Bonita Granville

About Bonita Granville

Who is it?: Producer, Actress, Soundtrack
Birth Day: February 02, 1923
Birth Place:  Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died On: October 11, 1988(1988-10-11) (aged 65)\nSanta Monica, California, U.S.
Birth Sign: Pisces
Resting place: Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Occupation: Actress
Years active: 1932–1981
Spouse(s): Jack Wrather (m. 1947; d. 1984)
Children: 2

Bonita Granville Net Worth

Bonita Granville was born on February 02, 1923 in  Chicago, Illinois, United States, is Producer, Actress, Soundtrack. Daughter of Bernard Granville, Bonita Granville was born into an acting family. 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 & 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.
Bonita Granville is a member of Producer

💰 Net worth: Under Review

Some Bonita Granville images

Biography/Timeline

1923

She was born on February 2, 1923 in New York City, the daughter of Rosina (née Timponi; 1892-1984) and Bernard "Bunny" Granville. Both of her parents were stage performers. She was raised Roman Catholic.

1933

She made her film debut at the age of nine in Westward Passage (1933), and appeared that same year in a credited but nearly wordless supporting role as the young Dancer Fanny Bridges in Cavalcade, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Over the next few years, she played uncredited supporting roles in such films as Little Women (1933) and Anne of Green Gables (1934). She next played the role of Mary Tilford in the 1936 film adaptation of Lillian Hellman's 1934 stage play The Children's Hour. Renamed These Three, the film told the story of three adults (played by Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, and Joel McCrea) who find their lives almost destroyed by the malicious lies of an evil, attention-seeking child. For her role as that child, Granville was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, then the youngest person to be nominated for that award. Despite this success, and although she continued to work, the next few years brought her few opportunities to build her career.

1938

In 1938, she starred as the saucy, mischievous daughter in the multiple Academy Award-nominated hit comedy film Merrily We Live and as girl detective Nancy Drew in the hit film Nancy Drew... Detective. The Nancy Drew film success led to Granville reprising the role in three sequels from 1938 to 1939, including Nancy Drew... Reporter (1939).

1942

She was the heroine of the novel Bonita Granville and the Mystery of Star Island written by Kathryn Heisenfelt, published by Whitman Publishing Company in 1942. The novel's subtitle is "An original story featuring BONITA GRANVILLE famous motion-picture player as the heroine". The story was probably written for a young teenage audience and is reminiscent of the adventures of Nancy Drew. It is part of a series known as "Whitman Authorized Editions", 16 books published between 1941-1947 that featured a film Actress as heroine.

1947

On February 5, 1947 Granville married Jack Wrather at the Bel-Air Hotel. He had produced some of her films. He formed the Wrather Corporation, and bought the rights to characters from both The Lone Ranger and Lassie. Granville worked as a Producer for several film and television productions featuring these characters, including the 1954 TV series Lassie. She appeared in the film version of The Lone Ranger in 1956, and made her final screen appearance in a cameo role in The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981). Their children are daughters Molly and Linda, and sons Jack and Christopher. Jack and Molly were from Wrather's previous marriage to Mollie O'Daniel, a daughter of Governor of Texas and U.S. Senator W. Lee O'Daniel.

1949

In 1949, she appeared with Rod Cameron in the comedy film Strike It Rich, filmed about Tyler, Kilgore, and Linda Le in East Texas.

1984

The marriage lasted until Wrather's death in 1984, shortly after release of the movie The Magic of Lassie, which starred Wrather's pal James Stewart.

1988

Granville died on October 11, 1988 of lung cancer at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 65. She was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.