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Middle of the Rainbow: How a wife, mother and daughter managed to find herself and win two Emmys
MIDDLE OF THE RAINBOW
The blunt and honest memoirs of Emmy-winning actress Bonnie Bartlett Daniels. It’s the story of her 70-plus year career, and her struggles in the pre-#metoo and pre-feminist world. It’s also the rare and unique story of a 70-plus year marriage (with film, theatre and TV icon William Daniels.) In a full telling of her life, we learn that through years of psychoanalysis and, ultimately, thanks to motherhood, she was able to heal the scars left by her abusive father and learn to love her life as if it were a rainbow “with a pot of gold at both ends.”
"A long life. A long career. A long marriage.
All told with Bonnie’s unflinching truth and humor."
- Jamie Lee Curtis
"As evidence of my consistent good fortune landing a role on St. Elsewhere, I was gifted with another extremely bright and talented woman in my life, Bonnie Bartlett. And she arrived with a message that I really needed to hear. Commit to doing all the important work, and do so with rigorous honesty. She's done just that with her transformative book. Read it today!"
- Ed Begley, Jr.
"I love it, and admire it. It's the honest and true story of the American dream as lived by Bonnie Bartlett and her family. I would recommend it to anyone with a mind who wants to relate and identify with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It gives me hope."
- Elliott Gould
The blunt and honest memoirs of Emmy-winning actress Bonnie Bartlett Daniels. It’s the story of her 70-plus year career, and her struggles in the pre-#metoo and pre-feminist world. It’s also the rare and unique story of a 70-plus year marriage (with film, theatre and TV icon William Daniels.) In a full telling of her life, we learn that through years of psychoanalysis and, ultimately, thanks to motherhood, she was able to heal the scars left by her abusive father and learn to love her life as if it were a rainbow “with a pot of gold at both ends.”
"A long life. A long career. A long marriage.
All told with Bonnie’s unflinching truth and humor."
- Jamie Lee Curtis
"As evidence of my consistent good fortune landing a role on St. Elsewhere, I was gifted with another extremely bright and talented woman in my life, Bonnie Bartlett. And she arrived with a message that I really needed to hear. Commit to doing all the important work, and do so with rigorous honesty. She's done just that with her transformative book. Read it today!"
- Ed Begley, Jr.
"I love it, and admire it. It's the honest and true story of the American dream as lived by Bonnie Bartlett and her family. I would recommend it to anyone with a mind who wants to relate and identify with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It gives me hope."
- Elliott Gould
- GenresMemoirTvNonfiction
228 pages, Paperback
Published January 8, 2023
1 person is currently reading
213 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 12, 2024
I came for the "St. Elsewhere" chapter -- and it delivered! Even a superfan should be able to learn a few new things about the show.
Overall, this was not an easy read in the sense that multiple disturbing incidents befell the author. But the writing flows well. Lee Strasberg's ubiquity in the narrative was too much for me at one point, but thankfully his presence recedes during the second half of the book.
Overall, this was not an easy read in the sense that multiple disturbing incidents befell the author. But the writing flows well. Lee Strasberg's ubiquity in the narrative was too much for me at one point, but thankfully his presence recedes during the second half of the book.
September 1, 2024
Another in a long line of recent memoirs from liberal celebrities that are drab, dull, and disturbing, overly fixated on bad parents and pushing a leftist agenda while almost totally ignoring the TV and movie projects they are famous for.
This writer's best-known work makes up a tiny percentage of the book. Little House gets three pages; St. Elsewhere gets just over four; Boy Meets World only gets a couple sentences. Meanwhile, minor theatrical roles and Lee Strasberg's workshops get dozens of pages. Why does she not give us what we're looking for here--some inside details of what we know her for?
Instead she opens the book with the words: "I start with rape, my own." Her story of being sexually assaulted multiple times by a soap opera co-star is missing a lot of detail beyond the fact that every time he molested her she orgasmed quickly. She admits that at the time she didn't consider it rape, but now in retrospect (due to the #metoo movement) she is very upset how she was treated by the actor and by almost every other male she has encountered over the past 50 years. As is typical in these kind of stories, she rages against all men and "the system" but she almost never simply spoke up for herself or let others know she objected to their behavior.
Along the way she lies, she gets her dad to write a college term paper for her, and she cheats on her husband (she claims they have an open marriage), then complains when others mislead or break a contract or when her husband cheats on her. She also calls out a couple guys for "sexual harassment" when what they did certainly does not meet the criteria based on how she describes details. Poor late Fredric March, who dared to ask the author to dance with him in his apartment. She interpreted that as a "sexual advance" and "harassment."
Then she claims Wally Cox was close to making a pass at her as well! "I think he was trying to tell me, in that lispy voice of his, that I could count on him to be a good lover." Um, Bonnie, you are aware that Cox is allegedly one of the most infamous Hollywood gay men, right?
Some of this focus on sexuality is explained by her childhood, where her obnoxious father would come to her bed to cuddle with her inappropriately. Bartlett admits to being scarred for life, though nothing specifically sexual happened. (Oddly, she seems to have the best sexual experiences with men she can't stand or finds unattractive.) It becomes a common theme in the book that she can't let go of the memories of men who use her for perceived gratification.
Then there's the long marriage with her famous husband. She does some complaining but I didn't get a sense that I knew him any better than before I started the book. If anything I admire him for sticking with her, especially after they lost a child at birth. She wanted more from William Daniels, so to find it she totally rejects there being a God and starts following EST, the wacky cult-like seminar group. Despite her praise for it, nothing in her life seems to change. She always sounds unhappy.
If you're looking for something inspirational you won't find it here. She is always in the middle of gloomy clouds that cover up any rainbow.
This writer's best-known work makes up a tiny percentage of the book. Little House gets three pages; St. Elsewhere gets just over four; Boy Meets World only gets a couple sentences. Meanwhile, minor theatrical roles and Lee Strasberg's workshops get dozens of pages. Why does she not give us what we're looking for here--some inside details of what we know her for?
Instead she opens the book with the words: "I start with rape, my own." Her story of being sexually assaulted multiple times by a soap opera co-star is missing a lot of detail beyond the fact that every time he molested her she orgasmed quickly. She admits that at the time she didn't consider it rape, but now in retrospect (due to the #metoo movement) she is very upset how she was treated by the actor and by almost every other male she has encountered over the past 50 years. As is typical in these kind of stories, she rages against all men and "the system" but she almost never simply spoke up for herself or let others know she objected to their behavior.
Along the way she lies, she gets her dad to write a college term paper for her, and she cheats on her husband (she claims they have an open marriage), then complains when others mislead or break a contract or when her husband cheats on her. She also calls out a couple guys for "sexual harassment" when what they did certainly does not meet the criteria based on how she describes details. Poor late Fredric March, who dared to ask the author to dance with him in his apartment. She interpreted that as a "sexual advance" and "harassment."
Then she claims Wally Cox was close to making a pass at her as well! "I think he was trying to tell me, in that lispy voice of his, that I could count on him to be a good lover." Um, Bonnie, you are aware that Cox is allegedly one of the most infamous Hollywood gay men, right?
Some of this focus on sexuality is explained by her childhood, where her obnoxious father would come to her bed to cuddle with her inappropriately. Bartlett admits to being scarred for life, though nothing specifically sexual happened. (Oddly, she seems to have the best sexual experiences with men she can't stand or finds unattractive.) It becomes a common theme in the book that she can't let go of the memories of men who use her for perceived gratification.
Then there's the long marriage with her famous husband. She does some complaining but I didn't get a sense that I knew him any better than before I started the book. If anything I admire him for sticking with her, especially after they lost a child at birth. She wanted more from William Daniels, so to find it she totally rejects there being a God and starts following EST, the wacky cult-like seminar group. Despite her praise for it, nothing in her life seems to change. She always sounds unhappy.
If you're looking for something inspirational you won't find it here. She is always in the middle of gloomy clouds that cover up any rainbow.
January 4, 2025
I borrowed this audiobook from the library's Hoopla app, and it's my first 5-star review of 2025!
Trigger warnings for violence against women, both physical and sexual.
Why this book has not received more attention baffles me. Bonnie Bartlett lays everything out there about her life, from a really dysfunctional, yet not all that uncommon childhood. Her 70+ year marriage to actor William Daniels (that man did her dirty, let me tell you), and her career. Of course, most people remember Bartlett from St. Elsewhere, but I remember her from Little House on the Prairie. She was even on my favorite Sci Fi show, Stargate, as Linnea (the fact that I considered naming one of my kids Linnea because of how impressive her portrayal of the character was is a testament to her acting chops). If you like a good Hollywood memoir, check it out!
Trigger warnings for violence against women, both physical and sexual.
Why this book has not received more attention baffles me. Bonnie Bartlett lays everything out there about her life, from a really dysfunctional, yet not all that uncommon childhood. Her 70+ year marriage to actor William Daniels (that man did her dirty, let me tell you), and her career. Of course, most people remember Bartlett from St. Elsewhere, but I remember her from Little House on the Prairie. She was even on my favorite Sci Fi show, Stargate, as Linnea (the fact that I considered naming one of my kids Linnea because of how impressive her portrayal of the character was is a testament to her acting chops). If you like a good Hollywood memoir, check it out!
August 11, 2024
Middle of the Rainbow is the memoir of Bonnie Bartlett Daniels, the wife of Bill Daniels aka Mr. Feeny in the seventh season of Boy Meets World (where I know of her from) as well as in real life for over seventy years. The book was published last year when she was 93 so it covers a whole lot of years in show business. She talks about her experiences as an abused child, as a wife and mother, in therapy, with various actors (both friends and not), and on shows such as Little House on the Prairie, Love of Life, and St. Elsewhere (she, sadly, says very little about her time on Boy Meets World). It’s a pretty quick read and brutally open and honest. If you’ve ever been a fan of Bonnie Bartlett Daniels, this book is for you.
June 3, 2025
I have been listening to this book and very much wanted to like it and her. I’ve very much enjoyed her performances over the years but, to be frank, this is a miserable listen.
The author spends much of the first chapters discussing her repeated rapes by a costar which were the best and most intense orgasms of her life, (she didn’t know it was rape), her father that used to “spoon” her as a child while groping her breasts. She discusses her masturbation technique (she didn’t know it was masturbation) and it just goes on….I gave it 2 stars because it takes courage to discuss abuse. It was exhausting to listen much less live it. Did not finish.
The author spends much of the first chapters discussing her repeated rapes by a costar which were the best and most intense orgasms of her life, (she didn’t know it was rape), her father that used to “spoon” her as a child while groping her breasts. She discusses her masturbation technique (she didn’t know it was masturbation) and it just goes on….I gave it 2 stars because it takes courage to discuss abuse. It was exhausting to listen much less live it. Did not finish.
January 27, 2026
I got to buy this book from Bonnie herself and she was such a warm, neat, wonderful person. So engaging; at 94 years old!! I wanted so badly to love her book… It simply wasn’t for me.
With respect to her personal experiences and understanding that this was literally a memoir, I felt that it had too much over sharing. There was too much content for me about her sexual experiences that I would describe as jump scares, at times.
It came to me at a weird time in my life, though, and I will give it another try another time and see if it lands differently now that I know what to expect.
With respect to her personal experiences and understanding that this was literally a memoir, I felt that it had too much over sharing. There was too much content for me about her sexual experiences that I would describe as jump scares, at times.
It came to me at a weird time in my life, though, and I will give it another try another time and see if it lands differently now that I know what to expect.
February 8, 2023
A great memoir from a true Broadway/Hollywood actress. It is honest, and funny. Sad in some aspects, but a book that you can hear the author talking to you. One of my favorite actresses and glad to read her story.
January 1, 2025
Fabulous memoir from someone that has been a staple in the entertainment industry for decades. Very raw and not afraid to talk about hard things. I read her husband’s memoir a few years ago and was equally impressed. What a dynamic couple!
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June 3, 2024Barbara Thorndyke!
September 23, 2025
audiobook
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews