Stage Name: Donna Reed
Birth Name: Donna Belle Mullenger
Occupation: Movie TV Actress / WWII Pinup Model
Years Active: 1941–1985
Notable Works: Donna Reed played opposite Jimmy Stewart as Mary Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) named one of the 100 best American films ever made by the American Film Institute and is regularly aired on television numerous times during every Christmas season. She won an Oscar for her part as the prostitute Alma in the WWII drama From Here to Eternity, the coveted Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Donna is probably best remembered for her work on her own television series, The Donna Reed Show, which aired from 1958 through 1966 and received numerous Emmy nominations; in 1964 she won the Golden Globe for best female TV star for her part.
Date/Place Birth: January 27, 1921(1921-01-27); Denison, Iowa, U.S.A.
Date/Death/Cause: Donna Reed died January 14, 1986 in Beverly Hills, California, from pancreatic cancer. When doctors decided that little could be done, she was released from the hospital Dec. 24 to spend the holidays with her family. Her husband, retired Army Colonel Grover Asmus, was at her bedside when she died. She is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles
Spouse(s) & Children: Summary: William J. Tuttle (1943-1945 divorced); Tony Owen (1945-1971 divorced) 4 children; Grover Asmus (1974-1986 her death)
Short Biography: Donna Reed was a high school graduate teenage farm girl from the heartland who moved to Southern California to go to an affordable community college and try her hand at acting. She took parts in the college plays and turned out to be a natural as an actress and also won the title of Los Angeles City College Campus Queen. In 1941 she signed a contract with MGM an began her legendary award winning acting career. She won an Oscar as a movie actress for playing a prostitute but she was the WWII GIs perfect "girl next door" pin up to love and went on to become an American cultural icon on TV, she personified the ideal homemaker, wife and mother. Read a good bio at the Donna Reed biography from IMDb is brief but good