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Donna Reed (1921-1986) signed with MGM at the beginning of the 1940s. Her early roles included appearing in Shadow of the Thin Man and The Courtship of Andy Hardy, installments two long-running MGM film series. She played George Bailey’s wife in It’s a Wonderful Life and won Best Supporting Actress in From Here to Eternity, and then went on to a television career as the star of The Donna Reed Show, winning a Golden Globe and receiving four Emmy nominations.
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Donna Reed (1921-1986) is pictured at right above, joined by her “TV family” of Shelley Fabares, Paul Petersen and Carl Betz (in front). Reed was born and grew up in Denison, Iowa. After finishing high school, she moved to California, studied at LA City College, and was discovered and signed by MGM.
Reed starred for eight years, beginning in 1958, Reed starred as Donna Stone on the hit ABC sitcom The Donna Reed Show. She won a Golden Globe, and was a four-time Emmy nominee.
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Reed made her film debut in 1941, in the MGM feature The Get-Away. The studio began to build her up as a coming star–she made appearances in some of their popular film series, including the fourth Thin Man film and one of the Andy Hardy movies. In 1945, she was John Wayne’s love interest in the war film They Were Expendable.
A year later, Reed was loaned to Columbia for what turned out to be one of her most famous roles, as Mary Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life. Later in the decade, she was loaned to Paramount to star in two films with Alan Ladd, Beyond Glory and Chicago Deadline. Dissatisfied with her roles at MGM, she moved to Columbia in 1950.
At Columbia, Reed starred in films such as the noir thriller Scandal Sheet and the Western Hangman’s Knot. In 1953, she appeared in her other most famous film role, as Alma “Lorene” Burke in From Here to Eternity. Reed won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
Her success at the Oscars did not, in Reed’s view, lead to better roles. She began to move to television, making appearances on the Ford Television Theatre and General Electric Theater, before being cast in her own show.
When The Donna Reed Show ended its run in 1966, Reed took over a decade off from acting. She divided her time between her family and political activism. She was a prominent opponent of the Vietnam War and nuclear power.
In the late seventies, Reed began working in television again. She made a few TV movies, and in 1984, she took over the role of Miss Ellie Ewing on Dallas. When the show’s producers fired her after Barbara Bel Geddes wanted to return to the role in 1985, Reed successfully sued them for breach of contract.
In late 1985, Reed was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. She died early in 1986, a few weeks shy of her 65th birthday.