Donnabelle Mullenger didn’t leave her farm upbringing to be discovered, but her beauty quickly gained her attention in Hollywood, and her performances are still beloved today.
Mullenger moved from Denison to California in 1938 to live with her aunt and attend Los Angeles City College. There, her peers elected her the campus queen in a beauty contest. The Los Angeles Times published photos of her in the subsequent parade, capturing the attention of acting and modeling agents. But she told them she’d have to finish her degree first.
In February 1941, she graduated from her secretarial studies program. That same year, under the stage name Donna Reed, she appeared in her first three films.
There’s no movie that’s 75, 80 years old, that people still watch with such passion and intensity and love.Mary Owen
In 1946, at 26 years old, she starred in It’s a Wonderful Life, as Mary Bailey, the wife of leading man George Bailey. The film has become a Christmas classic, with families watching it every year. Multiple generations have been introduced to the moving story about an American man understanding his role in his small town.
“There’s no movie that’s 75, 80 years old, that people still watch with such passion and intensity and love,” said Mary Owen, Reed’s youngest daughter and treasurer of the Donna Reed Foundation. “Now, when I introduce it in New York, my audience is mostly kids in their 20s and 30s, and they grew up watching it with their family. Everyone has a story. I like to talk to people after the movie because, you know, we're all crying, and they have some kind of really intense connection to the movie, and I do love that.”
Over the course of her career, Reed appeared in 41 movies and starred in the sitcom The Donna Reed Show. She also started a production company with her second husband, Tony Owen.
In 1954 she won an Oscar – which is now kept at the W.A. McHenry House in Denison – for her role in the WWII drama, From Here to Eternity. As one of the most gorgeous women of the WWII era, she had a special relationship with American soldiers as a pin-up girl, representing the home front. Owen said that in 2003, Reed’s family discovered about 300 letters from WWII soldiers stashed in a trunk at Reed’s Beverly Hills home.
“It was great to discover those, read them, and to realize what an important part she played in the war effort, and the fact that she saved them, I think, is incredible,” Owen said.
Reed was also an early opponent of the Vietnam War. She helped form the group Another Mother for Peace.
After Reed died of pancreatic cancer in 1986, her third husband Grover Asmus helped establish The Donna Reed Foundation, housed in her hometown of Denison. The foundation continues to keep her legacy alive and grants scholarships to Iowa high school students pursuing performing arts.
In the Iowa Famous series, we're highlighting people with all types of connections to our state who have made an impact in arts, politics, social justice, education, sports and more. View all the Iowa Famous stories here. Have an idea of someone we should feature? Email talkofiowa@iowapublicradio.org.
