Bonnie Bartlett

Bonnie Bartlett (born June 20, 1929) is an American actress. Her career spans over 60 years, with her first major role being on a 1950s daytime drama, Love of Life. She is best known for her role as Ellen Craig on the medical drama series St. Elsewhere. She and her husband, actor William Daniels, who played her fictional husband Dr. Mark Craig, won the 1986 Emmy Awards on the same night, becoming the first married couple to accomplish the feat since Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in 1965.

Bonnie Bartlett
Bartlett with husband William Daniels at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1986
Born (1929-06-20) June 20, 1929
OccupationActress
Years active1951–present
Spouse(s)
(m. 1951)
Children3

Early life

Bartlett was born in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, the daughter of Carrie Archer and Elwin Earl Bartlett,[1][2] and was raised in Moline, Illinois. Her father was an insurance salesman and a failed actor, and she was determined to live out his dream.[3][4][5] In 1947, she graduated from Moline High School.[6]

Career

Bartlett studied acting with Lee Strasberg, and first got her start in television playing the heroine "Vanessa Dale Raven" on the soap opera Love of Life from 1955 to 1959, replacing actress Peggy McCay. She also had a previous role on the program, in which briefly she played the character of Ellie Crown, a role which was played for several years by Hildy Parks. She then moved on to nighttime roles in the 1960s.

Her most widely known role was as Ellen Craig on St. Elsewhere. Initially an infrequently recurring character, she took on greater prominence in the 1984–1985 season when the storyline included Ellen and Mark's marital problems. The storyline deepened in the next season when their son was killed and they had to raise their granddaughter. Bartlett won back-to-back Emmys, and was made a contract player. Further difficult material included Ellen and Mark's divorce and slow reconciliation following the loss of their granddaughter in a custody dispute with her birth mother.

For many years Bartlett accepted only small guest appearances on such programs as The Golden Girls, Gunsmoke, The Rockford Files, and The Waltons, as well as a recurring role as Grace Snider Edwards on Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1977. Her acting career picked up considerably in the 1980s, including the miniseries V and North and South: Book II.[7]

Bartlett and husband William Daniels made Emmy Awards history in 1986 when they became just the second real-life married couple to win acting awards on the same night. Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne first accomplished the feat in 1965.[8] Bartlett and Daniels won for their portrayals of Dr. Mark and Mrs. Ellen Craig on the TV series St. Elsewhere. They later acted together again when she played a college dean who employed her husband's character, in a season of Daniels's ABC series Boy Meets World, and their characters later married.

When St. Elsewhere ended in 1988, Bartlett's career moved to a wide variety of guest-starring appearances, including major roles on Wiseguy as a tough and corrupt matriarch of a sewage business; as Andrea Drey, Secretary General of the United Earth Oceans Organization (UEO) on seaQuest DSV; on Home Improvement as Lucille Taylor (Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor's mother); and on ER as Ruth Katherine Greene. Bartlett's last feature film role to date was in the film Valediction.

Screen Actors Guild

Bartlett and Daniels both served on the Screen Actors Guild's Board of Directors.[9]

Awards and honors

Bartlett was added to the Hall of Honor at her alma mater, Moline High School in Moline, Illinois.[6]

Bartlett won two Emmy awards for her role as Ellen Craig on the television drama, St. Elsewhere. She was the best supporting actress winner in both 1986 and 1987 and was nominated as well in 1988. For the same role, Bartlett also won a Q Award in 1987 as the Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series.[10]

Personal life

Bartlett met her husband, actor William Daniels at Northwestern University. They were married on June 30, 1951.[11][12][13]

In 1961, she gave birth to a son, who died 24 hours later. They adopted two sons: Michael, who became an assistant director and stage manager in Los Angeles, and Robert, who became an artist and computer graphics designer based in New York City.[3][14]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1976The Last TycoonBrady's secretary
1979California DreamingMelinda Brooke
1979Promises in the DarkNurse Farber
1988TwinsMary Ann Benedict
1993DaveFemale Senator
1995The Grass HarpMrs. Buster
1996Ghosts of MississippiBillie DeLaughter
1998Primary ColorsMartha Harris
2006Saving ShilohMrs. Wallace
2012ValedictionAnabellShort film

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1951Love of LifeEllie CrownUnknown episodes
1955–1959Love of LifeVanessa Dale RavenUnknown episodes
1965The Patty Duke ShowMiss CastleEpisode: "My Cousin the Heroine"
1969The Jackie Gleason ShowDonna DouglasEpisode: "The Honeymooners: The Honeymoon Is Over"
1973Emergency!Eunice EvansEpisode: "Computer Error"
1974GunsmokeMaylee BainesEpisode: "The Foundling"
1974–1979Little House on the PrairieGrace Snider Edwards26 episodes
1974The WaltonsMartha RudgeEpisode: "The Car"
1974GunsmokeAgnes BentonEpisode: "In Performance of Duty"
1975KojakJoan MilnerEpisode: "The Good Luck Bomber"
1975The Legend of Lizzie BordenSylvia KnowltonTV movie
1976The Rockford FilesCasey PattersonEpisode: "The Oracle Wore a Cashmere Suit"
1977Washington: Behind Closed DoorsJoan Bailey2 episodes
1977Killer on BoardDebra SnowdenTelevision movie
1979Hart to HartMyra BensingerEpisode: "Murder Between Friends"
1979Salem's LotAnn NortonTelevision movie
1980Rape and Marriage: The Rideout CaseNorma JoyceTelevision movie
1980Barney MillerEllen MilfordEpisode: "The Delegate"
1981ABC Afterschool SpecialsMiriam ScottEpisode: "She Drinks a Little"
1981Knots LandingDr. Ruth WestEpisode: "Critical Condition"
1981A Long Way HomeJoAnn BoothTV movie
1982–1988St. ElsewhereEllen Craig70 episodes
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1986–87)
Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Drama Series
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series
1982Barney MillerEmily LoftisEpisode: "Inquiry"
1982Lou GrantClaireEpisode: "Unthinkable"
1983VLynn Bernstein2 episodes
1985HotelOlga PetrovskyEpisode: "Passports"
1986The Deliberate StrangerLouise BundyTV Movie
1987Right to DieLillianTV Movie
1988The Golden GirlsBarbara ThorndykeEpisode: "Dorothy's New Friend"
1989MatlockLorraine MaslinEpisode: "The Blues Singer"
1989Murder, She WroteMarilyn NorthEpisode: "Seal of the Confessional"
1989–1990Midnight CallerHillary Townsend-King4 episodes
1990The Great Los Angeles EarthquakeAnita Parker
1990WiseguyHarriet Weiss2 episodes
1992L.A. LawGloria LeeEpisode: "Diet, Diet My Darling"
1992Room for TwoFrancine LuboffEpisode: "Pilot"
1992I'll Fly AwayBeth LekatzisEpisode: "Fragile Truths"
1994SeaQuest DSVSecretary General of the UEOEpisode: "The Last Lap at Luxury"
1995–1998Home ImprovementLucille Taylor5 episodes
1996The FacultyKatherineEpisode: "Bus Stop"
1997–1999Boy Meets WorldDean Bolander5 episodes
1997–1998ERRuth Greene2 episodes
1997–1999The PracticeJoanne Oz2 episodes
1997Touched by an AngelEmilyEpisode: "Venice"
1997Sleeping with the DevilStasha DubrovichTelevision movie
1998Stargate SG-1LineaEpisode: "Prisoners"
1999–2002Once and AgainBarbara Brooks7 episodes
2000Touched by an AngelLucy ScribnerEpisode: "The Grudge"
2002FireflyPatienceEpisode: "Serenity"
2002Strong MedicineEdna CarlyleEpisode: "Discharged"
2003Touched by an AngelLorettaEpisode: "And a Nightingale Sang"
2004NCISDr. Sylvia ChalmersEpisode: "My Other Left Foot"
2005HuffMargaretEpisode: "All the King's Horses"
2006Boston LegalMarguerite HauserEpisode: "Shock and Oww!"
2006General HospitalMiriam Spinelli2 episodes
2008Grey's AnatomyPatient Rosie BullardEpisode: "Rise Up"
2012Of Two MindsKathleenTelevision movie
2013Parks and RecreationPaula HorkeEpisode: "Women In Garbage"
2017Better Call SaulHelen2 Episodes

References

  1. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MB-WHPV?i=9&cc=2000219
  2. "Bonnie Bartlett Biography". Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  3. "Beverlye Hyman Fead, Aging in High Heels – Ageless Amazing Women Interview - Bonnie Bartlett". Beverlye Hyman Fead, Aging in High Heels. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  4. "Bonnie Bartlett". Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  5. Butterfield, Daniel. "On Call, Vol. 1, No. 2 - Personnel Profile: Bill and Bonnie Daniels... "The Story of How Captain Nice Met Alice Actress" - The St. Elsewhere Experience". Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  6. "Hall of Honor - Recipients" Archived October 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Moline-Coal Valley School District; retrieved November 26, 2014.
  7. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0058783/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t29
  8. Los Angeles Times (May 9, 2015). "In 'Girl Meets World,' William Daniels reprises Mr. Feeny". latimes.com. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  9. "William Daniels Biography" Archived 2014-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, Biography.com; retrieved November 26, 2014.
  10. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0058783/awards?ref_=nm_awd
  11. "William Daniels". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  12. "Bonnie Bartlett". Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  13. "Actor Profile: Bonnie Bartlett". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  14. "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Google News Archive Search". Retrieved March 29, 2016.
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