Donna Reed: 16 Facts About the 'It's a Wonderful Life' Star

Devoted mother and wife. Academy Award and Golden Globe winner. Sitcom star. Anti-war activist. All of this and more describes actress Donna Reed, who the general public will undoubtedly recognize from her roles in the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life and the long-running sitcom The Donna Reed Show, but who, as you’re about to discover, led a fascinating life.

She was born January 14, 1921 in Denison, Iowa, the eldest of five children. While a Sophomore at Denison High School, she was given the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by her chemistry teacher, the impact of which would reportedly lead her to the world of acting.

However, that wasn’t the original plan. Her intention was to actually become a teacher, but recognizing that her family didn’t have enough money to send her to college, she instead took the advice of an aunt and moved to California so that she could attend Los Angeles City College. And while acting still wasn’t what she was interested in pursuing, she did perform in a few of the school’s stage productions. From there … well, that would be telling. Just read on to learn more.

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1. Becoming ‘Campus Queen’ launched her career

Having decided to move to Hollywood, Donna Reed enrolled at Los Angeles City College, which is where she entered a beauty contest and was crowned “Campus Queen.” As noted, she also became a part of the drama departed and started to perform in front of audiences. Observes pop culture historian Geoffrey Mark, “Like out of a fan magazine of the 30s, an MGM talent scout saw her in a play at los Angeles City College and she got signed to a small MGM contract.”

Mary Ann Owen, one of Donna’s four children, muses, “I always feel that people don’t understand how intelligent she was and how she easily could have been a college professor if she hadn’t won that beauty contest at City College. It literally changed her life.”

2. MGM was the perfect fit for Donna Reed

Geoffrey questions what would have happened to Donna Reed if she hadn’t been taken in by MGM. “She just fit the MGM prototype,” he explains, “of the not-too-tall, beautiful Midwestern Protestant girl next door. That’s what MGM looked for and they found that in spades in Donna Reed.”

On top of that, MGM was the one studio that truly trained their young actors on how to wear fashion, proper elocution, how to walk, how to read lines, how to dance and how to sing. “All of this was done,” he says, “so that when they were put in front of a motion picture camera, they were ready. The director on the set didn’t have to waste time teaching them what to do. They already knew and were ready to make a movie.”

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