Name
Bonita Granville
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1923-02-02
Deathday
1988-10-11 (65 years old)
Place of Birth
New York City, New York, USA
Biography
Daughter of Bernard 'Bunny' Granville and Rosina Timponi, Bonita Granville was born into an acting family on 2 Febuary 1923, in New York, New York. It's not surprising that she herself became a child actor, first on the stage and, at the age of 9, debuting in movies in Westward Passage (1932). She was regularly cast as a naughty little girl, as in These Three (1936) where she played Mary, an obnoxious girl spreading lies about her teachers. Her performance left an impression on the audience, and she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress award.
In 1938-39 came the movies she is now best remembered for -- playing the bright and feisty detective/reporter Nancy Drew in the Nancy Drew series. She also appeared with Mickey Rooney in a few Andy Hardy movies. She never really had a movie breakthrough, and after marrying oil millionaire and later producer Jack Wrather, she retired from acting in the middle of the 1950s, although she went on to produce the Lassie (1954) TV series.
After her marriage to oil millionaire Jack Wrather in 1947, she appeared in only three more movies. She became an executive in the Wrather Corp., and first associate producer, then executive producer of the Lassie (1954) TV series. After Wrather's death in 1984, she took over as chairman of the board. She was also involved in many civic and cultural groups, and she was chair of American Film Institute, trustee of John F. Kennedy Center, as well as other well known organizations and charities.
Walt Disney personally convinced the Wrathers to build the Disneyland Hotel when Disney could not raise the money to do so -- his credit was all tied up in building the theme park itself. After the phenomenal success of Disneyland, Disney attempted to buy the hotel; but the Wrathers steadfastly refused to sell. Long after Jack and Bonita Wrather's and Walt Disney's deaths, the Disney Company bought the Wrather Corporation. The Disney Company thus acquired the Disneyland Hotel, the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose attractions in Long Beach, California, the rights to The Lone Ranger (1949) TV series, as well as other properties.
Bonita Granville Rather died of cancer on 11 October 1988, in Santa Monica, California. She and Wrather had four children (two from Wrather's first marriage).
Known For
5.818
In the 1810s, an old maid poses as her own niece in order to teach her onetime beau a less...
6.25
The territorial governor asks the Lone Ranger to investigate mysterious raids on settlers ...
7.403
A woman suffers a nervous breakdown and from an oppressive mother before being freed by th...
6.5
After a wealthy dowager who has made a substantial donation to her alma mater suddenly dis...
6.25
Andy is going to Wainwright College as did his father. He sees a pretty blonde on the trai...
4.938
When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the ...
6.897
Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her la...
7
Magazine editor Margot Merrick pretends to be married in order to avoid advances from male...
6
The star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman and a renegade monk....
7.079
An infatuated debutante renews a Shakespearean actor's running feud with his leading lady....
- 1940 The Mortal Storm as Elsa
- 1939 Nancy Drew... Reporter as Nancy Drew
- 1946 Suspense as Ronnie
- 1942 Now, Voyager as June Vale
- 1947 The Guilty as Estelle Mitchell / Linda Mitchell
- 1946 Love Laughs at Andy Hardy as Kay Wilson
- 1942 The Glass Key as Opal 'Snip' Madvig
- 1939 Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase as Nancy Drew
- 1938 Nancy Drew… Detective as Nancy Drew
- 1939 Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter as Nancy Drew
- 1940 Third Finger, Left Hand as Vicky Sherwood
- 1936 These Three as Mary Tilford
- 1933 Cavalcade as Young Fanny
- 1944 Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble as Kay Wilson
- 1944 Youth Runs Wild as Toddy Jones
- 1941 H.M. Pulham, Esq. as Mary Pulham
- 1942 Syncopation as Kit Latimer
- 1943 Hitler's Children as Anna Miller
- 1937 It's Love I'm After as Gracie Kane
- 1940 Forty Little Mothers as Doris
- 1956 The Lone Ranger as Welcome Kilgore
- 1938 White Banners as Sally Ward
- 1939 Angels Wash Their Faces as Peggy Finnegan
- 1940 Escape as Ursula
- 1942 Seven Miles from Alcatraz as Anne Porter
- 1938 Merrily We Live as Marian Kilbourne
- 1941 The People Vs. Dr. Kildare as Frances Marlowe
- 1946 Breakfast in Hollywood as Dorothy Larson
- 1937 Call It a Day as Ann Hilton
- 1936 Song of the Saddle as Jen as a Child
- 1941 The Wild Man of Borneo as Francine 'Frankie' Diamond
- 1941 Screen Snapshots Series 21 No. 1 as Self
- 1940 Those Were the Days! as Martha Scroggs
- 1938 The Beloved Brat as Roberta Morgan
- 1940 Gallant Sons as Kate Pendleton
- 1944 Song of the Open Road as Bonnie
- 1946 The Truth About Murder as Christine Allen
- 1938 Hard to Get as Connie Richards
- 1932 Westward Passage as Little Olivia Allen (age 9)
- 1938 My Bill as Gwen Colbrook
- 1950 Guilty of Treason as Stephanie Varna
- 1934 The Life of Vergie Winters as Joan Shadwell as a Child (uncredited)
- 1937 Maid of Salem as Ann
- 1945 The Beautiful Cheat as Alice
- 1942 Soaring Stars as Passenger
- 1936 The Plough and the Stars as Mollser Gogan
- 1948 Strike It Rich as Julie Ann Brady
- 1935 Ah, Wilderness! as Mildred Miller
- 1937 Quality Street as Isabella
- 1932 Silver Dollar as Liddy (uncredited)
- 1945 Senorita from the West as Jeannie Blake
- 1933 Cradle Song as Carmen (uncredited)
- 1941 Down in San Diego as Betty Haines
- 1936 The Garden of Allah as Convent Girl (uncredited)
- 1981 The Legend of the Lone Ranger as Woman (uncredited)
- 1959 The Velvet Alley as Mrs. Kirkley
- 1938 Breakdowns of 1938 as Nancy Drew (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1982 Hollywood’s Children as Self
- 1948 Studio One ( 1 episode ) as Ann
- 1954 Lassie ( 2 episodes )
- 1950 Lux Video Theatre ( 1 episode ) as Kitty
- 1951 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars ( 1 episode ) as Ellen Morison
- 1954 Climax! ( 1 episode ) as Laura Jordan
- 1950 Lux Video Theatre ( 1 episode ) as Joan
- 1971 V.I.P. Schaukel ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1961 The Mike Douglas Show ( 2 episodes ) as Self
- 1954 Climax! ( 1 episode ) as Molly
