Donna Reed(1921-1986)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Donna Reed was born in the midwestern town of Denison, Iowa, on January
27, 1921, as Donna Belle Mullenger. A small town - a population of less
than 3,000 people - Denison was located by the Boyer River, and was the
county seat of Crawford County. Donna grew up as a farm girl, much like
many young girls in western Iowa, except for one thing - Donna was very
beautiful. That wasn't to say that others weren't as pretty, it's just
that Donna's beauty stood out from all the other local girls, so much
so that she won a beauty contest in Denison. Upon graduation from high
school Donna left for college in Los Angeles, in the hopes of
eventually entering movies. While at Los Angeles City College, she
pursued her dream by participating in several college stage
productions. In addition to the plays, she also won the title of Campus
Queen. At one of those stage plays Donna was spotted by an MGM talent
scout and was signed to a contract. Her first film was a minor role in
MGM's The Getaway (1941). That was followed by a small part in Babes on Broadway (1941), with
Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland as a secretary. She then won her breakthrough role in Shadow of the Thin Man (1941). Afterwards, MGM began giving her
better parts, in films such as The Bugle Sounds (1942), The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942) and The Man from Down Under (1943). In 1944
she received second billing playing Carol Halliday in See Here, Private Hargrove (1944), a comedy
about a reporter drafted into the army who eventually meets up with
Donna's character as a worker in the canteen. The following year Donna
starred in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), her best role to date. It was a love story set in
London in 1890. It got mixed critical reviews but did well at the
box-office. Donna was now one of the leading ladies of Hollywood. In
1946 she starred in what is probably her best-known role, as the wife
of James Stewart in the classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946). This timeless story is a holiday
staple to this day. The film also starred Lionel Barrymore and Thomas Mitchell. The next
year Donna starred as Ann Daniels in Paramount's Beyond Glory (1948) with Alan Ladd,
which did well at the box-office. Her next role was the strongest she
had had yet--Chicago Deadline (1949), again with Ladd. It was one of the best mystery
dramas to come out of Hollywood in a long time, and did very well at
the box office. As the 1940s faded out and the 1950s stormed in,
Donna's roles got bigger but were mainly of the wholesome,
girl-next-door type. In 1953, however, she starred as the hostess
Alma in the widely acclaimed From Here to Eternity (1953). She was so good in that film she
was nominated for and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress, beating out such veterans as Thelma Ritter and Marjorie Rambeau. The film
itself won for Best Picture and remains a classic to this day. Later
that year Donna starred in The Caddy (1953), a comedy with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.
Three years later she landed the role of Sacajawea in The Far Horizons (1955), the
story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, starring Charlton Heston and Fred MacMurray.
After finishing The Whole Truth (1958), Donna began her own TV series (produced by her
husband), The Donna Reed Show (1958), a hit that ran for eight years. She was so effective
in the show that she was nominated for TV's prestigious Emmy Award as
Best Actress every year from 1959-1962. She was far more popular in TV
than on the screen. After the run of the program, Donna took some time
away from show business before coming back in a couple of made-for-TV
movies (in 1974, she had made a feature called Welcome to Arrow Beach (1973), but it was
never released). She did get the role of Ellie Ewing Farlow in the hit
TV series Dallas (1978) during the 1984-85 season. It was to be her final
public performance. On January 14, 1986, less than two weeks before her
65th birthday, she died of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills,
California. Grover Asmus, her husband, created the Donna Reed
Foundation for the Performing Arts in her hometown of Denison. The
foundation helps others who desire a career in the arts. Donna never
forgot her roots. She was still a farm girl at heart.