Gregory J. Bonann

The documentary won several awards, including the CINE Golden Eagle and the 37th International Di Cinema Citta Di Torino for best sports film of the year.

Gregory J. Bonann (born June 28, 1952) is an American lifeguard, television producer, director, writer, and showrunner.

Bonann attended Palisades High School from 1967 through 1970, and since his allergies ruled out any outdoor sports, he joined the swim team.

Contact lenses corrected his vision, but swimming with them proved difficult, so Bonann needed special visual aids to see the walls of the pool.

He ultimately specialized in the backstroke so that he could use the overhead flags to better gauge his turns.

He was voted most-improved swimmer in his second year, but he didn't win a competitive race until two years later.

In his senior year, Bonann was voted most-valuable.

In the fall of 1970, Bonann attended Washington State University as a freshman on a partial athletic scholarship.

He was recruited by the U.S. Olympic Committee and trained to compete in the modern pentathlon.

In 1970, Bonann began his lifeguard career as an LA City Ocean Lifeguard.

After the completion of rookie academy, he was given his choice of post, and served in lifeguard tower #18 on Will Rogers State Beach, a short distance from his family home in West Los Angeles.

Although he didn't qualify for the event, Bonann travelled to Munich for the 1972 Summer Olympics as a non-competitor.

When WSU dropped the men's swimming program, Bonann transferred to California State University in Long Beach, California.

He continued to swim with the CSULB team, alongside Olympic athletes Gunnar Larsson, Klaus Barth, and Hans Fassnacht, until 1974 when he graduated with a BA degree in journalism.

Bonann became a Los Angeles County Lifeguard in 1975, when the city and county services merged.

He served on the beaches of the Central Section, including Topanga, Will Rogers, Santa Monica, Venice, and Del Rey.

In the summer of 1977, while working Will Rogers State Beach, Bonann performed a routine rescue of some children who were caught in a riptide.

The children's father was Stu Erwin, Jr., who worked for MTM Enterprises, a television production company run by Grant Tinker, the future chairman and CEO of NBC.

Bonann would go on to pitch his idea for a television show about lifeguards to Erwin and Tinker, who eventually helped him sell the show to NBC.

Bonann began his career in film and television in 1978 when he was hired by John J. (Jack) Hennessy, of JJH Productions.

Hennessy had been producing films for the U.S. Olympic Committee, and Bonann had connections to that world.

Hennessy took Bonann under his wing, teaching him to produce and direct documentary films.

His first major project was a film called Fire and Ice, the USOC's official film for the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York, which told the story of the U.S. Men's National Ice Hockey Team victory over the U.S.S.R. and Eric Heiden's historic five gold medals in speed skating.

In 1989, while scouting locations in Venice Beach, California with the Baywatch producers and writing staff, Bonann was approached by a teenager who had lost his friend in the water.

Bonann swam out and made three surface dives before finding the boy, who had been submerged for several minutes, and revived him using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while treading water.

The boy was taken to UCLA Medical Center where he recovered.

Bonann received the Medal of Valor from Los Angeles County for performing that rescue.

In 1994 the L.A. County Lifeguard services merged into the Los Angeles County Fire Department, making Bonann an L.A. County Firefighter within its Lifeguard Division.

Bonann has been recognized by both the Belgian Life Saving Federation, and the International Life Saving Federation for his dedication to the field, and in 2000 he was awarded the Gold Medallion from the International Swimming Hall of Fame for his achievements and contributions.

In 2021 the Professional Lifeguard Foundation honored Bonann with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his 52 years of service and dedication in fostering the professional and personal growth of the Los Angeles County Lifeguards through teaching and mentoring relationships.

He is best known for co-creating the internationally syndicated television series, Baywatch, which ran for eleven seasons (242 episodes), and was listed in the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records as the most widely viewed TV series in the world.

His later work includes the syndicated action drama, SAF3, and A Chance For Children, a charitable foundation that benefits homeless and at-risk youth.

Bonann was born in Santa Monica, California, to Catholic parents Regina (née Caput), a bank teller, and Louis John Bonann, a physician and veteran of World War II.

He was raised in West Los Angeles with two sisters, Kathleen and Deborah.

As a child, Bonann suffered from severe asthma and allergies.

He was born with club feet and severe visual impairment, and was close to death twice before the age of two.

In 2001, Bonann became an Ocean Lifeguard for Honolulu City and County, Oahu, Hawaii.

Bonann transferred to the Northern Section of Los Angeles County in 2013, including Malibu and Zuma beaches,.

He has been a Junior Lifeguard Instructor at Zuma Beach for nine years.

In 2023 he began his 54th year on active status as a Los Angeles County Lifeguard.