Bonnie Bartlett

Bonnie Bartlett
Bartlett with husband William Daniels, 1987 Emmy Awards
Born	(1929-06-20) June 20, 1929 Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, USA
Occupation(s)	Film, television actress
Spouse(s)	William Daniels (1951–present, 3 children)

Bonnie Bartlett (born June 20, 1929) is an American television and film 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.

Early life

Bartlett was born in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, the daughter of Carrie and E.E. Bartlett, and raised in Moline, Illinois. Her father was an insurance salesman and a failed actor, and she was determined to live out his dream. In 1947, Bartlett graduated from Moline High School.

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. Ironically, she 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 Gunsmoke, The Rockford Files, and The Waltons, as well as a recurring role as Grace Snyder 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.

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. 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 and Daniels both served on the Screen Actors Guild's Board of Directors.

Bartlett appeared in the film Valediction, which was scheduled to begin its film festival circuit in October 2011.

Awards and honors

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

Personal life

Bartlett met her husband, actor William Daniels at Northwestern University. They were married on June 30, 1951. In 1961, she gave birth to a son, who died just 24 hours later. They later adopted two children: 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.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	The Last Tycoon	Brady's secretary
1979	California Dreaming	Melinda Brooke
1979	Promises in the Dark	Nurse Farber
1979	Salem's Lot	Ann Norton	Television movie
1980	Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case	Norma Joyce	Television movie
1988	Twins	Mary Ann Benedict
1993	Dave	Female Senator
1995	The Grass Harp	Mrs. Buster
1996	Ghosts of Mississippi	Billie DeLaughter
1997	Sleeping with the Devil	Stasha Dubrovich	Television movie
1998	Primary Colors	Martha Harris
2006	Saving Shiloh	Mrs. Wallace
2012	Valediction	Anabell	Short film
2012	Of Two Minds	Kathleen	Television movie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	Love of Life	Ellie Crown	Unknown episodes
1955–1959	Love of Life	Vanessa Dale Raven	Unknown episodes
1965	The Patty Duke Show	Miss Castle	Episode: "My Cousin the Heroine"
1969	The Jackie Gleason Show	Donna Douglas	Episode: "The Honeymooners: The Honeymoon Is Over"
1973	Emergency!	Eunice Evans	Episode: "Computer Error"
1974	Gunsmoke	Maylee Baines	Episode: "The Foundling"
1974–1979	Little House on the Prairie	Grace Snyder Edwards	26 episodes
1974	The Waltons	Martha Rudge	Episode: "The Car"
1974	Gunsmoke	Agnes Benton	Episode: "In Performance of Duty"
1975	Kojak	Joan Miller	Episode: "The Good Luck Bomber"
1976	The Rockford Files	Casey Patterson	Episode: "The Oracle Wore a Cashmere Suit"
1977	Washington: Behind Closed Doors	Joan Bailey	2 episodes
1979	Hart to Hart	Myra Bensinger	Episode: "Murder Between Friends"
1981	ABC Afterschool Specials	Miriam Scott	Episode: "She Drinks a Little"
1981	Knots Landing	Dr. Ruth West	Episode: "Critical Condition"
1982–1988	St. Elsewhere	Ellen Craig	70 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
1982	Barney Miller	Emily Loftis	Episode: "Inquiry"
1982	Lou Grant	Claire	Episode: "Unthinkable"
1983	V	Lynn Bernstein	2 episodes
1985	Hotel	Olga Petrovsky	Episode: "Passports"
1988	The Golden Girls	Barbara Thorndyke	Episode: "Dorothy's New Friend"
1989	Matlock	Lorraine Maslin	Episode: "The Blues Singer"
1989	Murder, She Wrote	Marilyn North	Episode: "Seal of the Confessional"
1990	Wiseguy	Harriet Weiss	2 episodes
1992	L.A. Law	Gloria Lee	Episode: "Diet, Diet My Darling"
1992	Room for Two	Francine Luboff	Episode: "Pilot"
1992	I'll Fly Away	Beth Lekatzis	Episode: "Fragile Truths"
1994	SeaQuest DSV	Secretary General of the UEO	Episode: "The Last Lap at Luxury"
1995–1998	Home Improvement	Lucille	5 episodes
1996	The Faculty	Katherine	Episode: "Bus Stop"
1997–1999	Boy Meets World	Dean Bolander	5 episodes
1997–1998	ER	Ruth Greene	2 episodes
1997–1999	The Practice	Joanne Oz	2 episodes
1997	Touched by an Angel	Emily	Episode: "Venice"
1998	Stargate SG-1	Linea	Episode: "Prisoners"
1999–2002	Once and Again	Barbara Brooks	7 episodes
2000	Touched by an Angel	Lucy Scribner	Episode: "The Grudge"
2002	Firefly	Patience	Episode: "Serenity"
2002	Strong Medicine	Edna Carlyle	Episode: "Discharged"
2003	Touched by an Angel	Loretta	Episode: "And a Nightingale Sang"
2004	NCIS	Dr. Sylvia Chalmers	Episode: "My Other Left Foot"
2005	Huff	Margaret	Episode: "All the King's Horses"
2006	Boston Legal	Marguerite Hauser	Episode: "Shock and Oww!"
2006	General Hospital	Miriam Spinelli	2 episodes
2008	Grey's Anatomy	Patient Rosie Bullard	Episode: "Rise Up"
2013	Parks and Recreation	Paula Horke	Episode: "Garbage Day"

External links

• Bonnie Bartlett at IMDb
• Bonnie Bartlett at AllMovie