Bonnie Bedelia
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Some sources list both 1948 and 1952 as the year of Ms. Bedelia's birth.
Bedelia recorded the vocal for "The Best Things in Life Are Free" for the original soundtrack recording of the film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"
Biography
A talented and attractive leading lady, Bonnie Bedelia (nee Culkin) began her career as a juvenile performer on stage and TV along with her older brother Kit. After being spotted by a talent scout in a school production of "Tom Sawyer," she made her stage debut at the North Jersey Playhouse and later earned a full scholarship at George Balanchine's New York City Ballet. The petite brunette danced in four productions at City Ballet before hanging up her toe shoes in favor of acting. After a five-year stint (1961-66) as a regular on the CBS daytime serial "Love of Life," Bedelia made a splash in the Broadway play "My Sweet Charlie," playing a pregnant young Southern woman on the lam with a black lawyer.
It was only inevitable that movie roles would follow. She made her film acting debut in "The Gypsy Moths" in 1969, but was more memorable as a pregnant marathon dancer in that same year's "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and as the bride to be in the superlative comedy "Lovers and Other Strangers" (1970). Although her career was on an upward swing, the actress opted to concentrate on marriage and motherhood and curtailed her feature film appearances for much of the remainder of the decade. She did, however, appear in several TV projects, including the above average romance "Sandcastles" (CBS, 1972) and the short-lived ABC adaptation of "The New Land" (1974), in which she portrayed a 19th-century Swedish immigrant to America.
Staging something of a comeback in 1983, Bedelia earned widespread critical praise for her performance as race car driver Shirley Muldowney in the biopic "Heart Like a Wheel." Although the expected Academy Award nomination did not materialize, the actress began to land prestige projects like CBS' "Memorial Day" (1983) and "Violets Are Blue" (1986), in which she was outstanding as the wife of a cheating husband. In 1988, Bedelia was cast as the businesswoman spouse of a man who sets out to save her when he plane is hijacked in "Die Hard," a role she reprised in the sequel "Die Hard 2: Die Harder" (1990). Her turn as the cheating wife of a right-wing nut whose alienated teenage son plans a kidnapping in "The Prince of Pennsylvania" (1988) earned her attention and a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award. On the other hand, the actress herself disavowed her work in "Fat Man and Little Boy" (1989) as scientist Kitty Oppenheimer, claiming that much of her best work ended on the cutting room floor.
The 1990s were good to the performer. She was excellent as Harrison Ford's wife in the legal thriller "Presumed Innocent" (1990) and delivered a string of memorable turns in small screen efforts. She finally gained widespread critical acclaim for her nuanced portrayal of real-life race car driver Shirley Muldowney in "Heart Like a Wheel" (1982). TV-movies and occasional miniseries took up the slack between films during the 1970s and 80s. Bedelia enjoyed renewed attention for her appearances as Bruce Willis' wife in the popular summer features "Die Hard" (1988), "Die Hard II: Die Harder" and was cast opposite Harrison Ford in "Presumed Innocent" (both 1990). Bedelia, who has a reputation for speaking her mind and being opinionated about her work, was well cast as one of the mothers whose children are "Switched at Birth" in the 1991 fact-based NBC drama. She also excelled as the no-nonsense physician willing to go to jail rather than reveal her daughter's whereabouts in the true story "A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story" (ABC, 1992). Following her 1993 Emmy nomination for an episode of the Showtime series "Fallen Angels," Bedelia won plaudits opposite Brian Dennehy in "Shadow of a Doubt" (NBC, 1995) and as the mother of a sailor murdered because he was a homosexual in "Any Mother's Story" (Lifetime, 1997).
As the new millennium dawned, Bedelia was cast as the unhappy mother of the town's beauty in the CBS remake of "Picnic" (2000). While most critics had little that was nice to say about the production, nearly all singled out the actress for her sterling work as a woman desperate to escape the confines of a small town. In the ensemble comedy "Sordid Lives" (2001), Bedelia was cast as a homophobic woman coping with the death of her mother, the incarceration of her gay brother and her son's declaration of his homosexuality. Returning to the small screen, the actress starred in "The Division" (Lifetime, 2001-04), a female-driven ensemble cop show that cast her as the captain of a police precinct.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1957
Made stage debut at North Jersey Playhouse in "Dr. Praetorius"
1958
Danced in four New York City Ballet productions, including playing the role of Clara in "The Nutcracker"
1958
Made television debut on Playhouse 90's version of "The Nutcracker"
1961
Played the recurring role of Sandy Porter on the CBS daytime drama, "Love of Life"
1962
Made New York stage debut in "Isle of Children"
1965
Acted on Broadway in "The Playroom"
1967
Starred on Broadway in "My Sweet Charlie"
1969
Played a pregnant marathon dancer in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"; also sang the song, "The Best Things in Life Are Free"
1969
Made film acting debut in "The Gypsy Moths"
1970
Starred in the screen comedy, "Lovers and Other Strangers"
1972
Had leading role in the romantic drama, "Sandcastles" (CBS)
1974
Co-starred as Anne Larsen in the short-lived ABC Western series, "The New Land"
1979
Acted in the CBS miniseries, "Salem's Lot"
1980
Directed by second husband Robert Lieberman in the based-on-fact TV-movie, "Fighting Back" (ABC)
1983
Portrayed race car driver Shirley Muldowney in "Heart Like a Wheel"; earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress
1986
Cast as Kevin Kline's wife in "Violets Are Blue"
1986
Played the widowed mother of two in "The Boy Who Could Fly"
1988
Portrayed Bruce Willis' spouse in the thriller, "Die Hard"
1989
Played Kitty Oppenheimer, the wife of Dwight Schultz's Robert Oppenheimer, in "Fat Man and Little Boy"
1990
Offered strong turn as Harrison Ford's spouse in "Presumed Innocent"
1990
Reprised role of Willis' wife in "Die Hard 2: Die Harder"
1991
Cast as one of the mothers whose children are "Switched at Birth" in the NBC miniseries
1992
Garnered praise for playing the title role in the fact-based, "A Mother's Right: The Elizabeth Morgan Story" (ABC)
1993
Earned an Emmy nomination for her performance in an episode of the Showtime series, "Fallen Angels"
1995
Co-starred opposite Brian Dennehy in the NBC movie, "Shadow of a Doubt"
1997
Portrayed the mother of a sailor who was murdered because he was gay in the Lifetime movie, "Any Mother's Son"
1998
Played a social worker facing her most challenging case in "To Live Again" (CBS)
1999
Had featured role in "Anywhere But Here"
2000
Played Flo Owens in the CBS remake of "Picnic"
2001
Played Captain Kaitlyn McCafferty in the Lifetime series, "The Division"
2010
Cast as Camille, the matriarch of the Braverman family, on NBC's updated version of the 1989 film, "Parenthood"
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Some sources list both 1948 and 1952 as the year of Ms. Bedelia's birth.
Bedelia recorded the vocal for "The Best Things in Life Are Free" for the original soundtrack recording of the film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"
Received Golden Globe nomination for "Heart Like a Wheel"
