Donna Reed

Reed was born Donna Belle Mullenger on a farm near Denison, Iowa, the daughter of Hazel Jane (née Shives; July 16, 1899 – July 17, 1975) and William Richard Mullenger (July 4, 1893 – July 15, 1981). The eldest of five children, she was raised as a Methodist. In 1936, while she was a sophomore at Denison (Iowa) High School, her chemistry teacher Edward Tompkins gave her the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. The book is said to have greatly influenced her life. Upon reading it she won the lead in the school play, was voted Campus Queen and was in the top 10 of the 1938 graduating class. Tompkins went on to work on the Manhattan Project.

In 1941 after signing with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Reed made her film debut in The Get-Away opposite Robert Sterling; she was billed as Donna Adams.

From 1943 to 1945, Reed was married to make-up artist William Tuttle. After they divorced, in 1945 she married producer Tony Owen (1907–1984). They raised four children together: Penny Jane, Anthony, Timothy, and Mary Anne (the two older children were adopted). After 26 years of marriage, Reed and Owen divorced in 1971.

Reed collaborated with her Denison High school chemistry teacher Edward R. Tompkins (who, as noted earlier, worked on the Manhattan Project) on the 1947 MGM film The Beginning or the End, which dealt with the history and concerns of the atom bomb. Reed helped provide the story but did not appear in the final film.

Reed was borrowed by Paramount to make two films with Alan Ladd, Beyond Glory (1948), where she replaced Joan Caulfield at the last moment, and Chicago Deadline (1949). In 1949 she expressed a desire for better roles.

In June 1950 Reed signed a contract with Columbia Studios. She appeared in two films which teamed her with John Derek, Saturday's Hero (1951) and Scandal Sheet (1952). She had a cameo in Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder (1952).

From 1958 to 1966, Reed starred in The Donna Reed Show, a television series produced by her then-husband, Tony Owen. The show featured her as Donna Stone, the wife of pediatrician Alex Stone (Carl Betz) and mother of Jeff (Paul Petersen) and Mary Stone (Shelley Fabares). Reed was attracted to the idea of being in a comedy, something with which she did not have much experience. She also liked playing a wife.

Reed supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.

When The Donna Reed Show ended its run in 1966, Reed took time off from acting to concentrate on raising her children and engaging in political activism. She returned to acting in the late '70s, appearing in the TV movies The Best Place to Be (1979) and Deadly Lessons (1983) and a guest stint on The Love Boat.

Reed, who was a registered Republican, was interested in politics. Her interest was piqued during the Vietnam War when she became concerned that her oldest son, Tony, might be drafted. In 1967, Reed became a peace activist and co-chaired the anti-war advocacy group, Another Mother for Peace. The group's slogan was "War is not healthy for children and other living things." In a 1971 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Reed said,

In addition to opposing the Vietnam War, Reed also opposed nuclear power plants. She supported Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy from Minnesota in the 1968 presidential election. He was a strong anti-war advocate.

But some feminists criticized the show, asserting that it promoted submissiveness among housewives. In a 1979 interview, Reed, who had raised four children, responded, "I played a strong woman who could manage her family. That was offensive to a lot of people."

Denison hosts an annual Donna Reed Festival. Reed's childhood home was located on Donna Reed Drive in Denison but was destroyed by a fire in 1983. Reed's Academy Award is on display at the W. A. McHenry Museum in Denison.

In a 1984 television interview, Reed said of her show, "I felt that I was making, for women, a statement. This mother was not stupid. She wasn't domineering, but she was bright and I thought rather forward-thinking, happily married."

In the 1984–85 season of the television series Dallas, Reed replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie Ewing. Of the show, Reed explained in a 1984 interview,

Three years later, Reed married Grover W. Asmus (1926–2003), a retired United States Army colonel. They remained married until her death in 1986.

Donna Reed died of pancreatic cancer in Beverly Hills, California, on January 14, 1986, 13 days shy of her 65th birthday. She had been diagnosed with the illness three months earlier and told it was at a terminal stage. Her remains are interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.

In 1987, Grover Asmus (Reed's widower), actresses Shelley Fabares and Norma Connolly, and numerous friends, associates, and family members created the Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts. Based in Reed's hometown of Denison, 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.

In a 2008 interview, Paul Petersen, who portrayed her son Jeff Stone in the series, also shared his opinions about the production's significance:

In May 2010, Turner Classic Movies honored Reed as their star of the month which saw Mary Owen pay a special tribute to her mother.

In a 2011 article, actress Shelley Fabares (who played Mary Stone on The Donna Reed Show) wrote,

Happy birthday, Donna Reed!

Film and television actress Donna Reed was born on this date (Jan. 27) in 1921. Reed’s memorable film roles include Mary in It’s a Wonderful Life and Lorene in From Here to Eternity (which won her …