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Browse family names using the A to Z index below.
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M.
MOSIER, ENID (ALT. VIVIAN BONNELL)
Picture
BIOGRAPHY

Vivian Bonnell (born Enid Mosier) was born on May 23, 1924 in Antigua, British West Indies. She was an actress and singer who came to fame on Broadway as calypso singer Enid Mosier in Truman Capote's "House of Flowers" (1954), starring opposite Pearl Bailey. She went on to record a couple calypso albums as "Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band" with her fellow cast members, Michael Alexander, Roderick Clavery, and Alphonso Marshall (Austin Stoker), who she later married.

After changing her name to Vivian Bonnell, she appeared in dozens of films including memorable roles in "For Pete's Sake" as Loretta and "Ghost" as Ortisha (the woman at the séance), as well as guest appearances on TV shows like "Sanford and Son", "Married With Children", "Moesha", and "The Jeffersons".

She was married to 
Austin Stoker. She died on November 18, 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
No Cover; No Minimum Album Back Cover/ Biography

Astute chroniclers of the show business scene are shedding he crocodile tears and bemoaning the fact that the cafe business is way off. Such diverse reasons as TV, rising costs, the atom bob, sputnik and miniature golf are cited at the drop of an option. But, at the same time that the bigger and brassier night clubs are experiencing their difficulties the smaller, more intimate boîtes are reproducing like rabbits and doing SRP business throughout the expanse of our land. Such establishments as The Blue Angel in New York City, The Black Orchid in Chicago, The Avant Garde and The Purple Onion in San Francisco are packing the aficionados in nightly. In great demand in bistros such as these is the unique talent of Enid Mosier.

The gamin-like Miss Mosier projects a fascinating combination of qualities, graphically illustrated in the Decca collection—“No Cover, No Minimum”—her debut on the label. Enid belts, she swings, she makes you laugh, she makes you cry. One minute the listener is certain Enid Mosier is a naive little girl—the next minute, a hardened sophisticate. The vacant stare and dead-pan expression that have proven so effective visually, shine through
 vocally in several interpretations, namely the humour-filled Mosier treatments of “Darts” and the evergreen, “Show Me The Way To Go Home”, given a completely refreshing reading. All in all, “No Cover, No Minimum” seems to be Enid’s commentary on our mad Twentieth Century civilisation. To listen to the dozen selection, a deft combination of old standards and new contenders, is to know and love the deceptively simple artistry of Enid Mosier.

Enid Mosier studied dancing with Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus and Asadata Dafora and made her Broadway debut to great acclaim in a non-singing role in "St. Louis Woman". A trip to Europe that lasted three years followed the demise of the show, and during this period Enid's vocalistics gained her a huge following in France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Spain and the British Isles. The Harold Arlen-Truman Capote musical, "House Of Flowers" brought Enid back to Broadway and night after night, she and Ada Moore stopped the show cold with their classic treatment of "Two Ladies in De Shade of De Banana Tree". Now married to her superb drummer, Alfonso Marchall, Enid is delighting audiences from coast-to-coast. "No Cover - No Minimum" is needed to enjoy a most rewarding visit with this great performer.

AUDIO

"Darts" from the album No Cover;  No Minimum (Decca, 1958)

​
"Hey, Come Ring, Diamond" from the album Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band" (Michael Alexander, Roderick Clavery, and Alphonso Marshall)
Darts!
Hey, Come Ring, Diamond

FILMOGRAPHY
Film/TV Movie Role Year
Leadbelly (dir., Gordon Parks) Old Lady 1976
California Dreaming (dir., John Hancock) Alma 1979
Teachers (dir., Arthur Hiller) Nurse 1984
Amazon Women on the Moon (dir., Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, and Robert K. Weiss) Theater Customer 3 1987
Summer School (dir., Carl Weiner) Mrs. Green 1987
Elvis and Me (dir.,Larry Peerce) Alberta 1988
Ghost (dir., Jerry Zucker) Ortisha 1990
Switched at Birth (dir., Warris Hussein) Nurse Ford 1991
Christmas in Connecticut (dir., Arnold Schwarzenegger) Nora 1992
Filmography courtesy aveleyman.com

TELEVISION APPEARANCES
Series Role Episode Airdate
Sanford and Son Audrey 3x02 - Libra Rising All Over Lamont September 21, 1973
Sanford and Son Betty 3x20 - Will the Real Fred Sanford Please Do Something? February 22, 1974
Police Woman Myrtle Washington 2x05 - The Chasers October 10, 1975
Good Times Cora 3x07 - The Baby October 21, 1975
Good Times Clara 4x04 - Michael the Warlord October 13, 1976
The Jeffersons Mrs. Mills 7x13 - And the Doorknobs Shined Like Diamonds February 1, 1981
Dallas 5x19 - Adoption February 19, 1982
St. Elsewhere Nurse Skilling 1x02 - Bypass November 9, 1982
St. Elsewhere Nurse Skilling 1x05 - Samuels and the Kid November 30, 1982
St. Elsewhere Nurse Skilling 1x07 - Legionnaires (2) December 14, 1982
Hunter Herself 1x19 - Fire Man May 4, 1985
Amen Martha 1x17 - Into the Night February 21, 1987
Highway to Heaven Louise 4x04 - The People Next Door October 21, 1987
Married... with Children Mourner #3 11x06 - A Bundy Thanksgiving November 24, 1996
Moesha Mrs. Smith 2x13 - Road Trip November 26, 1996
Television appearances courtesy tviv.org

DISCOGRAPHY

PHOTOGRAPHS
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Vivian Bonnell (Enid Mosier)
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Vivian Bonnell as Ward Nurse Skilling (Season one St. Elsewhere)
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project, HI-FI CALYPSO ENID MOSIER MICHAEL ALEXANDER ALPHONSO MARSHALL AND RODERICK CLAVERY
Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band at the Village Vanguard.
Picture
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP COVER)
Picture
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP Back Cover)
Picture
No Cover, No Minimum (Decca, 1958)
Picture
No Cover, No Minimum (Decca, 1958) (LP Back Cover)
Picture
Vivian Bonnell as Ortisha in "Ghost".
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Vivian Bonnell on Sanford and Son
Picture
Enid Mosier as Pansy in "House of Flowers" (centre rear line up).
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP COVER)
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP Back Cover)
Picture
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP COVER)

DOCUMENTS
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
House of Flowers playbill cover. Via playbillvault.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Enid Mosier in House of Flowers playbill. Via playbillvault.com
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com

VIDEOS

ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Schenectady Gazette - Aug 17, 1968 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gnwuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HYoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4032%2C3395477
Sunday Herald - Aug 2, 1959 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VFozAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fwAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=5054%2C2064500
St. Petersburg Times - Jun 24, 1952 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7otaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gE8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5221%2C3194630

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The Caribbean Memory Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All archives remain the property of their owners, and these owners have legal rights. They are included in this site as a courtesy. Please respect that.
For more information on what this license enables and prohibits, go here.

Browse by family names

Browse family names using the A to Z index below.
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  XYZ ALL NAMES

M.
MOSIER, ENID (ALT. VIVIAN BONNELL)
Picture
BIOGRAPHY

Vivian Bonnell (born Enid Mosier) was born on May 23, 1924 in Antigua, British West Indies. She was an actress and singer who came to fame on Broadway as calypso singer Enid Mosier in Truman Capote's "House of Flowers" (1954), starring opposite Pearl Bailey. She went on to record a couple calypso albums as "Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band" with her fellow cast members, Michael Alexander, Roderick Clavery, and Alphonso Marshall (Austin Stoker), who she later married.

After changing her name to Vivian Bonnell, she appeared in dozens of films including memorable roles in "For Pete's Sake" as Loretta and "Ghost" as Ortisha (the woman at the séance), as well as guest appearances on TV shows like "Sanford and Son", "Married With Children", "Moesha", and "The Jeffersons".

She was married to 
Austin Stoker. She died on November 18, 2003 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
No Cover; No Minimum Album Back Cover/ Biography

Astute chroniclers of the show business scene are shedding he crocodile tears and bemoaning the fact that the cafe business is way off. Such diverse reasons as TV, rising costs, the atom bob, sputnik and miniature golf are cited at the drop of an option. But, at the same time that the bigger and brassier night clubs are experiencing their difficulties the smaller, more intimate boîtes are reproducing like rabbits and doing SRP business throughout the expanse of our land. Such establishments as The Blue Angel in New York City, The Black Orchid in Chicago, The Avant Garde and The Purple Onion in San Francisco are packing the aficionados in nightly. In great demand in bistros such as these is the unique talent of Enid Mosier.

The gamin-like Miss Mosier projects a fascinating combination of qualities, graphically illustrated in the Decca collection—“No Cover, No Minimum”—her debut on the label. Enid belts, she swings, she makes you laugh, she makes you cry. One minute the listener is certain Enid Mosier is a naive little girl—the next minute, a hardened sophisticate. The vacant stare and dead-pan expression that have proven so effective visually, shine through
 vocally in several interpretations, namely the humour-filled Mosier treatments of “Darts” and the evergreen, “Show Me The Way To Go Home”, given a completely refreshing reading. All in all, “No Cover, No Minimum” seems to be Enid’s commentary on our mad Twentieth Century civilisation. To listen to the dozen selection, a deft combination of old standards and new contenders, is to know and love the deceptively simple artistry of Enid Mosier.

Enid Mosier studied dancing with Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus and Asadata Dafora and made her Broadway debut to great acclaim in a non-singing role in "St. Louis Woman". A trip to Europe that lasted three years followed the demise of the show, and during this period Enid's vocalistics gained her a huge following in France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Spain and the British Isles. The Harold Arlen-Truman Capote musical, "House Of Flowers" brought Enid back to Broadway and night after night, she and Ada Moore stopped the show cold with their classic treatment of "Two Ladies in De Shade of De Banana Tree". Now married to her superb drummer, Alfonso Marchall, Enid is delighting audiences from coast-to-coast. "No Cover - No Minimum" is needed to enjoy a most rewarding visit with this great performer.

AUDIO

"Darts" from the album No Cover;  No Minimum (Decca, 1958)

​
"Hey, Come Ring, Diamond" from the album Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band" (Michael Alexander, Roderick Clavery, and Alphonso Marshall)
Darts!
Hey, Come Ring, Diamond

FILMOGRAPHY
Film/TV Movie Role Year
Leadbelly (dir., Gordon Parks) Old Lady 1976
California Dreaming (dir., John Hancock) Alma 1979
Teachers (dir., Arthur Hiller) Nurse 1984
Amazon Women on the Moon (dir., Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, and Robert K. Weiss) Theater Customer 3 1987
Summer School (dir., Carl Weiner) Mrs. Green 1987
Elvis and Me (dir.,Larry Peerce) Alberta 1988
Ghost (dir., Jerry Zucker) Ortisha 1990
Switched at Birth (dir., Warris Hussein) Nurse Ford 1991
Christmas in Connecticut (dir., Arnold Schwarzenegger) Nora 1992
Filmography courtesy aveleyman.com

TELEVISION APPEARANCES
Series Role Episode Airdate
Sanford and Son Audrey 3x02 - Libra Rising All Over Lamont September 21, 1973
Sanford and Son Betty 3x20 - Will the Real Fred Sanford Please Do Something? February 22, 1974
Police Woman Myrtle Washington 2x05 - The Chasers October 10, 1975
Good Times Cora 3x07 - The Baby October 21, 1975
Good Times Clara 4x04 - Michael the Warlord October 13, 1976
The Jeffersons Mrs. Mills 7x13 - And the Doorknobs Shined Like Diamonds February 1, 1981
Dallas 5x19 - Adoption February 19, 1982
St. Elsewhere Nurse Skilling 1x02 - Bypass November 9, 1982
St. Elsewhere Nurse Skilling 1x05 - Samuels and the Kid November 30, 1982
St. Elsewhere Nurse Skilling 1x07 - Legionnaires (2) December 14, 1982
Hunter Herself 1x19 - Fire Man May 4, 1985
Amen Martha 1x17 - Into the Night February 21, 1987
Highway to Heaven Louise 4x04 - The People Next Door October 21, 1987
Married... with Children Mourner #3 11x06 - A Bundy Thanksgiving November 24, 1996
Moesha Mrs. Smith 2x13 - Road Trip November 26, 1996
Television appearances courtesy tviv.org

DISCOGRAPHY

PHOTOGRAPHS
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Vivian Bonnell (Enid Mosier)
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Vivian Bonnell as Ward Nurse Skilling (Season one St. Elsewhere)
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project, HI-FI CALYPSO ENID MOSIER MICHAEL ALEXANDER ALPHONSO MARSHALL AND RODERICK CLAVERY
Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band at the Village Vanguard.
Picture
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP COVER)
Picture
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP Back Cover)
Picture
No Cover, No Minimum (Decca, 1958)
Picture
No Cover, No Minimum (Decca, 1958) (LP Back Cover)
Picture
Vivian Bonnell as Ortisha in "Ghost".
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Vivian Bonnell on Sanford and Son
Picture
Enid Mosier as Pansy in "House of Flowers" (centre rear line up).
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP COVER)
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP Back Cover)
Picture
HI-FI CALYPSO. Album by Enid Mosier and her Trinidad Steel Band (LP COVER)

DOCUMENTS
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
House of Flowers playbill cover. Via playbillvault.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Enid Mosier in House of Flowers playbill. Via playbillvault.com
Enid Mosier, Vivian Bonnell, Antiguan, Acrtress, Performer, Trinidad Steel Band, Broadway, House of Flowers, Caribbean Memory Project
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com
Found on Newspapers.com

VIDEOS

ADDITIONAL SOURCES
Schenectady Gazette - Aug 17, 1968 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gnwuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HYoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4032%2C3395477
Sunday Herald - Aug 2, 1959 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VFozAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fwAGAAAAIBAJ&pg=5054%2C2064500
St. Petersburg Times - Jun 24, 1952 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=7otaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gE8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5221%2C3194630

Home
 People
OROSCO, DACIDARIO