Barnett Parker

A busy supporting actor of the 1930s who was often cast as the quintessential English manservant, tall, dapper-looking Barnett Parker had appeared with such British stage stars as George Alexander and Fred Terry prior to making his Broadway debut opposite Billie Burke in Mind the Paint Girl. The year was 1912 and the busy Parker immediately established himself as the typical "silly ass" British comic, "silly ass" being a description favored by the actor himself. Parker, who went on to appear opposite such legendary stage stars as Lew Fields and Lou Tellegen, moonlighted in movies from 1915 to 1920, chiefly for the New Rochelle-based Thanhouser company, where he scored quite a hit playing Astorbilt, the millionaire hero of the comedy Prudence the Pirate (1916). Parker spent the next decade or so on the boards but returned to films in 1936 to play a seemingly endless series of butlers, servants, and waiters. His death was attributed to a heart attack.

~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide