Bonita Granville
Personal Info
Known For Actor
Gender Female
Birthday 1923-02-02
Deathday 1988-10-11 (65 years old)
Place of Birth New York City, New York, USA
Also Known As Bonita Granville Wrather, Bonita Gloria Granville Wrather
Bonita Granville
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
Actor
as Self
as Woman (uncredited)
as Self
as Self
as Mrs. Kirkley
as Welcome Kilgore
as Laura Jordan
as Molly
as Ellen Morison
as Stephanie Varna
as Kitty
as Joan
as Julie Ann Brady
as Ann
as Estelle Mitchell / Linda Mitchell
as Kay Wilson
as Ronnie
as Christine Allen
as Dorothy Larson
as Jeannie Blake
as Alice
as Toddy Jones
as Bonnie
as Kay Wilson
as Anna Miller
as Anne Porter
as June Vale
as Opal 'Snip' Madvig
as Kit Latimer
as Passenger
as Mary Pulham
as Self
as Betty Haines
as Frances Marlowe
as Francine 'Frankie' Diamond
as Kate Pendleton
as Ursula
as Vicky Sherwood
as Martha Scroggs
as Elsa
as Doris
as Nancy Drew
as Peggy Finnegan
as Nancy Drew
as Nancy Drew
as Nancy Drew (archive footage) (uncredited)
as Nancy Drew
as Connie Richards
as Gwen Colbrook
as Sally Ward
as Roberta Morgan
as Marian Kilbourne
as Gracie Kane
as Ann Hilton
as Isabella
as Ann
as Mollser Gogan
as Convent Girl (uncredited)
as Mary Tilford
as Jen as a Child
as Mildred Miller
as Joan Shadwell as a Child (uncredited)
as Amy's Classmate (uncredited)
as Carmen (uncredited)
as Young Fanny
as Liddy (uncredited)
as Little Olivia Allen (age 9)
Producer
as Producer
as Producer
as Associate Producer
Director
as Director