Nobody on General Hospital celebrated the life of the late Madeline Reeves…especially not the daughter she drugged into a coma and robbed of a child. Luckily, the same can’t be said of actress Donna Mills, who is celebrating her own special milestone today.
Happy Birthday, Donna Mills
And that’s because she was born on December 11, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois, which means that this much-beloved performer is turning 83 years old today! Mills made her professional acting debut in a production of Come Blow Your Horn, staged at the Drury Lane Theater in Chicago. Afterward, she was cast in a touring production of My Fair Lady.
In 1966, Mills landed her first television role: Rocket, a character on the daytime soap opera The Secret Storm. The next year would prove to be a banner one for Mills, as she not only appeared in her first film — The Incident — but she also had a part in Woody Allen’s Broadway show, Don’t Drink the Water, and she gained a regular role on the soap opera Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.
The latter project, which was a televised continuation of the same-titled 1955 feature, saw Mills play Laura Donnelly, a novice nun who abandoned the order to battle her sister (played by future General Hospital co-star Leslie Charleson) for a man’s affection.
Mills remained in the role for three years before deciding to relocate to the West Coast and try her luck in Hollywood. In 1971, she co-starred opposite Clint Eastwood and Jessica Walter in the thriller Play Misty for Me — a film that served as Eastwood’s inaugural directorial effort.
As the 1970s progressed, Mills continued to rack up acting credits. She starred in a short-lived sitcom with Larry Hagman called The Good Life (1971-1972) and guest-starred on series such as The Six Million Dollar Man (1975), Hawaii Five-O (1975), Police Woman (1976), The Love Boat (1978), and multiple installments of the UK anthology series Thriller (1973, 1974, 1975).
In 1980, Mills assumed her most prominent role: Abby Cunningham, Knots Landing’s schemer de jour. She played the character for nine consecutive years, then returned for its series finale and a subsequent mini-series continuation.
Mills’ other roles include Sherry Doucette on Melrose Place (1996-1997), Lulu Grandiron, a plastic surgery addict on Nip/Tuck (2008-2010), and Madeline Reeves on General Hospital (2014-2015, 2018). For her work on the latter, Mills shares a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Guest Performer with Fred Willard and Ray Wise.
Soap Hub would like to wish Donna Mills a very happy birthday, and you can, too, by clicking on the X (formerly known as Twitter) link below. Also, share your favorite memory of her work or if you’ve met her personally in the comments section.
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