The Donna Reed Show aired from September 1958 until September 1966 on ABC.
One of the most wholesome sit-coms ever made, The Donna Reed Show barely escaped cancelation after it's first season. Iit was then moved to Thursday's in 1959, where it remained for 7 more seasons; By the end of its run in 1966, it was ABC's third oldest prime-time series.
Donna Reed, who won an academy award for her performance in From Here To Eternity ( 1955), starred as Donna Stone; All-American housewife and mother. Also featured was Donna's husband Alex Stone ( Carl Betz), a smalltown pediatrician and their 2 children Mary ( Shelley Fabares), their teenaged daughter, and Jeff ( Paul Peterson), their 11 year old son. The adventures of the Stone family were similar to other tv families-measles, girlfriends, school problems, little white lies, and so on-compounded by the fact that Dr. Alex was always running off at odd hours to attend to his patients. The show was set in the small town of Hilldale, and it had a wholesome quality that endeared it to audiences. It won many awards from youth, womens, educational, and medical groups; the President of the American Medical Association even appeared in a cameo role in one telecast.
Over the years changes in the series took place. Mary, the older child went off to college in 1962, followed by Jeff two years later. About the time that Mary left the show for good in 1963, the character of Trisha, an 8 year old orphan who adopted The Stones was added, played by Patty Peterson, Paul's real life sister, she was first seen in a January 1963 telecast and stayed for the rest of the series run. Dave Kelsey (Bob Crane), was Alex's colleague and the Stone's next-door neighbor and Midge (Ann McCrea), was Dave's wife. Various friends of Mary and Jeff's appeared from time to time, the most regular of whom was Jeff's girlfriend Karen ( Janet Langard), and his college buddy Smitty (Darryl Richard).
Both of Donna Reed's original tv offspring had short but spectacular recording careers in 1962-1963 with songs introduced on the series. On a January 1963 telecast Paul Peterson sang the novelty ditty " She Can't Find Her Keys" as part of a dream sequence in which Jeff dreamed he was a teenage recording star out on a date. His recording of the song became a major hit in 1962. Later he had several other bestsellers, including the top-ten hit " My Dad," about Dr. Alex. Shelley Fabares did even better with a teenage love song called " Johnny Angel" which went to #1 on the charts in early 1962 and earned her a gold record, denoting sales of more than a million copies. Neither one could approach the phenomental success achieved by Ricky Nelson on ABC's other long running sit-com, The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet.
Among the guest stars who made their first major tv appearances on the series were John Astin, James Darren, and George Hamilton. Margaret Dumont made a rare television appearance as did Buster Keaton.
Here's Donna Reed's Obituary
Published January 15, 1986
Cancer Kills Donna Reed
AP-Donna Reed who starred as a model wife and mother on her own television series but won an academy award portraying a prostitute, died Tuesday of pancreatic cancer. She was 64.
"Miss Reed died at her Beverly Hills home at 9:17 a.m. Her husband, Grover Asmus, was at her side ," said Pat Gibson , a press agent for Miss Reed's publicist and friend Harry Flynn.
Miss Reed won a supporting oscar in 1953 for her role as a prostitute in From Here to Eternity, the tale of army life on the eve of Pearl Harbor.
But she is probably best remembered as Mrs. Stone , the ideal wife to a pediatrician and mother of two on ABC's The Donna Reed Show, which co-starred Carl Betz, Paul Peterson, Shelley Fabares and in later years, Patty Peterson. The show ran for eight seasons beginning in 1958.
" She was the classiest lady I ever worked with and she will be sorely missed," said Jerry Lewis , who starred with her in The Caddy in 1953.
During the 1984-1985 season , the hazel-eyed Miss Reed appeared as Miss Ellie on the prime-time soap opera hit Dallas, but that role ended with a lawsuit when she was cut to make room for the return of Barbara Bel Geddes as the character.
Miss Reed accepted a $1 million settlement in the suit in August.
" She was just a lovely person . It ( her death) hurts a lot," said Leonard Katzman, producer of Dallas from its beginning in 1978 until 1985. He is now a creative consultant for the series.
Losing the role after a season was difficult for her, Katzman said.
" She was hurt and rightfully so but decisions are sometimes made in the name of ratings, and I think that was one of them."
Miss Reed was hospitalized several months ago for ulcers . While she was being treated at Cedars Sinai Medical Center for bleeding ulcers in December , the malignancy in her pancreas was discovered.
Miss Reed's other film appearances included Frank Capra's classic It's a Wonderful Life, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Green Dolphin Street, The Last Time I Saw Paris, and The Benny Goodman Story.
Her funeral will be at Westwood Cemetary, " But we don't have a date or time," Ms Gibson said.
Born in Denison, Iowa , Miss Reed came out of Los Angeles City College to start acting at MGM when she was 20, also working as a dishwasher, librarian and secretary.
She graduated from The Thin Man, Dr. Gillespie and Andy Hardy series to become a star with They Were Expendable in 1945.
She was seen infrequently on television after The Donna Reed Show went off the air.
" I just wouldn't do the junk I was offered," she said before she returned to acting.
" I didn't like the way films were treating women . Most of the roles were very passive-women in jeopardy, poor stupid souls who couldn't help themselves."
In the late 60's and early 70's, Miss Reed became active in the Beverly Hills- based anti-war group called Another Mother for Peace.
" I love my country, but I feel it got off the track," she said in 1971. " This is my way of helping it find its way back."
In 1978 she starred in the four-hour NBC movie, The Best Place to Be, then returned in 1979 for a two-hour episode of Love Boat, filmed in Hong Kong.
This photo gallery contains pictures for sitcoms of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and today, as well as dramas, soaps, reality shows, cartoons, game shows, variety shows, talk shows and late night tv photo galleries.
Please note that all pictures uploaded between August 6-31, 2009 were lost in a database crash. While the photos are still on the server, the information (title, description, number of views, who uploaded them, etc.) attached to each photo was lost. In addition, any photo edits, moves or any other account changes from this period were lost. Our apologies to all members who are missing photos and for the downtime. We appreciate you taking the time to share them with us. Click here for archived files by category which are no longer in the database. We would appreciate it if the original uploaders could re-upload them when they have the opportunity. Thank you.
To upload photos, please choose the appropriate category and login with your existing
message board username and password. If you are new, you will need to
register before
uploading any photos. Only ".jpg" files will upload - ".jpeg", ".gif", ".png" or any other image
format will not work. You will need to convert them to ".jpg". Please upload only sitcom
and tv related photos.
To request any photos be removed, please use the "Report Photo" link that is the bottom of
every photo if you are registered and logged in. This is the quickest and easiest method. You can also
send an e-mail with the url of the photo(s). We will also gladly credit or
link to any site that is the original source of any photos.
If you have any questions, comments, requests for new categories, etc. - please contact us.
All images, logos, and other materials are copyright their respective owners. No rights
are given or implied.
Powered by: PhotoPost PHP Copyright 2004-2012 All Enthusiast, Inc.
