Willard Parker

Willard Parker, born Worster Van Eps on February 5, 1912, in New York City, was an American film, television, and stage actor who died on December 4, 1996, in Rancho Mirage, California, at the age of 84. Before entering the entertainment industry, he worked as a meter reader and as a tennis professional. It was while employed as a tennis pro in Hollywood that he was discovered by Zeppo Marx, who was then working as a talent agent. Marx arranged a screen test, Parker signed a contract with Warner Bros., and he adopted the stage name Willard Parker.

At Warner Bros. in the late 1930s, Parker accumulated a series of small and uncredited parts. His debut came in the Dick Foran Western The Devil's Saddle Legion (1937), and he subsequently appeared in supporting capacities alongside Bette Davis in That Certain Woman (1937), Pat O'Brien in Back in Circulation (1937), Ronald Reagan in the short subject Love is on the Air (1937), and Boris Karloff in The Invisible Menace (1938), among others. His first notable film role came in A Slight Case of Murder (1938) with Edward G. Robinson, followed by Accidents Will Happen (1938) before he departed the studio. He then worked briefly at Republic Pictures on The Zero Hour (1939) and took a minor role at Paramount in The Magnificent Fraud (1939).

Seeking to develop his craft further, Parker turned to the stage, first working with a stock company before making his Broadway debut. He appeared in the hit play Johnny Belinda (1940) and subsequently replaced Victor Mature in the cast of the musical Lady in the Dark (1941), performing opposite Gertrude Lawrence. Parker remained with Lady in the Dark when the production toured in 1943, a period that coincided with his verified Broadway activity from 1940 to 1943. His stage work attracted the attention of Columbia Pictures executives, who signed him to a long-term contract.

Parker's Columbia career began with a second male lead role in the romantic comedy What a Woman! (1943), alongside Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne. His film work was then interrupted by service with the United States Marines. Upon his return, Columbia elevated him to leading man status, casting him in the swashbuckler The Fighting Guardsman (1946), the comedy One Way to Love (1946), and the Western Renegades (1946). When those films underperformed, Parker returned to supporting roles in pictures such as the Western Relentless (1948) and The Mating of Millie (1948), in which he was billed behind Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, and Ron Randell. Columbia also cast him in the lead of the drama The Wreck of the Hesperus (1948).

During this period Parker worked across multiple studios. Universal borrowed him for a supporting role in You Gotta Stay Happy (1948) with Joan Fontaine and James Stewart, and again for a part in the Yvonne De Carlo Western Calamity Jane and Sam Bass (1949). He supported Don Ameche and Dorothy Lamour in Columbia's musical Slightly French (1949) and took the lead in the Columbia "B" pictures Bodyhold (1949), in which he played a wrestler opposite Lola Albright, and David Harding, Counterspy (1950). He also appeared in the comedy Emergency Wedding (1950) in support of Larry Parks and Barbara Hale. Additional credits from this era include Bandit Queen (1950) for Lippert Pictures with Barbara Britton, Hunt the Man Down (1951) for RKO, and Apache Drums (1951) for Universal. He played Jesse James in The Great Jesse James Raid (1953) for Lippert Pictures and had a small role in MGM's Kiss Me Kate (1953).

Parker transitioned into television work during the early 1950s. He and his wife, actress Virginia Field, appeared together in the Schlitz Playhouse episode "Mr. and Mrs. Trubble" (1952), and that program brought him back for additional episodes through 1955. He also guest-starred on Fireside Theatre and The Ford Television Theatre, frequently alongside Field. In 1952 he guest-starred on The Adventures of Ellery Queen. His most prominent television role came when he was cast as Ranger Jace Pearson in the CBS series Tales of the Texas Rangers, which ran from 1955 to 1958 across 52 episodes, with Harry Lauter co-starring as Ranger Clay Morgan. The series subsequently aired in reruns on ABC.

Parker continued working in low-budget Westerns and television throughout the late 1950s and into the 1960s. Film credits from this period include Naked Gun (1956), Lure of the Swamp (1957), Lone Texan (1959), Young Jesse James (1960), and Walk Tall (1960), the last directed by Maury Dexter, who also used Parker in The High Powered Rifle (1961) and Air Patrol (1962). He guest-starred on Lee Marvin's NBC crime drama M Squad (1958) and appeared in the ABC series Going My Way as Monsignor Joe Giblin in the 1962 episode "The Crooked Angel." He took the lead in the British science fiction film The Earth Dies Screaming (1964) and appeared in Waco (1966).

In his personal life, Parker was first married to Marion Pierce from 1939 to 1951, and they had one child. He subsequently married Virginia Field in 1951, and they remained together until her death in 1992. Parker died of a heart attack in Rancho Mirage, in Riverside County, California.