Isabel Bonner

Isabel Bonner (June 12, 1907 – July 1, 1955) was an American stage actress born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, whose Broadway career spanned from 1935 to 1953. She began performing at an early age in her father's stock company before relocating to New York, where she studied under Alex Koiransky and Maria Ouspenskaya.

Bonner made her Broadway debut in Let Freedom Ring, taking on the ingénue role. Her subsequent stage credits included Processional, Trojan Incident, Uncle Harry, Liliom, Medicine Show, Laura, Foolish Nation, The Front Page, and The Biggest Thief in Town. Beyond the stage, she appeared in television productions including Suspense and The Philco Television Playhouse, and performed in the radio serials Nora Drake and The Right to Happiness.

A significant portion of her later career was connected to The Shrike, a drama written by her husband, Joseph Kramm. During the play's Broadway debut in 1952, Bonner portrayed Dr. Barrow, a psychiatrist. She subsequently joined the production's extended eastern tour in the role of the male lead's wife, a character opposite Dane Clark. In 1955, she reprised that role during a four-week engagement at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California. She also appeared as Dr. Barrow in the 1955 film adaptation of The Shrike, which was released after her death.

Bonner died on July 1, 1955, during a performance of The Shrike at the Carthay Circle Theatre. While performing a hospital scene, she collapsed onto a bed, having suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage. Clark, unaware of what had occurred, ad-libbed lines directed at her character before recognizing that something was wrong and calling for the curtain to be brought down. Film editor Harold Cornsweet, who was in the audience, noted that the ad-libbed exchange moved audience members to tears due to its apparent realism. Her funeral service was held on July 7, 1955, at the Church of the Transfiguration, Episcopal, in Manhattan, New York City.