Bonnie Maginn (February 10, 1880 – 1964), also known as Bonnie Magin, was an American stage actress, model, singer and dancer, and vaudeville performer.

Early life

Bonnie Magin was born in Chicago, the daughter of John R. Magin and Margaret Anna Sullivan Magin.

Career

Maginn was an artists' model, "said to be the most pictured young woman of her age in America" in 1901, and a vaudeville performer, usually in soubrette roles, in the

Weber & Fields Joseph Morris Weber (11 August 1867 – 10 May 1942) was an American vaudeville performer who, along with Lew Fields, formed the comedy double-act of Weber and Fields. Biography Born to a Jewish family, Fields and Weber formed their partne ...

shows in New York. In 1901 she shared the bill with David Warfield, Fay Templeton, DeWolf Hopper and Lillian Russell in ''Fiddle-Dee-Dee'' at the Chicago Opera House. She was a featured dancer in Klaw and Erlanger's ill-fated production of ''Mr. Blue Beard'', when it opened at Chicago's Iroquois Theatre in 1903. She and the rest of the cast survived the massive and fatal theatre fire during the show's run. In 1904, she appeared in

Frank Daniels Frank Albert Daniels (August 15, 1856 – January 12, 1935) was a comedian, an actor on stage, early black-and-white silent films, and a singer. Daniels was born on August 15, 1856 in Dayton, Ohio to Balinda and Henry Daniels, and was raised in ...

' ''The Office Boy''; "she sings after the manner of pretty soubrettes," reported one reviewer, "whose cuteness covers a multitude of deficiencies." In the 1904-1905 season, she was cast in Joe Weber's ''Higgledy-Piggledy'' and ''The College Widower''. and in 1906, she toured with Weber's company, performing with

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She ...

and

Flora Zabelle Flora Zabelle (born Zabelle Mangasarian, April 1, 1880 – October 7, 1968) was a Broadway theatre, Broadway actress who appeared in several early silent films. Early years Zabelle was born in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turke ...

, among others. She retired from the stage before 1910. Maginn also owned a large cattle ranch in Montana, and was believed to be a multi-millionaire in 1905. In 1906, she was living in New York City, but was identified as the owner of an automobile seen speeding over the legal Sunday limit of 10 miles per hour in Tonawanda, New York.

Personal life

Maginn was the companion of wealthy West Virginia landowner John T. Davis, whose father was politician Henry Gassaway Davis. Magin sued Davis in 1924, for breach of promise, because after he divorced his wife, he did not marry her, and because he stopped supporting her in 1922, though she expected his support to continue. She was also romantically linked with actor John Barrymore. She died in 1964, at age 84, and is buried in Kew Gardens, New York.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maginn, Bonnie 1880 births 1964 deaths 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American dancers American vaudeville performers Actresses from Chicago Dancers from Illinois American stage actresses