Matinee Classics - Bonnie Bedelia Biography & Filmography

Bonnie Bedelia ACTOR

BONNIE BEDELIA BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Bonnie Bedelia was born on March 25th, 1948 in New York City, New York with the birth name Bonnie Bedelia Culkin, born to Phillip Harley and Marian Ethel Wagner Culkin. As a young girl she studied ballet and her parents encouraged her and her siblings, to become involved in acting.

Bonnie studied at Quintano School for Young Professionals in New York and for a time she appeared with her brother, Kit on a number of local television and stage productions. As time progressed, she was discovered by a talent scout when she was just a young girl performing in a school production.

By the age of nine, Bonnie made her professional debut in a production of, "Dr. Praetorius" at the North Jersey Playhouse. She was lucky enough to receive a full scholarship to study at George Balanchine's New York City Ballet, however after only performing in four productions, Bonnie decided she really wanted to focus on acting and decided to give up dance.

To perfect her craft, Bonnie studied at the HB Studio and the Actors Studio in New York. She was then lucky enough in 1961, to get a five year role on the soap opera, "Love of Life" (1951) and performed in the Broadway production, "Isle of Children". She continued gaining experience as a stage actress appearing in such plays as, "My Sweet Charlie" and "The Playroom".

Bonnie was soon adding film credits to her resume appearing in, "The Gypsy Moths" (1969) starring Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Gene Hackman and Sheree North, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969) starring Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin and Gig Young, "Lovers and Other Strangers" (1970) featuring Bea Arthur, Gig Young, Diane Keaton, Sylvester Stallone, Cloris Leachman and Harry Guardino and "Salem's Lot" (1979) co-starring David Soul, James Mason, Lance Kerwin and Lew Ayres. After taking some time to focus on her personal life, she made a comeback in 1983 in the film, "Heart Like a Wheel" starring with Beau Bridges.

Other more prominent film roles soon followed such as, "Violets Are Blue…" (1986) starring with Sissy Spacek and Kevin Kline, "The Prince of Pennsylvania" (1988) co-strring Fred Ward, Keanu Reeves and Amy Madigan, "Presumed Innocent" (1990) starring Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia and Paul Winfield, "Die Hard" (1988) starring Bruce Willis, "Die Hard 2" (1990) also starring Bruce Willis and "Needful Things" (1993).

Along with feature film roles she also appeared in a variety of television movies such as, "Switched at Birth" (1991), "A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story" (1992), "Any Mother's Son" (1997) and "To Live Again" (1998).

Bonnie Bedelia also added television series credits, "Sordid Lives" (2000), "The Division" (2001-2004) and most recently, "Parenthood" (2011-2012). She has married three times throughout her lifetime, first to Ken Luber in 1969 and they had two children before divorcing in 1980. She then wed James Telfer in 1975 however this marriage also ended in divorce. Currently, Bonnie is married to her third husband, Michael MacRae whom she wed in 1995.

Filmography