Barnett Parker

Barnett Parker

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.

  • Title: Barnett Parker
  • Popularity: 0.733
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1886-09-10
  • Place of Birth: Batley, Yorkshire, England, UK
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: William Barnett Parker
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Barnett Parker Movies

  • 1937
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    Double Wedding

    Double Wedding

    6.5 1937 HD

    A bohemian free spirit helps meek Waldo win back his fiancée and falls in love with her over-controlling sister in the process.

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  • 1941
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    The Reluctant Dragon

    The Reluctant Dragon

    6.6 1941 HD

    Humorist Robert Benchley attempts to find Walt Disney to ask him to adapt a short story about a gentle dragon who would rather recite poetry than be...

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  • 1939
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    At the Circus

    At the Circus

    6.313 1939 HD

    Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Carter's accomplices steal the money so he can take...

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  • 1937
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    Broadway Melody of 1938

    Broadway Melody of 1938

    6.25 1937 HD

    Steve Raleight wants to produce a show on Broadway. He finds a backer, Herman Whipple and a leading lady, Sally Lee. But Caroline Whipple forces...

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  • 1937
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    Personal Property

    Personal Property

    6.9 1937 HD

    Raymond Dabney returns to his family after trouble with the law. He convinces the sheriff to give him a job watching the house and furniture of widow...

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  • 1936
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    Born to Dance

    Born to Dance

    6.1 1936 HD

    On leave, a sailor falls in love with a young lady aspiring to become a Broadway dancer, but their relationship is jeopardized by an established...

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  • 1937
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    The Emperor's Candlesticks

    The Emperor's Candlesticks

    5.2 1937 HD

    Spies on opposite sides fall in love in pre-revolutionary Russia.

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  • 1938
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    Listen, Darling

    Listen, Darling

    6.3 1938 HD

    To stop Pinkie's widowed, struggling mother Dottie from marrying a well-off older man they know she doesn't love, teenager Pinkie and her best friend...

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  • 1941
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    Tall, Dark and Handsome

    Tall, Dark and Handsome

    5.4 1941 HD

    Robin Hoodish gangster in 1929 Chicago is an object of affection, kind to New York hood and bad to a bad crook.

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  • 1916
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    The Flight of the Duchess

    The Flight of the Duchess

    1 1916 HD

    Based on Browning's poem, a widowed Duchess raises a son that decides to abandon modern ways and act like it's the medieval days. When he wishes to...

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  • 1916
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    The Traffic Cop

    The Traffic Cop

    1 1916 HD

    During his daily duties, Casey the Cop rescues a woman who's soon his sweetheart. Later, she learns from her banker uncle that her inheritance has...

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  • 1920
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    The Misleading Lady

    The Misleading Lady

    1 1920 HD

    Jack Craigen, an engineer who has just finished a construction job in South Africa, returns to New York. There, at the home of his Uncle Cannell, he...

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  • 1936
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    The President's Mystery

    The President's Mystery

    5.3 1936 HD

    The screenplay for this mystery is based upon a story suggested to Liberty Magazine by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is the tale of a prominent...

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  • 1937
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    Married Before Breakfast

    Married Before Breakfast

    5 1937 HD

    A madcap inventor tries to market a razor-less shaving cream.

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  • 1938
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    The Girl Downstairs

    The Girl Downstairs

    4.5 1938 HD

    A wealthy playboy surreptitiously romances a scullery maid to gain access to her mistress with whom he is in love, but doesn't count on the maid...

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  • 1940
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    He Married His Wife

    He Married His Wife

    5.1 1940 HD

    Race horse owner pays so much attention to business he winds up divorced from his wife. His alimony payments are so steep he plots with his lawyer to...

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  • 1938
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    Love Is a Headache

    Love Is a Headache

    5.7 1938 HD

    A press agent for a Broadway actress whose career is going downhill attempts to get her some publicity by having her adopt two orphans, without her...

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  • 1938
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    Hold That Kiss

    Hold That Kiss

    6.5 1938 HD

    Two young people meet at a wedding and begin dating, each thinking the other is extremely wealthy. Comedy.

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  • 1937
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    Wake Up and Live

    Wake Up and Live

    5.3 1937 HD

    Satire on radio, built around the supposed feud between bandleader Ben Bernie and journalist Walter Winchell.

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  • 1938
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    Sally, Irene and Mary

    Sally, Irene and Mary

    6 1938 HD

    Manicurists Sally, Irene and Mary hope to be Broadway entertainers. When Mary inherits an old ferry boat, they turn it into a successful supper club.

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  • 1937
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    Live, Love and Learn

    Live, Love and Learn

    5.8 1937 HD

    A starving, uncompromising artist and an heiress fall in love on first sight and immediately get married. She loves his outrageous behaviour, his...

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  • 1937
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    We Who Are About to Die

    We Who Are About to Die

    6.8 1937 HD

    John Thompson is kidnapped by mobsters after quitting his job. Then he is arrested, tried, and sentenced to death for murders they committed. A...

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  • 1937
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    Ready, Willing and Able

    Ready, Willing and Able

    5.167 1937 HD

    Two starving songwriters will only get funding if they get British actress Jane Clarke to star in their show.

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  • 1937
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    Navy Blue and Gold

    Navy Blue and Gold

    5.9 1937 HD

    Three Navy Cadets become friends, support each other and struggle to survive the rigorous training.

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  • 1939
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    Babes in Arms

    Babes in Arms

    6.4 1939 HD

    Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decides to put up his own vaudeville show with his girlfriend Patsy Barton. But child actress Rosalie...

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  • 1937
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    Espionage

    Espionage

    6.5 1937 HD

    Two reporters pose as man and wife in order to get the goods on a munitions supplier and the rumours of war in Europe.

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  • 1936
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    Libeled Lady

    Libeled Lady

    7.3 1936 HD

    When a major newspaper accuses wealthy socialite Connie Allenbury of being a home-wrecker, and she files a multi-million-dollar libel lawsuit, the...

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  • 1936
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    Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

    Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

    7.5 1936 HD

    Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the...

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  • 1939
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    She Married a Cop

    She Married a Cop

    5 1939 HD

    This comedy is set in New York and centers upon a singing Irish cop who causes quite a sensation among two producers when he sings at the annual...

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  • 1939
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    Hotel for Women

    Hotel for Women

    6 1939 HD

    Guests at a women's residence club help a jilted small-town girl turn to modelling.

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  • 1936
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    A Girl's Best Years

    A Girl's Best Years

    5 1936 HD

    A woman reporter is hired by an author-songwriter to help him avoid additional breach-of-promise suits.

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  • 1940
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    One Night in the Tropics

    One Night in the Tropics

    5.6 1940 HD

    Jim "Lucky" Moore, an insurance salesman, comes up with a novel policy for his friend, Steve: a 'love insurance policy', that will pay out $1-million...

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  • 1940
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    Hullabaloo

    Hullabaloo

    4 1940 HD

    A radio actor faces trouble when a science-fiction story causes the audience to panic.

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  • 1940
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    Love Thy Neighbor

    Love Thy Neighbor

    6.5 1940 HD

    Capitalizing on the famous radio 'feud' between comedians Jack Benny and Fred Allen. The two stars play versions of themselves, constantly at each...

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  • 1940
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    La Conga Nights

    La Conga Nights

    7.5 1940 HD

    In this comedy, actor Hugh Herbert plays six different roles. Only one of the roles is a man. The story centers around a dizzy music lover, who has...

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  • 1937
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    Dangerous Number

    Dangerous Number

    5 1937 HD

    Hank Medhill, artificial silk manufacturer, has returned to the U.S. from Japan to learn that his former girlfriend, Eleanor Breen is about to marry....

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  • 1941
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    New Wine

    New Wine

    1 1941 HD

    The romantic story of Franz Schubert 's fight for recognition of his music. The 1941 Reinhold Schunzel biographical musical composer melodrama.

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  • 1938
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    Marie Antoinette

    Marie Antoinette

    6.315 1938 HD

    The young Austrian princess Marie Antoinette is arranged to marry Louis XVI, future king of France, in a politically advantageous marriage for the...

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  • 1936
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    Roaming Lady

    Roaming Lady

    5 1936 HD

    Joyce Reid, a wealthy young debutante, stows away on a cargo ship to China, carrying as passengers her dashing aviator sweetheart, Dan Bailey and and...

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  • 2004
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    Walt Disney's Fables - Vol.6

    Walt Disney's Fables - Vol.6

    8.8 2004 HD

    Two classic animated shorts from the Disney studios. In 'The Reluctant Dragon' (1941), a young boy and a famous dragon fighter team up to teach a...

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  • 1964
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    The Big Parade of Comedy

    The Big Parade of Comedy

    6.3 1964 HD

    Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.

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  • 1941
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    A Man Betrayed

    A Man Betrayed

    5.5 1941 HD

    Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is...

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  • 1916
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    Prudence the Pirate

    Prudence the Pirate

    1 1916 HD

    To her aunt's dismay, Prudence isn't interested in society life. She'd rather listen to the butler's tall tales of being a pirate. Nixed from a boat...

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  • 1937
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    The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

    The Last of Mrs. Cheyney

    6 1937 HD

    A chic American jewel thief falls in love with one of her marks, an English lord.

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  • 1936
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    The General Died at Dawn

    The General Died at Dawn

    6.1 1936 HD

    China, 1930s, during the ravaging civil war. General Pen entrusts O'Hara, an intrepid American adventurer, with the mission of providing a large sum...

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  • 1941
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    Kisses for Breakfast

    Kisses for Breakfast

    5.5 1941 HD

    A newlywed develops amnesia and can't remember his wife.

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  • 1915
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    Bill Bunks the Bandit

    Bill Bunks the Bandit

    1 1915 HD

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