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lifestyle WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2013 ‘Sound of Music’ actress Eleanor Parker dies at 91 leanor Parker, who was nominated for Academy Hoffman and others, Parker was discovered at the Marjorie Lawrence, who continued her career after Awards three times for her portrayals of strong- Pasadena Playhouse. She was signed to a contract at contracting polio. Faced with having to lip-sync nine Ewilled women and played a scheming baroness Warner Bros., where she played only minor roles until arias in three languages, she holed up in a Lake in “The Sound of Music,” has died at 91. Family friend the studio recognized her dramatic depth and cast her Arrowhead cabin for two weeks and played records Richard Gale said Parker died Monday morning due to as Mildred Rogers in the 1946 remake of “Of Human eight to 10 hours a day. The result: her third Oscar complications from pneumonia. “She passed away Bondage.” nomination. Other notable films included “The Man peacefully, surrounded by her children at a medical The Somerset Maugham story had made Bette with the Golden Arm” and “A Hole in the Head” (both facility near her home in Palm Springs,” Gale added. Davis a star 12 years before. On Parker’s first day of opposite Frank Sinatra) and “The King and Four Parker was nominated for Oscars in 1950, 1951 and filming, Davis sent her flowers and a note proclaiming, Queens” with Gable. Growing up in Cedarsville, Ohio, 1955, but then saw her career begin to wane in the “I hope Mildred does as much for your career as she Parker had yearned to be an actress, and when the early 1960s. Her last memorable role came in 1965’s did for mine.” But the film flopped, and Parker was family moved to Cleveland, she began taking acting “The Sound of Music,” in which she played the schem- again relegated to mediocre roles until her break- lessons. In the summer she worked as an apprentice in ing baroness who loses Christopher Plummer to Julie through performance as an inmate in a brutal prison a Martha’s Vineyard stock company, waiting tables to Andrews. in the 1950 film “Caged.” The role brought Parker her support herself. She worked only infrequently after that, appearing first Oscar nomination, for best actress. After moving to Pasadena, she was cast in her first in films and on such TV shows as “Fantasy Island,” Her second came the following year as Kirk movie role at 19, a bit part in “They Died With Their In this file photo, “Murder, She Wrote” and “The Love Boat.” She also Douglas’s frustrated wife in “Detective Story.” Her Boots On,” starring Errol Flynn. Parker’s first three film actress starred in the short-lived 1960s TV series “Bracken’s career fully blossomed with such follow-up films as marriages ended in divorce: to Navy dentist Fred L Eleanor Parker World.” “I’m primarily a character actress,” she said in a “Scaramouche” with Stewart Granger, “Above and Losse; producer Bert Friedlob, which resulted in visits Palm 1988 interview, explaining why she never achieved the Beyond” with Robert Taylor, “Escape from Fort Bravo” three children, Susan, Sharon and Richard; and Mallorca, while stardom of so many of her co-stars. “I’ve portrayed so with Holden, “Valley of the Kings” with Taylor, and “The painter Paul Clemens, with whom she had a son, trying to many diverse individuals on the screen that my own Naked Jungle” with Charlton Heston. actor Paul Clemens. Her 1966 marriage to Shubert purchase personality never emerged.” She took on one of her most challenging roles in Theater manager Raymond Hirsch ended with his a villa in Like William Holden, Robert Preston, Dustin 1955 in “Interrupted Melody,” portraying opera star death in 2001. — AP Spain. — AP For gifters Kid picture books with snowy themes rrrr. It’s time for all good children, at least those in frozen castle, where he nearly perishes from chilly territory, to curl up with a good book featur- cold until his rescue by childhood friend Bing snow. Picture books abound showing off the Gerda.“Big Snow,” written and illustrated by white stuff. Here’s eight to get you started or pass on to Jonathan Bean, from Farrar Straus Giroux. gifters: “The Snowy Day,” written and illustrated by Ezra Tells the story of an antsy young boy who Jack Keats, reprint edition from Puffin. This 1963 Caldecott one was also first published in 1998. It tells the story of awaits a big snowstorm. Botching chores Medal winner is the tranquil story of a city boy named Vermont’s Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, a self-educated with his mother when changing bedsheets, fluffy flour for Peter who bundles up for crunchy outdoor adventures farmer who combined a microscope and an old bellows cookies and sudsy soap bubbles while cleaning the bath- after discovering it snowed overnight. Cutouts, watercol- camera to become the first person to photograph a single room lead him into a blizzard dream at naptime. “When it ors and the Brooklyn-born creator’s classic collage work. snow crystal in 1885. Snows,” by Richard Collingridge, from Feiwel and Friends. It’s considered the first full-color picture book to feature “Frosty the Snowman,” illustrated by Wade Zahares, A picture book debut that features not only an eery ode to an African-American protagonist. music and lyrics by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, from mega-snow and various large icy creatures, but also a “Snow,” written and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz, reprint Imagine. This retelling of the seasonal song standard fea- good word at the end for reading itself. edition from Square Fish. First out in 1998. A hopeful “boy tures a trippy looking Frosty in black top hat and green “Ladybug Girl and the Big Snow,” by David Soman and with dog” lives in a great, gray city inhabited by doubtful mittens. Includes a three-track CD with the song and oth- Jacky Davis, Dial Books for Young Readers. The latest in the grown-ups transformed with the season’s first snowflake. ers performed by Grammy winner Kenny Loggins. best-selling franchise by this husband-and-wife team. Lulu It earned Shulevitz, who survived the bombing of Warsaw “The Snow Queen,” by Hans Christian Andersen, illus- dons her trademark all-red ladybug look, dotted wings as a boy, a Caldecott Honor and may be just the thing to trated by Bagram Ibatoulline, from Harper. The black crow and tutu over puffy jacket and snow pants to romp in a cheer up a modern-day “grandfather with beard” who and troll practically jump off the page in detailed, lifelike magical big snow with her dog, Bingo. Joined by her utters: “It’s only a snowflake.” trated by Mary Azarian, reprint edition from HMH Books drawings by the Russian-born artist. The queen, with brother, they create lots of snow animals, including a nice “Snowflake Bentley,” by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illus- for Young Readers. Another Caldecott Medal winner, this winged headpiece and icy eyes, lures young Kai to her likeness of her pet. — AP Blurring lines between fact and fiction on British TV wo TV shows in Britain showing “real” peo- isn’t saying ‘is this real, is it not real?’. They don’t ple in fictional situations-”The Only Way Is care,” she said. TEssex” and “Made in Chelsea”-have gained ‘Rooted in reality’ large audiences and unleashed a social media The major difference between TOWIE and US frenzy by blurring the lines between reality and shows such as “The Hills” is the rapid turnround fiction. When “The Only Way Is Essex” burst onto from production to broadcast-making it fresh for screens in 2010, it fast became Britain’s most suc- both the viewers and the characters, which cessful example of “structured reality TV”-a cast sparks instant exchanges on social media. “That of people going about their daily lives but with means it’s huge on Facebook and on Twitter, and story lines that were part fact and part fiction. with that audience, that’s what makes it so popu- Though inspired by US shows, the makers of lar,” Wrigley said. “The first time the audience sees A diver dressed in a TOWIE say it has built its success with a rapid it is the first time the cast see it. “Just as in their Santa Claus three-day turnaround from filming to screening, real lives, they would naturally take to Twitter to costume swims allowing participants and audience to discuss it say ‘I can’t believe she is saying that’-and that’s with fish at the online almost immediately. what they do with the show.” Sunshine Aquarium TOWIE features the twenty-something, spray- The cast of TOWIE do not have a script, and in Tokyo yesterday. tanned residents of Essex, a county to the east of neither are they actors. They discuss with the The show will be London whose brashness has long made it the show’s makers, Lime Pictures, what is happening held to attract butt of jokes in Britain. It was followed a year lat- in their lives and act that out on screen. visitors until er by “Made in Chelsea”, about the well-funded “Everything in TOWIE is based in reality,” Wrigley Christmas residents of the upmarket district of west said. If, for example, one of the cast mentions Day. — AFP London that is the polar opposite of Essex. that they want to pass their driving test, or Despite the different social backgrounds, the become a model, it can be incorporated into the content is similar-delving into who is going out show.