Donna returns to television
The Best Place to Be not only marked Donna Reed's TV movie debut but also brought her back to television after a twelve-year absence.
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She cut a beautiful figure
A Variety review calls Raiders of the Seven Seas a "good Pirate adventure" with an "entertaining" plot and refers to Donna Reed's costumes.
Two Iowa natives
John Wayne, born in Winterset, Iowa, appears with Donna Reed in two films - They Were Expendable (1945) and Trouble Along the Way (1953).
Now you see it, now you don't
John Payne appears with Donna Reed in the pirate film Raiders of the Seven Seas (1953). The film has a number of continuity problems.
He preferred being behind the camera
Robert Montgomery directed a few scenes, uncredited, in They Were Expendable (1954) when director John Ford took ill.
A low budget film
Donna Reed once campaigned to have Sacajawea, the role she played in the film The Far Horizons, elected to the Hall of Fame.
The censors objected
Jimmy Stewart was nervous about the phone kiss in It's a Wonderful Life but filmed it in one take. Part of it was cut as far too passionate.
Mary's dilemma
Watch Bobby Burgess, one of Disney's original Mouseketeers, play a football player in “Mary’s Double Date” on The Donna Reed Show.
They refused to bail
When The Donna Reed Show premiered, Campbell's Soup was the sponsor. By the fourth show, everyone was prepared for the show to be canceled.
He kept coming back
Richard Deacon is known for playing recurring roles on television shows. Watch him in four episodes of The Donna Reed Show.
Donna Reed: My Mom, My Mother
Actor Paul Petersen of THE DONNA REED SHOW and Mary Owen, daughter of Donna Reed, discuss memories of their respective mothers.
Another radio appearance
Donna Reed appeared in a broadcast of "A Letter from Rio" on the CBS radio anthology, Stars over Hollywood.
Hear Donna on radio
Donna Reed, John Lund, and Glenn Langan guest-star in Song for a Long Road, the story of American poet Joyce Kilmer. Hear the broadcast.
Toured with Spike Jones
Doodles Weaver began his career as a comedian touring with the Spike Jones Music Revue. He made four appearances on The Donna Reed Show.
Through their eyes
LifetimeTelevision's "Intimate Portrait" looked back at the life of Donna Reed through the eyes of actors and family members in 1999.
She was a carryover character
Donna Reed's character in "Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case" (1943) originated in the film " Dr. Gillespie (1942).
Donna invited an Oscar winner
The Donna Reed Show stretched the envelope in 1962 by inviting Miyoshi Umeki for an episode about an interracial couple.
She just looked decorative
Stewart Granger appears with Donna Reed in the film The Whole Truth (1958). A Variety review called the film "a routine effort ."
Donna called him three times
The Donna Reed Show stretched the envelope by bringing sports figure Willie Mays into the show, something never done before.
Both nominee and presenter
Donna Reed was both a nominee and a presenter at the 11th Emmy Awards in 1959 to honor the best in television of the year.
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