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Cecilia Parker
Full name: Cecilia Mary Elizabeth Parker
1914 - 1993



(Courtesy of Lynn MacKaye Morgan)

Above - Fred MacKaye vs. Cecilia Parker in the Ken Maynard oater GUN JUSTICE (Universal, 1933). About four years after this western was filmed, Cecilia Parker graduated from playing serial and B western heroines and began her most remembered screen role as Mickey Rooney's sister "Marian Hardy" in the Andy Hardy series at MGM. About ten years after doing this Maynard film, Fred MacKaye was directing the popular Lux Radio Theater.


Cecilia Mary Elizabeth Parker was born April 26, 1914 in Fort William, Ontario, Canada to Thomas Joseph Parker and Naudy Anna Reichlemeier. The Parker family re-located to the Los Angeles area and were in L. A. when the 1920 census was taken ... and father Thomas was a street car conductor. And Cecilia is the correct spelling of her name - it is not Cecelia with an e in the middle.

Her first movie jobs occurred when she was attending high school. From the June 11, 1931 Los Angeles Evening Express newspaper:

"Cecilia Parker, whose work in 'Woman of All Nations' brought her a contract with Fox, will graduate from Immaculate Heart High School on June 17 (1931)."

There seemed to be two phases to her Hollywood career. The first was a mix of A and B grade roles at Fox, Universal, MGM, as well as free lancing. In the 1930s, she was a busy leading lady in B westerns with George O'Brien, Rex Bell, John Wayne, Ken Maynard, Buck Jones, and Smith Ballew. And she also did cliffhangers: JUNGLE MYSTERY (Universal, 1932), THE LOST SPECIAL (Universal, 1932), and THE LOST JUNGLE (Mascot, 1934).

Phase Two was portraying "Marian Hardy", the sister to Mickey Rooney, in eleven of the Andy Hardy films at MGM in 1937 - 1942.

She married actor Robert Browning Baldwin on June 1, 1938 in Ventura County, California, and he later became a Ventura, California realtor and developer. They worked together in one movie, GAMBLING DAUGHTERS (PRC, 1941), a film noir starring Roger Pryor, Gale Storm, Parker, and Baldwin.

Cecilia retired around 1942 to raise a family and assist in the management of their beachside motels and real estate holdings. The Baldwins had three children - daughter Ann and sons John and Robert. She also became a U. S. Citizen - ancestry.com had the April 26, 1940 Los Angeles U. S. District Court citizenship admission record for 26 year old Cecilia Parker Baldwin.

Years later, she returned to the screen - and portrayed "Marian Hardy" for the twelfth time and final time - in the Hardy Family reunion movie, ANDY HARDY COMES HOME (MGM, 1958).

Cecilia Baldwin died July 23, 1993, and according to newspaper death notices, she passed away at home after a lengthy illness.

This pretty lady did some memorable B westerns and serials and her movie career amounted to about sixty films. And in interviews, Cecilia was always upbeat and positive about her time and experiences in Hollywood.

There is confusion regarding Parker's birth year - in some biographies, her birth date is incorrectly reported as April 26, 1905 (instead of 1914).


Cecilia's LEADING LADY roles in B westerns and serials.
  Quantity Film Titles
Ken Maynard 4 TOMBSTONE CANYON (KBS/World Wide, 1932), THE TRAIL DRIVE (Universal, 1933), GUN JUSTICE (Universal, 1933), HONOR OF THE RANGE (Universal, 1934)
George O'Brien 3 THE RAINBOW TRAIL (Fox, 1932), MYSTERY RANCH (Fox, 1932), HOLLYWOOD COWBOY (RKO, 1937)
Rex Bell 2 RAINBOW RANCH (Monogram, 1933), THE FUGITIVE (Monogram, 1933)
Buck Jones 2 UNKNOWN VALLEY (Columbia, 1933), THE MAN TRAILER (Columbia, 1934)
John Wayne 1 RIDERS OF DESTINY (Monogram, 1933)
Smith Ballew 1 ROLL ALONG, COWBOY (20th Century Fox, 1937)
Serials 3 JUNGLE MYSTERY (Universal, 1932), THE LOST SPECIAL (Universal, 1932), THE LOST JUNGLE (Mascot, 1934)


Remember blonde haired Cecilia in her role in RIDERS OF DESTINY (Lone Star / Monogram, 1933). I always chuckle at the movie ending.

Wayne and her have a smooch, and then he rides off to send a telegram. But before he leaves, Wayne comments about really liking her home-baked biscuits.

Flustered and happy from the kiss, she runs to the ranch house while proclaiming to her dad (George Hayes) "gosh! I'm gonna bake a million biscuits!"



(Courtesy of Bruce Hickey)

A very young Cecilia Parker at Fox circa 1931. She was about seventeen years old.




(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above are George O'Brien and Cecilia Parker in MYSTERY RANCH (Fox, 1932). Parker was the female lead/heroine in three O'Brien westerns: MYSTERY RANCH (Fox, 1932), THE RAINBOW TRAIL (Fox, 1932), and HOLLYWOOD COWBOY (RKO, 1937).



(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above are Cecilia Parker and Ken Maynard in THE TRAIL DRIVE (Universal, 1933). Parker did four with Maynard: TOMBSTONE CANYON (KBS/World Wide, 1932), GUN JUSTICE (Universal, 1933), THE TRAIL DRIVE (Universal, 1933), and HONOR OF THE RANGE (Universal, 1934).



(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Pretty Cecilia Parker has the drop on Ken Maynard and Tarzan in this lobby card from TOMBSTONE CANYON (KBS/World Wide, 1932). The plot has Ken and Cecilia versus a mysterious, dark-cloaked phantom killer with a disfigured face and blood curdlin' scream. Exterior location is Red Rock Canyon and this is one of Maynard's best.



(Courtesy of Bruce Hickey)

Above are Bob 'Bazooka' Burns, Ken Maynard, and Cecilia Parker in another lobby card from TOMBSTONE CANYON (KBS/World Wide, 1932).



(From the Internet Movie Database IMDb)
One of Cecilia's last films was at low-budget Producers Releasing Corporation.

This lobby card is from a pressbook for GAMBLING DAUGHTERS (PRC, 1941), and Cecilia and husband Robert Baldwin are shown.

The main players in this film noir were Roger Pryor, Gale Storm, Parker, and Baldwin.


On the trail of Cecilia Parker

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on:
     Cecilia Parker: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0662118/
     Her husband Robert Baldwin: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0049985/

A few newspaper articles:

The Noirish website has a writeup (with screen captures) of Roger Pryor, Gale Storm, Cecilia Parker, and husband Robert Baldwin in GAMBLING DAUGHTERS (PRC, 1941): https://noirencyclopedia.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/gambling-daughters-1941/

Jerry Murbach's Doctor Macro website has several photos of Cecilia: https://www.doctormacro.com/Movie%20Star%20Pages/Parker,%20Cecilia-Annex.htm

Daniel Neyer's "The Files of Jerry Blake" website has a webpage on Cecilia Parker in serials: https://filesofjerryblake.com/serial-heroines/cecilia-parker/

The Northern Stars website is dedicated to Canadian born film personalities and performers, and the page on Cecilia Parker is at: https://www.northernstars.ca/parker_cecilia/

Immortal Ephemera website has a bio on Cecilia Parker: https://immortalephemera.com/19158/cecilia-parker-biography/



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