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Donna Reed
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Donna Reed was a fresh-faced farm girl who was wholesome in countless movie roles until her performance as a prostitute brought her an Oscar. Donna Belle Mullenger was born on a farm southeast of Denison, the oldest of five children of William Mullenger and his wife, Hazel. Their daughter belonged to 4-H, milked cows, fed chickens and won a State Fair blue ribbon for her biscuits. She did well in school plays and was homecoming queen. She saw a movie for the first time when she was in high school.
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The quintessential all-American situation comedy of the late fifties and early sixties, the Donna Reed Show was about the Stones, a typical suburban family living in a wholesome environment. The family consisted of Donna and Alex Stone, and their children Mary, Jeff, and later Trisha. Donna was the perfect housewife, Alex was a pediatrician and the show centered around the innocuous problems of the kids growing up. Paul Peterson played their teenaged son Jeff, who was usually seen wearing black Converse high tops. Normally, the episodes revolved around typical suburban family problems of the late fifties -- school problems, boy and girl friends, the consequences of telling a white lie, or because Alex Stone was a doctor, illness and diseases.
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A family-oriented situation comedy in the mould of “Leave It To Beaver” and “Father Knows Best,” “The Donna Reed Show” had a long and successful eight-year run. It was not funnier than other shows (though it wasn’t bad for its genre) nor was it a radical departure from the norm (though it had its own twists). The main reason people watched was Donna Reed, the Academy Award-winning actress who was one of the few women of the late 1950's to have behind-the-scenes control of her own television series. And though she came off as “goody two-shoes” on the screen, she was anything but passive in real life.
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Donna Reed (born Donnabelle Mullenger) grew up on a farm in Iowa and went to college in Los Angeles. At 20, she was "discovered" by MGM and offered a 4-year contract. The studio gave her a new name, told her what to wear, where to go and whom to be seen with - as part of her "transformation into a star." Her career developed steadily, but received a setback when Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life did not do well at the box office.
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At age six, Donna Reed knew she wanted to become a librarian. She didn't enter library school... until she was 39, partly because she lacked access to a library school. Still, all her jobs were in libraries; she even gained the title of "law librarian" at two legal jobs. So when the Multnomah County District Attorney's office hired her to run the in-house library, she decided to attend library school as well.
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Voiceover veteran Donna Reed is cast as the signature voice for the American Le Mans Series television campaign with CBS Sports. The promotional open runs before each race on CBS through July. The American Le Mans Series continues this weekend with the Lone Star Grand Prix in Houston - the first of five straight Series events on network television. It will be broadcast at 1 p.m. EDT Saturday (May 13) on CBS Sports. Ms. Reed has voiced several sports promos for the "Battle at the Bridges" Golf Exhibition and The Fiesta Bowl; in addition to narration for the Gracie Award winning documentary, "The Tragedy of the Munich Olympics".
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Donna Reed