BONNIE BARTLETT DANIELS EXPLORE Everything

The St. Elsewhere alum shares thoughts about the long road she's traveled

- Fortune Benatar

Bonnie Bartlett Daniels had stars in her eyes from a very young age. “My brother and I used to go to see movies on the weekend. I could see four movies in a day,” she tells Closer. “Then I would come home and imitate Mae West or Jean Harlow.” While Bonnie didn’t grow up to be a blond bombshell, she has enjoyed a very robust career. In addition to prominent roles on the daytime drama Love of Life and on Little House on the Prairie, Bonnie took home two Emmys for her work on the 1980s medical drama St. Elsewhere.

Along the way, there have been tears as well as triumphs. In her new memoir, Middle of the Rainbow, Bonnie confides about the challenges of her long marriage to actor William Daniels, the loss of their first baby during childbirth, and a sexual assault by one of her soap opera co-stars. “I felt like this was a relevant time to write [the book] because of what women have accomplished and also because of the long way we have to go,” Bonnie explains. “I am not an activist, but I have been through a lot in my 93 years.”

So you always wanted to act?

Yes, but I didn’t want to be a movie actress. I wanted to be a stage actress. I wanted to be Helen Hayes and do very serious theater.

You studied acting in New York with Lee Strasberg at the same time as Marilyn Monroe. What was she like?

She was already a big star. She was a brilliant comedian, but she came to Lee Strasberg because she wanted to be a serious actress, too. And she was a good student, very attentive. She knew that she had a brain, but she had no upbringing and no real education, so she wanted to be around brilliant people. I liked her very much.