Donna Reed
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Main title caption from Dallas. |
Donna Reed (
January 27,
1921 -
January 14,
1986) was an
Academy Award-winning
American actress.
Ms. Reed was born
Donnabelle Mullenger on a farm near
Denison, Crawford County,
Iowa. Her parents are William Richard Mullenger (whose paternal grandparents were born in
England) and Hazel Jane Shives .
Ms. 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
Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. She won a
Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a bar maid in
1953's
From Here to Eternity.
In her later years she temporarily replaced an ailing
Barbara Bel Geddes as "Miss Ellie" in the television series
Dallas in the
1984-
1985 season. When Bel Geddes was well enough to return to the role, Ms. Reed was fired. She sued the show's production company and received an undisclosed seven-figure settlement, but this settlement came shortly before her death from cancer.
She died at age 64 in
Beverly Hills, California from
pancreatic cancer, and was interred in the
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in
Los Angeles, California.
The
Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts, based in Reed's hometown of Denison, was organized after Reed's death in
1986. 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. The performing arts center was formerly an opera house built in
1914, and later renovated into the Ritz Movie Theater where Donna Reed, as a young girl in Denison, first fell in love with movies.
The Get-Away (
1941)
Shadow of the Thin Man (
1941)
Babes on Broadway (
1941)
Personalities (
1942) (short subject)
The Bugle Sounds (
1942)
The Courtship of Andy Hardy (
1942)
Mokey (
1942)
Calling Dr. Gillespie (
1942)
Apache Trail (
1942)
Eyes in the Night (
1942)
The Human Comedy (
1943)
Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (
1943)
The Man from Down Under (
1943)
Thousands Cheer (
1943)
See Here, Private Hargrove (
1944)
Gentle Annie (
1944)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (
1945)
They Were Expendable (
1945)
Faithful in My Fashion (
1946)
It's a Wonderful Life (
1946)
Green Dolphin Street (
1947)
Beyond Glory (
1948)
Chicago Deadline (
1949)
Screen Actors (
1950) (short subject)
Saturday's Hero (
1951)
Scandal Sheet (
1952)
Hangman's Knot (
1952)
Trouble Along the Way (
1953)
USSR Today (
1953) (documentary)
Raiders of the Seven Seas (
1953)
From Here to Eternity (
1953; Best Supporting Actress Academy Award)
The Caddy (
1953)
Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Laugh Parade (
1953) (short subject)
Gun Fury (
1953)
They Rode West (
1954)
Three Hours to Kill (
1954)
The Last Time I Saw Paris (
1954)
The Far Horizons (
1955)
The Benny Goodman Story (
1955)
Ransom! (
1956)
Backlash (
1956)
Beyond Mombasa (
1956)
The Whole Truth (
1958)
Pepe (
1960) (Cameo)
Yellow-Headed Summer (
1974)
*
*[
1] The Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts
*[
2] Classic Movies (1939 - 1969):Donna Reed
