop.

[16] In 1938, she had the lead role in the drama Romance of the Limberlost, followed by a supporting part in RKO's comedy The Flying Deuces (1939) opposite Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

[21] A month after she was granted her final divorce decree on July 29, 1944, Parker married Dr. Kurt "Curtis" Arthur Grotter, a Hollywood insurance broker and former correspondent for a group of Czechoslovakian newspapers and active with the Braille Institute in Los Angeles, as he had a substantial loss of vision.

"[26] In the summer of 1949, Parker appeared in a production of the comedy play Light Up the Sky, opposite Gregory Peck, which opened at the La Jolla Playhouse[27] before having touring performances throughout the fall of that year.

[2] The following year, in 1951, while appearing at a nightclub in Sydney, Australia,[31] Parker made international headlines when she was escorted off Bondi Beach by swimsuit inspector Abe Laidlaw, who measured her bikini and determined it was too skimpy.

In 1954, Parker played the role of "Cattle Kate Watson of Wyoming" in an episode of the syndicated television series Stories of the Century, the first western program to win an Emmy Award.

"[39] Upon her death, journalist Ronald Bergan noted Parker as an under-valued actress whose career was stifled by the studio system who gave her "too little chance to shine.