Donna Mills built a career portraying women who enter a room and instantly shift the atmosphere. On the prime-time soap Knots Landing, she played Abby Cunningham — Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner, if you’re keeping score — the ambitious troublemaker who never felt the need to pretend she was nice. Years later on General Hospital, she slipped into the role of Madeline Reeves, a polished antagonist who could smile sweetly while quietly steering everything her way. Mills recently sat down to share a mix of behind-the-scenes from both shows, plus some Hollywood side quests that seem fake until you remember it’s Donna Mills.
Key Takeaways
- Donna Mills discussed her iconic roles on Knots Landing and GH.
- She pushed to audition for Knots to break away from being cast as the “good girl.”
- Mills said Abby worked because the character showed vulnerability in private while remaining strong in public.
- She praised the cast and crew of GH, noting the fast pace of modern soap production.
- Mills recalled winning a Daytime Emmy for GH despite feeling overwhelmed by the show’s demanding schedule.
- She also shared early Hollywood stories, including being cast opposite Clint Eastwood in Play Misty for Me.
Abby Was Never Just a Villain
Mills joined Soapy and immediately made it story time. She explained how, on Knots Landing, she fought to change from being cast as the good girl to playing Abby, the role that finally let her show her teeth.
She explained why she pushed so hard to read for Knots even after producers told her it wasn’t necessary. As she put it, “Because they knew I was a goody two-shoes.” Mills wanted to break away from the endless cycle of playing victims and instead show women who were ambitious, capable, and in control of their own stories.
Mills also discussed how Knots Landing avoided turning Abby into a caricature. The writers added depth to her, allowing her vulnerability to show—typically in private and not as a performance for others. Abby remained strong in public, and this choice kept her human rather than just being “evil on wheels.” (Find out about Mills’ time on Dr. Odyssey.)
GH Pace, Emmy Surprise, and Real Soap Work
Mills moved to GH and loved the cast and crew, but the rapid pace of the machine-driven production still overwhelmed her. She compared the old New York soap schedule, where rehearsal and pacing created a more comprehensive acting experience, to modern daytime shows, where everything had to move quickly.
She admitted she drove home some days thinking, “What did I do today? I don’t even know.” And then the punchline arrived anyway: she won an Emmy for Madeline Reeves, the kind of irony soaps serve hot.
Along the way, she shared some industry lore that really grabs your attention: she met Clint Eastwood the night before shooting Play Misty for Me and reacted like a normal person with a pulse, saying, “Huh? What? How did I do that?” She also stayed honest about staying active as life gets busy, because “Sometimes the workout is really a pain in the ass,” but she still did it, and the discipline showed.
