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Bonnie Bartlett (born June 20, 1929) is an American television and film actress. Her career spans over 50 years, with her first major role being on a 1950s daytime drama, Love of Life. She is best known for her 1980s Emmy Award-winning role as Ellen Craig on the popular medical drama series St. Elsewhere. She and her husband, actor William Daniels, who played her fictional husband Dr. Mark Craig, won Emmy Awards on the same night in 1986, becoming the first married couple to accomplish the feat since Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in 1965.
Bonnie Bartlett grew up in Moline, Illinois. Her father E.E. was a failed Shakespearean actor who became an insurance salesman. Her mother Carrie was a homemaker. At an early age, Bonnie became determined to fulfill her father's failed acting career. She went to Northwestern University to study acting. In her freshman year, she met fellow thespian William Daniels (I). Soon after graduation, the two were married and moved to New York to seek acting opportunities. She studied under Lee Strasberg and initially supported them. In the 1950s she spent four years on the CBS soap "Love of Life" (1951) as Vanessa Raven. In 1961, their first child was born, but died within 24 hours due to complications in birth. This prompted the two to adopt two children later. Son Michael (b. 1964) is now an assistant director and stage manager in Los Angeles. Son Robert (b. 1966) is an artist and computer graphics designer in New York City. Bonnie was a stay-at-home mom through most of the 1970s, acting only occasionally in recurring roles, but rejuvenated her career in the early 1980s, most notably in the hit TV series "St. Elsewhere" (1982) and later in a recurring role in "Boy Meets World" (1993)



