Donna
Reed, who will make her debut in a television series, "The Donna
Reed Show" on the ABC-TV network Sept. 24 (KTVI, 8 p.m. Wednesdays),
is one the few motion picture personalities in television who can boast
of an Academy Award. Donna won the coveted "Oscar" for her supporting
role in "From Here to Eternity" in 1954.
Oddly
enough, acting was the farthest from the mind of the daughter of William
R. Mullenger, who was and is today a typical Iowa farmer, when she left
home to seek her fortune. Donna, as a farmer's daughter, could drive
a tractor, milk a cow, and even today can make her own bread.
When
she reached high school age she went to live with her grandmother in
Denison, Iowa. In her senior year she was elected Campus Queen and appeared
in school plays. A year later, with $60 in her pocket and determined
to start a business career, she went to Los Angeles where she lived
with an aunt.
For
two years she studied stenography and secretarial work at Los Angeles
City College, working her way through with such campus jobs as librarian
and secretary, as well as washing dishes in a nearby boarding house.
She also managed to appear in two college plays, "The Intruder"
and "The Happy Journey".
Then,
for the second time in her young life, she was elected Campus Queen,
and within 24 hours she had received messages from three motion picture
companies, all offering scsreen tests. She turned them all down because
she had not finished her course for the business school diploma as a
qualified secretary.
The
following February, in 1941, she was graduated, and promptly made a
screen test for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Taking the test with her was another
newcomer, Van Heflin. Both received contracts. Two days later Donna
was cast in one of the leading roles in "The Getaway."
The
Farm Girl from Iowa wrote home that, although she now was a qualified
secretary, she was going to delay her search for a job pending the outcome
of her movie venture. Roles came thick and fast. Among her first pictures
were "Shadow of the Thin Man," with William Powell and Myrna
Loy, and "The Courtship of Andy Hardy," with Mickey Rooney.
It was this Hardy picture that sent her stock zooming.
Other
pictures followed with parts of steadily increasing importance. Among
her films were "The Human Comedy," "As Thousands Cheer,"
"The Picture of Dorian Gray," and "From Here to Eternity,"
for which she received her Oscar for the best supporting role by an
actress.
In
June of 1945, Donna was married to Tony Owen, who is the producer of
her new television show. The Owens live in a modest Beverly Hills house
with their four children, Penny Jane, 12; Tony Jr., 11; Timothy, 8 and
Mary, 16 months.
In
her television show starting two weeks from now Miss Reed will portray
the wife of a pediatrician in a small town. The series will be based
on situations that arise in the life of a busy doctor's family. She
and Carl Betz will be seen as Dr. and Mrs. Alex Stone. Their television
children will be Shelley Fabares, a niece of Nanette Fabray, and Paul
Petersen.
Carl
Betz, the Dr. Stone of the series, has been acting since he was 10 years
old. At that age he organized a group of playmates from a Pittsburgh
(Pa.) grammar school into a theatrical company that performed regularly
in the basement of his grandmother's house. Born in Pittsburgh, Betz
was educated at Mt. Lebanon High School there, Duquesne University and
Carnegie Tech.
His
first professional acting assignment was with a summer stock company
in which his colleagues included William Eythe, Gene Lyons and Polly
Rowles. He was paid $5 a week. Betz also taught acting techniques and
history of the theater to opera students at a Pittsburgh music school
near his home.
After
military service in North Africa and Italy, he returned to the theater
and starred on Broadway. He since has done motion picture work and television--18
months in daytime TV's "Love of Life" series. He and his wife,
the former actress Lois Harmon, live in North Hollywood. They have one
son, Richard Lawrence, a year old.
Shelley
Fabares (pronounced Fab-aray) became an actress because her mother decided
it would be an ideal way for her to develop poise. Her instruction started
with dancing lessons at the age of four, and soon she was booked as
a dancer on television shows and other theatrical events. She also was
a sought-after model for children's wear. Her big acting break came
in 1953 when she was given a role in a Frank Sinatra spectacular, and
since then she has appeared on a number of dramatic programs and in
motion pictures.
Shelley
was born in Santa Monica, Calif., 14 years ago. Her first name really
is Michelle. She lives with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Fabares
in Hollywood and attends Immaculate Heart High School.
Paul
Petersen, the Jeff in the new series, will be 13 years old in two more
weeks. Born in Glendale, Calif., he got his start on show business as
a member of Walt Disney's Mousketeers. He is a seventh grade honor student
at Sun Valley Junior High School, where he plays the trombone in the
school orchestra. He has had dramatic roles both on major television
shows and in the movies. While he has won success as an actor, his real
ambitions lie in the fields of medicine and science.
