Emory Parnell trained as a musician at Morningside College, a Methodist institution in Sioux City, Iowa, and spent his early years as a concert violinist. He performed on the Chautauqua and Lyceum circuits until 1930, when he relocated to Detroit, Michigan, to narrate and act in commercial and industrial films. Seeking better opportunities in Hollywood, Parnell and his wife moved to Los Angeles, California, where, helped by his red-faced Irish look of frustration, he immediately began to appear in films in a variety of role, such as policemen, doormen, landlords, and small town businessmen. Although his appearances were often in “B” films, such as the Ma and Pa Kettle series, he also made credible showings in “A” films as well. One notable part was as a Paramount studio executive who sang about avoiding libel suits to open 1941’s Louisiana Purchase. Parnell was also part of writer-director Preston Sturges’ unofficial “stock company” of character actors in the 1940s, appearing in five of Sturges’ films, including The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, where he played the crooked banker, “Mr. Tuerck”, the chief antagonist of William Demarest’s “Constable Kockenlocker”. He also made a memorable appearance as grumpy socialite Ajax Bullion in the Three Stooges short subject All the World’s a Stooge.

In May 1949, Parnell appeared on Broadway for the first and only time, in the play Mr. Adam, which ran for only five performances. In the 1950s, Parnell began to appear on television in both dramatic shows and situation comedies in roles similar to those that he had played in films. He portrayed William Bendix’s factory foreman “Hank Hawkins” on The Life of Riley, and the character “Bill Anders” on five episodes of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Maverick. He appeared on the ABC/WB series, Conflict and The Alaskans, with Roger Moore, and a related NBC even shorter series, Klondike, with James Coburn and Ralph Taeger. He was cast in an episode of the NBC family drama, National Velvet. He also appeared in a 1964 episode of Perry Mason as Leo Mann, an angry investor, titled “The Case of the Latent Lover.” Parnell’s last acting appearance on television was in 1971 as a prospector on CBS’s Gunsmoke. His last film role was as a bartender in the 1973 film, Girls on the Road. His final public appearance came in 1974, when he and his wife were interviewed by TV talk-show host Tom Snyder along with other residents of the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital. Parnell died of a heart attack in 1979 at age 86.