24 Facts About Bonita Granville

Bonita Gloria Granville Wrather was an American actress and producer.

The daughter of vaudevillians, Granville began her career on the stage at age three.

Bonita Granville initially began as a child actress, making her film debut in Westward Passage.

Bonita Granville rose to prominence for her role in These Three, which earned her an Academy Award nomination at age fourteen.

Bonita Granville's prominence continued with the Nancy Drew film series, and roles in Now, Voyager and Hitler's Children.

Bonita Granville worked as a philanthropist and a businesswoman, most notably owning and operating the Disneyland Hotel and the Queen Mary in Long Beach, with her husband.

Bonita Granville was appointed to the John F Kennedy Center Board of Trustees by president Richard Nixon in 1972 and for another term by president Ronald Reagan in 1982.

Bonita Granville was born on February 2,1923, in Manhattan, New York City, the daughter of Rosina and Bernard Bonita Granville.

Bonita Granville made her film debut at the age of nine in Westward Passage, and appeared in a credited but nearly wordless supporting role as the young dancer Fanny Bridges in Cavalcade, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Bonita Granville next played the role of Mary Tilford in the 1936 film adaptation of Lillian Hellman's 1934 stage play The Children's Hour.

Bonita Granville co-starred in the films with John Litel as her father Carson Drew, and Frankie Thomas, Jr.

Also in 1938, Bonita Granville appeared as the saucy, mischievous daughter in the multiple Academy Award-nominated hit comedy film Merrily We Live, and starred as the title character in The Beloved Brat.

Bonita Granville had Angels Wash Their Faces alongside Ronald Reagan, who would become a lifelong friend of hers.

In 1941, Bonita Granville signed with RKO Pictures and immediately found more substantial supporting roles in The Glass Key and Now, Voyager, for which she was loaned out to Paramount and Warner Bros.

Bonita Granville continued to be loaned out to other studios, such as MGM loaned for two Andy Hardy films with Mickey Rooney, Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble and Love Laughs at Andy Hardy, as well as a leading role in Song of the Open Road ; Universal for The Beautiful Cheat and Senorita from the West ; and United Artists for Breakfast in Hollywood.

On February 5,1947, Bonita Granville married Jack Wrather at the Bel-Air Hotel, having met him while he produced The Guilty.

Bonita Granville formed the Wrather Corporation, and bought the rights to the characters from both The Lone Ranger and Lassie.

Bonita Granville worked as a producer for several film and television productions featuring these characters, including the 1954 TV series Lassie.

Bonita Granville 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.

The marriage lasted until Wrather's death in 1984, shortly after release of the movie The Magic of Lassie, a movie co-produced by Bonita Granville and starring Wrather's friend James Stewart.

Bonita Granville died on October 11,1988, of lung cancer at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 65.

Bonita Granville was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Bonita Granville has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6607 Hollywood Boulevard, for her contributions to motion pictures.

Bonita Granville was honored at the Disneyland Hotel, which she and her husband owned until The Wrather Company was sold to the Walt Disney Company after Granville's death.