Bonar Colleano

Bonar Colleano
Born	(1924-03-14)14 March 1924 New York City, New York, US
Died	18 August 1958(1958-08-18) (aged 34) Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, UK
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1944 – 1958
Spouse(s)	Tamara Lees (1946 – 1951) Susan Shaw (1954 – 1958, his death)

Bonar Colleano (14 March 1924 – 18 August 1958) was an American-born British stage and film actor.

Early life

Colleano was born Bonar Sullivan in New York City. Following childhood experiences with the Ringling Brothers Circus and in his family's famous circus, he entered films in 1944. He lived as a British resident, spending several years performing in music halls, the legitimate stage and radio.

Career

His first important role came with the popular wartime drama, The Way to the Stars (also known as Johnny in the Clouds, 1945) and later he starred in a Hollywood production, Stanley Kramer's Eight Iron Men (1952). His later screen roles included Lenny, in the oddball Shakespeare derivation Joe MacBeth (1955).

Colleano's stage work included the role of Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Aldwych Theatre, London, directed by Laurence Olivier and co-starring with Vivien Leigh.

Personal life

He was from a well known Australian circus family and was a nephew of Con Colleano, the first tightrope walker to perform a forward somersault on the wire.

In 1946, he married actress Tamara Lees, but the couple divorced in 1951. His second wife was actress Susan Shaw, who descended into alcoholism after his death. Their son Mark Colleano is also an actor.

In 1950, while living in the U.K., he fathered future Average White Band drummer, Robbie McIntosh. Colleano was not married to McIntosh's mother.

Death

Colleano died at the age of 34, when he crashed his sports car (a Jaguar XK140) in Birkenhead shortly after exiting the Queensway Tunnel. He was driving back from Liverpool's New Shakespeare Theatre, where he had been appearing in a stage production of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? His passenger, fellow actor and friend Michael Balfour, required 98 stitches but eventually recovered.

Filmography

References

• Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies, Harper Collins, 2001, ISBN 0-06-093507-3

1949 movie "Maniacs on Wheels", also released as "Once A Jolly Swagman", starring Dirk Bogarde, Thora Hird and Sid James.

External links

• Bonar Colleano at the Internet Movie Database
• Bonar Colleano at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• The Importance of Being Bonar http://www.november3rdclub.com/08-07/nonfiction/williams.html
• Bonar Colleano at Find a Grave