Top 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsMost Popular Video GamesMost Popular Music VideosMost Popular Podcasts
    Release CalendarBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Bonita Granville(1923-1988)

  • Producer
  • Actress
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Bonita Granville
The teens of a defense-plant town hop on the road to juvenile delinquency while their parents are busy with the war.
Play trailer1:22
Youth Runs Wild (1944)
8 Videos
99+ Photos
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.
BornFebruary 2, 1923
DiedOctober 11, 1988(65)
BornFebruary 2, 1923
DiedOctober 11, 1988(65)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
  • Nominated for 1 Oscar

Photos213

Margaret Hamilton and Bonita Granville in These Three (1936)
Bonita Granville, Miriam Hopkins, Alma Kruger, Joel McCrea, and Merle Oberon in These Three (1936)
Bonita Granville in These Three (1936)
Bonita Granville and Alma Kruger in These Three (1936)
Bonita Granville and Alma Kruger in These Three (1936)
Bonita Granville in These Three (1936)
Bonita Granville in These Three (1936)
Bonita Granville and Merle Oberon in These Three (1936)
Bonita Granville and Alma Kruger in These Three (1936)
William Holden, Judith Barrett, Bonita Granville, and Ezra Stone in Those Were the Days! (1940)
William Holden and Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! (1940)
William Holden and Bonita Granville in Those Were the Days! (1940)

Known for

Bette Davis and Claude Rains in Now, Voyager (1942)
Now, Voyager
7.9
  • June Vale
  • 1942
Brian Aherne and Constance Bennett in Merrily We Live (1938)
Merrily We Live
7.3
  • Marion Kilbourne
  • 1938
Bonita Granville in Nancy Drew: Detective (1938)
Nancy Drew: Detective
6.6
  • Nancy Drew
  • 1938
Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea, and Merle Oberon in These Three (1936)
These Three
7.4
  • Mary Tilford
  • 1936

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Producer

  • The Magic of Lassie (1978)
    The Magic of Lassie
    • (as Bonita Granville Wrather)
  • Jon Provost, Tommy Rettig, Lassie the Dog, and Lassie in Lassie (1954)
    Lassie
  • Lassie: Well of Love (1970)
    Lassie: Well of Love
    • (as Bonita Granville Wrather)
  • Flight of the Cougar (1967)
    Flight of the Cougar
    • (as Bonita Granville Wrather)
  • Lassie: A Christmas Tail
  • Lassie's Great Adventure (1963)
    Lassie's Great Adventure

Actress

  • The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)
    The Legend of the Lone Ranger
    • (uncredited)
  • Jon Provost, Tommy Rettig, Lassie the Dog, and Lassie in Lassie (1954)
    Lassie
    • ...
  • This Is the Life (1952)
    This Is the Life
  • The Best of the Post (1960)
    The Best of the Post
  • "Eighty Yard Run, The" (Playhouse 90) Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. 1957 CBS
    Playhouse 90
  • Target (1958)
    Target
  • Studio One (1948)
    Studio One
  • Kraft Theatre (1947)
    The United States Steel Hour
  • Lux Video Theatre (1950)
    Lux Video Theatre
  • Science Fiction Theatre (1955)
    Science Fiction Theatre
  • Ethel Barrymore Theater
  • Matinee Theatre (1955)
    Matinee Theatre
  • Climax! (1954)
    Climax!
  • Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels in The Lone Ranger (1956)
    The Lone Ranger
  • Hal Baylor, Hans Conried, and Chuck Hicks in Schlitz Playhouse (1951)
    Schlitz Playhouse

Director

  • Jon Provost, Tommy Rettig, Lassie the Dog, and Lassie in Lassie (1954)
    Lassie
    • (as Bonita Granville Wrather)

Videos8

Official Trailer
Trailer 1:29
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:41
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:23
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:29
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:22
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:48
Official Trailer
Syncopation
Trailer 1:32
Syncopation
Gallant Sons
Trailer 2:02
Gallant Sons

Personal details

Edit
    • February 2, 1923
    • Chicago, Illinois, USA
    • October 11, 1988
    • Santa Monica, California, USA(cancer)
    • Jack WratherFebruary 5, 1947 - November 12, 1984 (his death, 2 children)
    • Linda Wrather
    • Bernard Granville
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Portrayal
    • 4 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Through a special agreement with Walt Disney, she and her husband, Jack Wrather were able to use the Disneyland name on the hotel they built across the street from the theme park in Anaheim, California.
  • Quotes
    [observation, 1972] I don't go to the movies. They're indecent. They appeal to the baser tendencies, to temptations. Young people aren't able to cope with them, all this sex starting too early. It's thrown at them under the guise of art. But it's really immoral, amoral stuff , made just for the money. More than that, it's done something to our generation. It's destroyed romance and imagination that goes along with sex. And that's pretty important because, otherwise, sex becomes mechanical. Don't get me wrong. I'm a great believer in sex. But that's not the way to go about it.
    • Call It a Day
      (1937)
      $500 /week

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.