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Quick Facts
- NAME: Donna Reed
- OCCUPATION: Television Actress
- BIRTH DATE: January 27, 1921
- DEATH DATE: January 14, 1986
- EDUCATION: Los Angeles City College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Denison, Iowa
- PLACE OF DEATH: Beverly Hills, California
Best Known For
Actress Donna Reed charmed audiences in the film It's a Wonderful Life and on television's The Donna Reed Show.
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Play NowDonna Reed. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 05:22, Jun 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/donna-reed-9542105.
Donna Reed. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/donna-reed-9542105 [Accessed 20 Jun 2013].
"Donna Reed." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 20 2013, 05:22 http://www.biography.com/people/donna-reed-9542105.
"Donna Reed," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/donna-reed-9542105 [accessed Jun 20, 2013].
"Donna Reed," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/donna-reed-9542105 (accessed Jun 20, 2013).
Donna Reed [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 20] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/donna-reed-9542105.
Donna Reed, http://www.biography.com/people/donna-reed-9542105 (last visited Jun 20, 2013).
Donna Reed. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/donna-reed-9542105. Accessed Jun 20, 2013.
The ambitious couple sought to translate Reed's film talent into success in the increasingly influential medium of television. With the demise of her motion picture career, Todon Productions launched The Donna Reed Show (1958-66), which provided the perfect vehicle to display the actress as the picture of sophisticated charm. In 1958,
Contents
the family sitcom premiered and Reed came to personify the quintessential mother of suburban America. The series enjoyed an eight-year run, during which she received four Emmy nominations.
After ABC retired the series in 1966, Reed's career predominantly consisted of minor parts in forgettable TV projects. However in 1984, she signed a three-year contract to play the juicy role of Miss Ellie on the popular TV series Dallas. After only one season, she was unceremoniously fired from the hit show. Infuriated by her abrupt dismissal, she successfully sued the production company for breech of contract.
Personal Life
On a personal level, Reed led a far more complex life than the characters she played. During the 1970s, she was a fervent anti-nuclear weapon and anti-war activist, co-chairing the protest organization "Another Mother for Peace."
In 1986, the resilient actress lost her two-year bout with pancreatic cancer; she died in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 64. Later that year, friends and family created The Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts, which awards scholarships to young people studying the Arts.
Reed's first two marriages, to makeup artist William Tuttle and producer Tony Owen, ended in divorce. Upon her death, she was survived by her third husband Grover Asmus, whom she married in 1975.
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View groupIn the early days of television, actresses of the small screen often reflected the traditional roles of women in society. TV moms of the 1950s managed to keep a tidy home; serve as an attentive ear to family troubles; and have dinner waiting—all while keeping every hair in place. Jane Wyatt epitomized the archetypal housewife and mother on Father Knows Best, while Donna Reed made running a household look easy on The Donna Reed Show. These women, and many more like them, laid the groundwork for future female acting roles, and served as inspiration to the women watching at home.
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