Trivia of Donna Reed

Trivia of Donna Reed (27 January 1921 - 14 January 1986)

*Donna grew up as a farm girl, much like many young girls in western Iowa, except for one thing "Donna was very beautiful". Donna's beauty stood out from all the other local girls, so much so that she won a beauty contest in Denison.

*While at Los Angeles City College, she pursued her dream by participating in several college stage productions. In addition to the plays, she also won the title of Campus Queen. At one of those stage plays Donna was spotted by an MGM talent scout and was signed to a contract. Her first film was a minor role in MGM's The Get-Away (1941) opposite Robert Sterling.

*In the scene from It's a Wonderful Life (1946) where she and James Stewart throw rocks at the old Granville house, director Frank Capra had originally planned to use a double in Donna's place to throw the rock. Reed, however, was an accomplished baseball player in high school and threw very well, as evidenced by her toss in the movie.Director Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewart, and Reed have all said that It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) was their favorite film.

*Generally, she often play role associated that of the squeaky-clean, conservative 1950s housewife and mother.But she won her Oscar for From Here to Eternity (1953) for playing a prostitute hostess.

*In 1958, Reed turned to television, starring in the aptly named The Donna Reed Show as a "wise and loving wife and mother." While it was a return to stereotype for Reed, the sitcom eventually became hugely successful and ran until 1966.Donna Reed received Emmy nominations four years in a row (1959-62) for The Donna Reed Show, but she never clocked a win.In 1963, after four Emmy nominations for The Donna Reed Show, Reed scored a Golden Globe Award for her television sitcom role.

*Donna Reed took an acting break in the late sixties to late seventies for personal—and political—reasons. As the Vietnam War escalated, Reed was concerned for the wellbeing of Tony, her eldest son, fearing he'd be drafted into service against his beliefs and will. Reed became a peace activist in 1967, co-chairing the group Another Mother for Peace to advocate against the Vietnam situation.

*The gorgeous pinup cheered up many soldiers serving U.S country during World War II. She corresponded with the soldiers, and they in turn wrote her back, confiding in the approachable starlet. Decades later after Reed's death, in 2009, a shoebox was discovered in her garage containing 341 letters from soldiers. “[We] think you are a typical American girl, someone who we would like to come home to!!!!!” one G.I. gushed from the South Pacific.