Biography for
Jean Parker (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

11 August 1915, Deer Lodge, Montana, USA

Date of Death

30 November 2005, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (stroke)

Birth Name

Lois Mae Green

Height

5' 3" (1.60 m)

Mini Biography

Jean Parker was born Lois Mae Green in Deer Lodge, Montana, in 1915. Her father was Lewis Green, a gunsmith and hunter, and her mother was Melvina Burch, one of 18 children of a pioneer family that came to Deer Lodge from Missouri and Iowa. Jean's maternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. She was an accomplished gymnast and dancer, and was adopted by the Spickard family of Pasadena during her formative years when both her father and mother were unemployed during the Great Depression. Jean had entered a poster painting contest and won for portraying Father Time. Ida Koverman, assistant to MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, heard that a pretty teenage girl had won the contest, contacted Jean, and when she saw how pretty Jean actually was, had Mayer offer her an MGM contract. Jean made several important films in her career, including The Ghost Goes West (1935) with Robert Donat; Sequoia (1934) with Russell Hardie, shot in the Sequoia National Forest near Springville, CA; Little Women (1933) with Joan Bennett and Katharine Hepburn; Operator 13 (1934) with Marion Davies; and many other fine films.

After several successful cross-country trips entertaining injured servicemen during World War II, Jean lost her successful flying service, co-owned with Doug Dawson in Palm Springs, married and divorced Curt Grotter of the Braille Institute in Los Angeles; and moved on to New York to star in the play "Loco". She also starred on Broadway in "Burlesque" with Bert Lahr and "Born Yesterday," filling the role for Judy Holliday. Jean's husband, actor Robert Lowery, played opposite her as Brock in the play for a short stint. Jean was living at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, at the time of her death from a stroke in November 2005. She has one son, Robert, an executive with the city of Los Angeles who makes his home in Redondo Beach, California; and two grandchildren, twin girls Katie and Nora.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Robert Lowery Hanks

Spouse

Robert Lowery	(29 May 1951 - 10 September 1957) (divorced) 1 child
Curtis Grotter	(25 August 1944 - 29 December 1949) (divorced)
Douglas Dawson	(14 February 1941 - 8 July 1943) (divorced)
George MacDonald	(22 March 1936 - 22 January 1940) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Her precise enunciation

Trivia

Took Judy Holliday's place on Broadway in "Born Yesterday" when Ms. Holliday prepared for "Bells are Ringing".

Husband Robert Lowery, as a gag, introduced Jean to Sally Stanford, notorious California madam, as a prospective "house girl".

Jean's mother was one of eighteen children (natural) of a pioneer family with roots in Kirksville, Missouri and Clarinda, Iowa.

Discovered by Ida Koverman, Louis B. Mayer's personal assistant, after winning a poster painting contest which portrayed Father Time.

Mother Mildred Brenner worked at MGM in the set department, and created magnificent flowers, trees and other greenery for such notable films as National Velvet (1944), Forbidden Planet (1956), Raintree County (1957) and others.

She was an accomplished clothes designer and designed many lovely creations, but considered it a hobby and usually just kept her designs for herself.

Wore a size 6 shoe.

Measurements: 33B-24-34 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

She was divorced four times: first husband was New York newsman George MacDonald; second husband radio commentator Douglas Dawson; third husband Los Angeles insurance broker Curtis Grotter; fourth husband actor Robert Lowery, the father of her son Robert Jr.

As the winner of an art poster competition celebrating the 1932 Olympic Games (to be held in Los Angeles), Jean was invited to be one of the models decorating the float in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses parade.

Lived at the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, from 1998 until her death.

Studied Hindu philosophy and was well-versed in the Upanishad and in the teachings of Krishnamurti.

According to the 1930 federal census, Jean's actual name was Lois M. Green and she was born about 1917 in Montana, making her 16 when she appeared in the 1933 production. In 1930 she was living with her mother, Pearl M. Green, age 39 (born about 1891 in Nebraska, parents from Virginia and Iowa) and her sister La Vona M. Green, age 11 (born about 1919 in Colorado); other than that he was born in South Dakota, no father is mentioned. The parents married about 1913 and do not seem to appear in the 1920 census.

In an interview with Jean by writer Marcia Borie in 1972 at Jean's home in Eagle Rock, California, Jean admitted that at age 16 she invented her real last name and birthplace to make herself more interesting. The truth is she was born in Butte, Montana, not Deer Lodge, which to her sounded more romantic. She also changed her real name, Luis Stephanie Zalinska (she was of Polish-French descent), to Lois Mae Green. Child star Mitzi Green was the Broadway rage at the time so she adopted her last name, changed the Mitzi to Mae and inverted a vowel in her first name to Lois.

Personal Quotes

Acting is truly a glorious and noble profession. When anyone can give other people a few hours of escape or enchantment away from the ills of the world and their own personal lives, that's a very worthwhile occupation.