Eleanor Parker, Best Known for Playing Sound of Music's Baroness, Dies at 91

Oscar-nominated actress Eleanor Parker, who is best known for playing the Baroness in The Sound of Music, died Monday due to complications from pneumonia, Variety reports. She was 91.

An Ohio native, Parker studied at the Pasadena Playhouse and made her screen debut in 1942's Busses Roar. She received her first of three Oscar nominations for Best Actress for 1951's Caged. She was nominated the following year for Detective Story, in which she starred opposite Kirk Douglas. In 1956, she was nominated for her performance as Australian-born opera singer Marjorie Lawrence, who overcame polio in Interrupted Melody.

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She also starred in hits like Escape From Fort Bravo, The Naked Jungle, Valley of the Kings and The Man with the Golden Arm with Frank Sinatra.

Although she made less movies in the 1960s, her role as the Baroness in 1966's The Sound of Music proved to become her most memorable. Unlike the original stage production, her character did not sing in the film. Laura Benanti, who played the character in NBC's live production televised on Thursday, tweeted, "RIP Eleanor Parker. Thank you."

Parker then went on to star in the TV series Bracken's World, and guest-starred on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Hawaii Five-0, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Murder, She Wrote. She also earned an Emmy nomination in 1963 for her appearance on NBC's The Eleventh Hour. Her last screen appearance came in the 1991 TV movie Dead on the Money.

Parker is survived by her fourth husband, Raymond Hirsch, and her four children: Paul, Richard, Susan and Sharon.