Priscilla Bonner

File:Priscilla Bonner 02.jpg

Priscilla Bonner was born in Washington, D.C. on February 17, 1899. Her father, John S. Bonner, worked for Page Fence and served as an officer in Company B of the local National Guard Unit. At the start of World War I the company was activated for service, and her father started his career as an Army officer. The family often moved, and she spent much of her life in different places.

She often play-acted to amuse herself, playing all the parts and shifting the sets.{{cite news|last1=Bean|first1=Daisy|date=7 September 1920|title=News Notes from Movie Land|work=The Rock Island Argus and Daily Union|location=Rock Island, Illinois|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92053933/1920-09-07/ed-1/seq-9/|access-date=22 September 2015}} While her father was stationed in Chicago, assigned to the staff of General Leonard Wood, she received a call from someone connected with Chicago Photoplay, insisting she come to their studio for photographs. Although she realized it was likely a wrong number, Bonner went. Intrigued by her bold initiative and photogenic charisma, the studio took portraits of her and sent them to film studios in California.{{cite news|last1=Eliot|first1=Jean|date=1 August 1920|title=Washington Society Girl Proves Star of Films|work=The Washington Times|location=Washington, D.C.|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1920-08-01/ed-1/seq-19/|access-date=22 September 2015}}

In 1916, when living in Adrian, Michigan, Bonner answered an open call to audition for the movie The Romance of Miss Adrian. Using her dance skills, she won a part in the picture.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}

In Los Angeles, she met Charles Ray, and appeared in the 1920 film Homer Comes Home, after being signed by MGM that year. She went on to co-star with Jack Pickford in The Man Who Had Everything (1920), Lon Chaney, Sr. in Shadows (1922), Colleen Moore in April Showers, and comedian Harry Langdon in The Strong Man. In 1925, she successfully sued Warner Bros. and won a substantial cash settlement when she was originally chosen and then dropped as the leading lady from John Barrymore's The Sea Beast in favor of Barrymore's new real life love interest Dolores Costello.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}

File:Priscilla Bonner 01.JPG

That same year, she starred in the controversial independent film The Red Kimono produced and directed by Dorothy Davenport, the widow of Wallace Reid. In 1927, Bonner was loaned to Paramount Pictures to co-star in the box office hit It, starring Clara Bow.{{harvnb|Villecco|2001|pages=22, 30}}

In 1921, she married writer and author Allen Wynes Alexander.{{cite news|title=Priscella Bonner to Wed; Plans Aerial Honeymoon|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045211/1921-05-18/ed-1/seq-14/|access-date=22 September 2015|work=Evening Public Ledger|date=18 May 1921|location=Philadelphia, PA}} A little over a year later, he left her. She filed for divorce{{cite news|title=Pretty Priscella Bonner Appeals to Los Angeles Judge|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1922-08-27/ed-1/seq-24/|access-date=22 September 2015|work=The Washington Times|date=27 August 1922|location=Washington DC}} but later dismissed the case.{{cite news|title=Movie Actress Sues Manager|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86092557/1922-09-02/ed-1/seq-5/|access-date=22 September 2015|work=The Fairmont West Virginian|date=2 September 1922|location=Fairmont, WV}}

In 1928, Bonner married Dr. E. Bertrand Woolfan. She retired from film the following year. The couple were popular hosts to the burgeoning Los Angeles literary and film community, and particularly befriended Preston Sturges, the writer and director. On February 21, 1996, Bonner died at the age of 97.{{harvnb|Villecco|2001|pages=33, 34}}

Her younger sister was actress and writer Margerie Bonner.{{cite news |title=Margerie Lowry, 83, Actress and a Writer |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/110391286 |access-date=January 13, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=October 4, 1988 |page=D 28|id={{ProQuest|110391286}} }}

;Notes

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;Bibliography

• {{cite book|last=Villecco|first= Tony |title=Silent Stars Speak: Interviews With Twelve Cinema Pioneers|publisher=McFarland|year=2001|isbn=0-7864-0814-6}}

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• {{IMDb name|id=0094924}}
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• {{Find a Grave|20181}}

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Category:Actresses from Washington, D.C.

Category:American film actresses

Category:American silent film actresses

Category:1899 births

Category:1996 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses