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 the Woody Allen comedy Don't Drink the Water.
30 Facts About Donna Mills
2.
Donna Mills made her film debut the following 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.
4.
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, and Ladies of the House.
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Donna Mills has one brother, Donald, who is 10 years her senior.
7.
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.
10.
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.
11.
Donna Mills later appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen's comedy Don't Drink the Water as the Sultan of Bashir's wife.
12.
Donna Mills left the series in 1970 and relocated to the West Coast, thereupon making her primetime TV debut in an episode of Western series, Lancer.
13.
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.
14.
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's 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.
18.
In 1989, Donna Mills announced her intention to leave the long-running nighttime soap after nine years as Abby.
19.
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.
23.
Donna Mills was cast in a major recurring guest-starring role in the ABC soap opera General Hospital.
24.
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.
25.
Donna Mills had a role in David O Russell's film Joy, which was released in December 2015.
26.
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.
27.
In 2022, Donna Mills appeared in the Jordan Peele's horror film Nope and received Palm Springs International Film Festival Women In Film and Television's Above And Beyond Award.
28.
Donna Mills starred in the thriller film Abused alongside James Russo, Taryn Manning and Angie Stone.
29.
Never married, Donna Mills had an on-again, off-again relationship with advertising executive Richard Holland during the 1980s and 1990s.
30.
Donna Mills appeared in cover-featured pictorials for the October 1987 and November 1989 editions of Playboy.