1. Donna Mills began her television career in 1966 with a recurring role on The Secret Storm, and in the same year appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen's comedy Don't Drink the Water.
38 Facts About Donna Mills
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Donna Mills made her film debut the next year in The Incident.
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Donna Mills then starred for three years on the soap opera Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, before starring as Tobie Williams, the girlfriend of Clint Eastwood's character in the 1971 cult thriller Play Misty for Me.
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In 1980, Donna Mills landed the role of Abby Cunningham on the primetime soap opera Knots Landing, and was a regular on the show until 1989.
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Donna Mills has since starred in several TV movies, including The World's Oldest Living Bridesmaid, Dangerous Intentions, The Stepford Husbands, Ladies of the House and Ladies of the '80s: A Divas Christmas.
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Donna Mills appeared in the films Joy, Nope and Origin.
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Donna Mills has one brother, Donald, who is 10 years her senior.
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Donna Mills attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she was a member of Delta Gamma sorority.
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Donna Mills completed one year of course work, then left to pursue a dancing career, gaining some stage experience in summer stock productions.
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Donna Mills later was cast in a touring production of My Fair Lady, which brought her to New York City.
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Donna Mills' parents retired to Florida, while her brother makes his home in Colorado.
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Donna Mills began her acting career on television playing a nightclub singer named Rocket on the Manhattan-based CBS daytime soap opera, The Secret Storm in 1966.
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Donna Mills later appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen's comedy Don't Drink the Water as the Sultan of Bashir's wife.
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Donna Mills left the series in 1970 and relocated to the West Coast, thereupon making her primetime TV debut in an episode of the Western series, Lancer.
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In 1971, Donna Mills starred alongside Clint Eastwood and Jessica Walter in the psychological thriller film Play Misty for Me, directed by Eastwood for Universal Pictures.
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Donna Mills appeared in The Love Boat S1 E11 vignette "Silent Night" as Lila Barton, who stands by her wrongly imprisoned husband, played by John Gavin.
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Donna Mills starred as a leading actress in a number of made-for-television movies through the 1970s.
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In 1979, Donna Mills returned to the Midwest to star opposite Joe Namath in a stage production of Picnic by the Kenley Players of Ohio.
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Donna Mills knew that he wanted a female JR Ewing-esque character.
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Unapologetically going after what she wanted, Donna Mills' character engaged in affairs with two of the husbands on the Knots Landing cul-de-sac, but like most vixens on primetime soaps, she was only out for money, not love.
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In 1989, Donna Mills announced her intention to leave the long-running nighttime soap after nine years as Abby.
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Donna Mills played the leading roles in the made-for-television movies He's Not Your Son, Intimate Encounters, Outback Bound and The Lady Forgets.
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Donna Mills returned to Knots Landing for its final episode in 1993, and again for the reunion miniseries Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac in 1997.
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Donna Mills guest-starred in the television sitcoms The John Larroquette Show, Dream On, High Society and Rude Awakening.
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In 2014, Donna Mills made her return to daytime soap operas, for the first time since 1970.
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Donna Mills was cast in a major recurring guest-starring role on ABC's General Hospital.
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At the 42nd Daytime Emmy Awards, Donna Mills won Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series for her performance in General Hospital, in a three-way tie with Fred Willard and Ray Wise.
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In 2015, Donna Mills starred in the POP reality series Queens of Drama about a group of former stars who now produce a new primetime serial drama to star in.
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Donna Mills had a role in David O Russell's film Joy, which was released in December 2015.
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In 2017, Donna Mills was cast in the lead role of Daisy Werthan in the Colony Theatre's production of Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Driving Miss Daisy.
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In 2022, Donna Mills appeared in Jordan Peele's horror film Nope and received the Palm Springs International Film Festival Women In Film and Television's Above And Beyond Award.
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Donna Mills starred in the thriller film Abused alongside James Russo, Taryn Manning and Angie Stone.
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In 2023, Donna Mills was cast in the Ava DuVernay' biographical drama film Origin based upon Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.
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Later in 2023, Donna Mills starred alongside Loni Anderson, Morgan Fairchild, Linda Gray and her Knots Landing co-star Nicollette Sheridan in the Lifetime Christmas comedy film, Ladies of the '80s: A Divas Christmas.
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In 2025, Donna Mills reunited with KL co-stars Michele Lee and Joan Van Ark for the episodic podcast We're Knot Done Yet, available on streaming platforms such as Podbean and Spotify.
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Never married, Donna Mills had an on-again, off-again relationship with advertising executive Richard Holland for approximately 20 years beginning in 1979.
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Donna Mills dated Intimate Encounters co-star Clayton Norcross during a break from Holland.
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Donna Mills appeared in non-nude cover photographs for the October 1987 and November 1989 editions of Playboy.