Once again playing pregnant and once again delivering a touching pathos, she played the dirt-poor marathon dancer who pitches songs for pennies in the superb, award-winning, Depression-era drama They Shoot Horses, Don't They? On the other end of the acting spectrum, she played the lovable bride-to-be in the sidesplitting comedy classic Lovers and Other Strangers.Īt the age of 33, Bedelia received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe® nomination for her role as racecar driver Shirley Muldowney in Jonathan Kaplan's Heart Like a Wheel. She earned even better marks in her next two films, one performance simply haunting and the other one hilarious. Thereafter, she made her feature debut lending topnotch support in The Gypsy Moths, which reunited From Here to Eternity stars Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. After appearing in the stage play “The Playroom” in 1965, she earned strong reviews for her touching performance in “My Sweet Charlie,” for which she won the 1967 Theatre World Award for 'promising new artist.' In it she played a pregnant young Southern girl on the lam with a black lawyer.īedelia made her way out to Los Angeles with a classical repertory company, performing coveted roles in Shakespeare, Checkov, Ibson and Tennessee Williams.

She was also a replacement in the established hit comedy “Enter Laughing” a year later. During that time she took her first Broadway bow in “Isle of Children,” a show that lasted but a week in March of 1962. She proceeded to study at both the HB Studio and Actors Studio in New York.īedelia nabbed a five-year role as young teen Sandy Porter in the New York-based daytime soap “Love of Life” starting in 1961. But the acting bug had bitten and after dancing in only four productions, including playing the role of Clara in “The Nutcracker,” she decided to hang up her ballet slippers. Praetorius,” and then was handed a full scholarship to study at George Balanchine's New York City Ballet. Prior to “Desginated Survivor,” Bedelia portrayed Camille Braverman on NBC’s drama series “Parenthood,” on which she played the calm and winning matriarch of the Braverman family during the show’s successful six-season run.īedelia made her professional debut in a 1957 North Jersey Playhouse production of “Dr.

Golden Globe® nominee Bonnie Bedelia has appeared on film, television, and stage, and can currently be seen on ABC’s “Designated Survivor.” In this political drama, Bedelia appears as “first mother-in-law” Eva Booker in a recurring role alongside Kiefer Sutherland.

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