Parker, Eddie

▪ 2002

“Fast Eddie” 

      American billiards player (b. June 2, 1931, Springfield, Mo.—d. Feb. 2, 2001, Brownsville, Texas), was a legendary pool player whose exploits reportedly inspired the critically acclaimed 1961 film The Hustler. Parker played the game from the age of nine and, after a stint in the U.S. Navy in the early 1950s, toured extensively as a money player. In 1959 Walter Tevis, a young pool hall worker whom Parker had befriended, published a novel entitled The Hustler, on which the hit film was based. Actor Paul Newman portrayed the Parker-like character “Fast Eddie” Felson in the movie and reprised the role in the film's 1986 sequel, The Color of Money. In later years Parker made appearances at billiards tournaments, gave exhibitions, and created instructional videotapes and books.

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