[1] Her father, John S. Bonner, worked for Page Fence and served as an officer in Company B of the local National Guard Unit.

[citation needed] In Los Angeles, she met Charles Ray, and appeared in the 1920 film Homer Comes Home, after being signed by MGM that year.

[citation needed] That same year, she starred in the controversial independent film The Red Kimono produced and directed by Dorothy Davenport, the widow of Wallace Reid.

In 1927, Bonner was loaned to Paramount Pictures to co-star in the box office hit It, starring Clara Bow.

The couple were popular hosts to the burgeoning Los Angeles literary and film community, and particularly befriended Preston Sturges, the writer and director.