Donna Reed
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| Donna Reed | |||||||||||
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 from the trailer for The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) |
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| Born | Donna Belle Mullenger January 27, 1921 Denison, Iowa USA |
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| Died | January 14, 1986 (aged 64) Beverly Hills, California |
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| Occupation | actress | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1941 - 1985 | ||||||||||
| Spouse(s) | William Tuttle (1943-1945) Tony Owen (1945-1971) Grover Asmus (1974-1986) |
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Donna Reed (January 27, 1921 - January 14, 1986) was an Academy Award-winning American actress.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Personal life
Reed was born Donna Belle Mullenger on a farm near Denison, Iowa. Denison now hosts the Donna Reed Festival every year. The trees that Reed's father planted still stand and the route to their home, southeast of Denison, is named Donna Reed Drive. This route is now paved to the north corner of the old Mullenger farm.[1] Reed was the daughter of Hazel Jane (née Shives) and William Richard Mullenger.[2][3] She was the eldest of five children.[1] and was reared as a Methodist.[4] Reed was the mother of four children with husband, producer Tony Owen (1907-1984),[5] two of whom the couple adopted at The Cradle in Evanston, Illinois. She and Owen divorced in 1971, and three years later, Reed married retired U. S. Army Colonel Grover W. Asmus (1926-2003).[6]
She was committed to both motherhood and gender equality. In 1967, in opposition to the Vietnam War, she co-founded the interest group, Another Mother for Peace.
Reed attended Denison High School and graduated in the top ten of a class of eighty-five. After high school, in 1938, she left for Los Angeles to live with her Aunt Mildred. Reed was ecstatic to discover that for five dollars a semester she could enroll in radio and secretarial courses at Los Angeles City College.[1]
[edit] Career
Reed is probably best remembered for her roles as the wholesome housewife Donna Stone on television's The Donna Reed Show and as Mary Bailey in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946). However, early in her career, she posed topless for a series of cheesecake glamour photographs[7][8] and won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a prostitute in From Here to Eternity (1953). In later years Reed sometimes complained that she was denied more challenging roles similar to her Oscar-winning part in From Here to Eternity.[9]
In her later years she temporarily replaced Barbara Bel Geddes who had decided to step down from her role as "Miss Ellie" in the television series Dallas in the 1984-85 season. When Bel Geddes agreed to return to the role for the 1985-86 season, Reed was fired. She sued the show's production company for breach of contract and received an undisclosed seven-figure settlement shortly before her death from cancer. During a 2007 TV special, "Bring Back...Dallas", on the UK's Channel 4 it was revealed that Larry Hagman got Bel Geddes back, an action which left Reed jobless.
[edit] Death
Reed died at the age of sixty-four in Beverly Hills, California from pancreatic cancer and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles. Reed was survived by her four children; Mary Owen, Timothy Owen, Penny Owen Stigers, and Tony Owen Jr.[1]
The Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts, based in Reed's hometown of Denison, was organized after Reed's death in 1987 by her husband, Grover Asmus, actresses Shelley Fabares and Norma Connolly, and numerous friends, associates, and family members.[10] The non-profit organization grants scholarships for performing arts students, runs an annual festival of performing arts workshops, and operates "The Donna Reed Center for the Performing Arts". Some of the workshops offered include theater performance, children's musical theater, methods of theater arts coaching, private coaching, and writing for screen and stage.[10] The performing arts center was formerly an opera house built in 1914, and later renovated into the Ritz Movie Theater where the young Reed first fell in love with movies.
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | The Get-Away | Maria Theresa 'Terry' O'Reilly | Alternative title: The Getaway |
| Shadow of the Thin Man | Molly | ||
| Babes on Broadway | Jonesy's Secretary | Uncredited | |
| 1942 | Personalities | Uncredited | |
| The Bugle Sounds | Sally Hanson | ||
| The Courtship of Andy Hardy | Melodie Eunice Nesbit | ||
| Mokey | Anthea Delano | ||
| Calling Dr. Gillespie | Marcia Bradburn | ||
| Apache Trail | Rosalia Martinez | ||
| Eyes in the Night | Barbara Lawry | ||
| 1943 | The Human Comedy | Bess Macauley | |
| Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case | Marcia Bradburn | Alternative title: Crazy to Kill | |
| The Man from Down Under | Mary Wilson | ||
| Thousands Cheer | Customer in Red Skelton Skit | ||
| 1944 | See Here, Private Hargrove | Carol Holliday | |
| Gentle Annie | Mary Lingen | ||
| 1945 | The Picture of Dorian Gray | Gladys Hallward | |
| They Were Expendable | Lt. Sandy Davyss | ||
| 1946 | Faithful in My Fashion | Jean Kendrick | |
| It's a Wonderful Life | Mary Hatch Bailey | Alternative title: Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life | |
| 1947 | Green Dolphin Street | Marguerite Patourel | |
| 1948 | Beyond Glory | Ann Daniels | |
| 1949 | Chicago Deadline | Rosita Jean D'Ur | |
| 1951 | Saturday's Hero | Melissa | Alternative title: Idols in the Dust |
| 1952 | Scandal Sheet | Julie Allison | Alternative title: The Dark Page |
| Hangman's Knot | Molly Hull | ||
| 1953 | Trouble Along the Way | Alice Singleton | Alternative title: Alma Mater |
| Raiders of the Seven Seas | Alida | ||
| From Here to Eternity | Alma "Lorene" Burke | Won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | |
| The Caddy | Kathy Taylor | ||
| Gun Fury | Jennifer Ballard | ||
| 1954 | They Rode West | Laurie MacKaye | |
| Three Hours to Kill | Laurie Mastin | ||
| The Last Time I Saw Paris | Marion Ellswirth/Matine | ||
| The Ford Television Theatre | Lydia Campbell | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1955 | The Far Horizons | Sacajawea | Alternative title: The Untamed West |
| Tales of Hans Anderson | TV, 1 episode | ||
| The Benny Goodman Story | Alice Hammond | ||
| 1956 | Ransom! | Edith Stannard | Alternative title: Fearful Decision |
| Backlash | Karyl Orton | ||
| Beyond Mombasa | Ann Wilson | ||
| 1957 | General Electric Theater | Rayna | TV, 1 episode |
| Suspicion | Letty Jason | TV, 1 episode | |
| 1958 | The Whole Truth | Carol Poulton | |
| 1958-1966 | The Donna Reed Show | Donna Stone | TV, 275 episodes, Won Best TV Star Golden Globe, Nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Series Emmy (1959-1962) |
| 1974 | Yellow-Headed Summer | ||
| 1979 | The Best Place to Be | Sheila Callahan | Television movie |
| 1983 | Deadly Lessons | Miss Wade | Television movie |
| 1984 | The Love Boat | TV, 2 episodes | |
| 1984-1986 | Dallas | Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Southworth Ewing | TV, 24 episodes |
[edit] Awards and nominations
| Year | Group | Award | Film or series | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Academy Award | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | From Here to Eternity | Won |
| 1963 | Golden Globe Award | Best TV Star - Female | The Donna Reed Show | Won |
| 1964 | Golden Apple Award | Most Cooperative Actress |
|
Won |
| 1959 | Emmy Award | Best Actress in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Comedy Series | The Donna Reed Show | Nominated |
| 1960 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead or Support) | The Donna Reed Show | Nominated |
| 1961 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) | The Donna Reed Show | Nominated |
| 1962 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead) | The Donna Reed Show | Nominated |
| 2004 | TV Land Awards | The Most Irreplaceable Replacement | Dallas | Nominated |
| 2006 | TV Land Awards | The Most Irreplaceable Replacement | Dallas | Nominated |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d In Search of Donna Reed
- ^ Donna Reed Biography (1921-1986)
- ^ Genealogy.com: Ancestry of Donna Reed
- ^ Donna Reed | My Story Is Not For Prudes
- ^ Tony Owen (III)
- ^ Social Security Death Index Interactive Search
- ^ OOps Celebs! - Donna Reed topless cheesecake Robb's Official Celebrity OOps!, August 2004
- ^ Donna Reed at CEL901, nude and topless pictures
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle
- ^ a b Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts
[edit] Further reading
- Fultz, Jay (1998). In Search of Donna Reed. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press. ISBN 0877456259.
- Tucker, David C. (2007). The Women Who Made Television Funny: Ten Stars of 1950s Sitcoms. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.. ISBN 0786429003.
[edit] External links
- Donna Reed at the Internet Movie Database
- Donna Reed at TV.com
- The Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts
- Donna Reed at Find A Grave
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Gloria Grahame for The Bad and the Beautiful |
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress 1953 for From Here to Eternity |
Succeeded by Eva Marie Saint for On the Waterfront |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Reed, Donna |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mullenger, Donnabelle |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 27, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Denison, Iowa USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 14, 1986 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | Beverly Hills, California |
