Mona Bruns

Mona Bruns (November 26, 1899 – June 13, 2000) was an American actress whose career spanned stage, film, radio, and television. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, she was the sister of actress Julia Bruns. Bruns began performing at the age of 15, making her debut in The Innocent Sinner before spending a year in stock theater and subsequently appearing in Capt. Kidd, Jr. She later worked at the Greenwich Village Theater and, in 1922, joined the Bonstelle company in Buffalo, New York. In October 1930 she became part of the Montclair Theatre Guild's company.

Her Broadway career extended from 1919 to 1946 and included appearances in Hobohemia, Pretty Soft, The Love Thief, Wednesday's Child, and Born Yesterday. Among her most notable stage work was the 1934 Broadway production of Wednesday's Child, in which she played Miss Chapman alongside her son, Frankie Thomas, who portrayed Bobby Phillips. Thomas reprised that role in the 1934 film adaptation, which prompted the family's relocation to Los Angeles, where Bruns and her husband, actor Frank M. Thomas, also pursued film work.

On radio, Bruns spent eight years playing Aunt Emily on The Brighter Day. When that program concluded, she was asked to originate the role of Emily Hastings on NBC's Another World. Her television work included appearances on Bonanza, Green Acres, Dr. Kildare, and Little House on the Prairie, among other series popular during the 1950s and 1960s.

Bruns and Frank M. Thomas were the parents of actor Frankie Thomas. She died in Los Angeles on June 13, 2000, at the age of 100, and is interred beside her husband, who also lived to 100, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood, California.