Early life

Mills was born Donna Jean Miller in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Bernice, a dance teacher, and a market researcher father. She attended Garvey Elementary School and Taft High school. After being double-promoted at Garvey, she graduated from Taft at an early age. From there Mills attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was a member of Delta Gamma sorority. She completed one year of course work, then left to pursue a dancing career, gaining some early stage experience when she danced in summer stock productions. Her first professional acting role was in a production of Come Blow Your Horn at the Drury Lane Theater, Chicago. She later was cast in a touring production of My Fair Lady, which brought her to New York City.

Career

Early career

Mills began her acting career on television with a six-month stint on the CBS daytime soap opera The Secret Storm in 1966, playing the character of "Rocket." Following this, she made her film debut in The Incident (1967), co-starring alongside Martin Sheen, Beau Bridges, Ed McMahon, and Thelma Ritter. She appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen's comedy, Don't Drink the Water, as the Sultan of Bashir's wife.

In the fall of 1967, she gained a regular role as ex-nun Laura Donnelly on the soap Love is a Many Splendored Thing. She was a cast member for three years, until she left the series in 1970 and moved to California. In 1971, Mills co-starred in the popular thriller Play Misty for Me, with Clint Eastwood and Jessica Walter.

During 1971-72, she starred in the short-lived sitcom The Good Life with Larry Hagman who later guest-starred on Knots Landing as J. R. Ewing from the show's sister series Dallas. Prior to signing up a contract for Universal Studios in 1972, she spent much of the 1970s appearing as a guest on top-rated television shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man, Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, CHiPs, The F.B.I., Quincy, M.E., the UK's Thriller series, Police Woman and Fantasy Island, as well as many made-for-TV movies.

Knots Landing

In 1980 Mills landed her most prominent role — that of scheming, manipulative vixen Abby Cunningham on the long-running primetime soap opera Knots Landing. Mills portrayed Abby from 1980-1989. Prior to being cast in Knots Landing, Mills was primarily known for playing the "damsel in distress" archetype in both film and television media. The actress became somewhat famous for playing these roles, often leading to unwanted typecasting. In an interview with Jerry Buck for the Toledo Blade, Mills said: "I got tired of playing the victim. It's a more active role. Abby keeps things stirred up, and I like that." According to Jacobs, Abby was not planned when the show began. He knew that he wanted a female J.R. Ewing-esque character. However, he had a different sense of the character and who would wind up in the role. With Mills' reputation of playing the victim, he initially didn't choose her for the part.

Josh Mapes of The Biography Channel listed her in the category "10 Primetime Stars We Love to Hate". He said, "Any great soap opera needs a great villain. While viewers may identify more with the protagonist, the villains in a serial drama always spice things up, cause trouble, and make it more fun to watch. From tongue lashings to catfights, underhanded tricks to boldface lies, the characters we love to hate have each brought a fair share of great moments to primetime soaps. While Larry Hagman played the bad guy on Dallas, Donna Mills played bad girl on its spin-off, Knots Landing. Unapologetically going after what she wanted, 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."

In 1989, Mills announced her intention to leave the long-running nighttime soap after nine years as Abby. According to Mills, she wanted to take a break from acting for a while, and from Abby as well.

In an interview with The Cedartown Standard, Mills explained: "I'm tired of the show. It's been too long. I'm not particularly happy with the way they've been writing Abby lately. She's too soft. I'd like Abby to get back to her old self." For this role, she won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villainess on three occasions, in 1986, 1988 and 1989.

1990-present

After Knots Landing, Mills concentrated on television movies, four of which she co-produced: The World's Oldest Living Bridesmaid (1990), Runaway Father (1991), In My Daughter's Name (1992) and My Name Is Kate (1994). She 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. In between she had a brief recurring guest role as Jane Mancini (played by Josie Bissett)'s mother on Melrose Place.

Mills continued to appear on television in TV movies and guest roles. In 2005 she reunited with the Knots Landing cast for the non-fiction special, Knots Landing Reunion: Together Again, in which the stars reminisced about the show. In more recent years, Mills has appeared in various television movies such as Love Is A Four Letter Word in 2007, and Ladies of the House in 2008, as well as guest appearances in series such as Cold Case (in a provocative role as a woman who seduces her grandson) and Nip/Tuck (guest-starring with fellow Knots Landing star Joan Van Ark). In 2012, she made a guest appearance on GCB as Bitsy Lourd and appeared as a guest judge on the reality series RuPaul's Drag U.

In 2014, Mills made her return to daytime soap operas, for the first time since 1970. She was cast in a major recurring guest starring role in the ABC soap opera General Hospital. She debuted in mid March and recurred to May. Later in that year, she returned for another multiple episodes-arc. At the 42nd Daytime Emmy Awards, 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

On October 7, 2014, it was announced that Mills will star 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. The ladies will be required to work together in front of and behind the cameras as they develop, pitch, and produce their steamy series with the hopes of landing a pilot deal by the end of the season.

Mills had a role in David O. Russell's film Joy, which was released in December 2015. Also in 2015, she starred in the holiday comedy-drama, 12 Gifts of Christmas.

Personal life

Mills has never married, but has one daughter, Chloe, whom she adopted in late 1994 when Chloe was four days old.

Outside of acting Mills released The Eyes Have It in 1986, an instructional video for achieving several different make-up looks. She went on to release her own line of cosmetics of the same name. She appeared in cover-featured (non nude) pictorials for the October 1987 and November 1989 editions of Playboy.

TV and filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1966	The Secret Storm	Rocket
1967	The Incident	Alice Keenan
1967-1970	Love Is a Many Splendored Thing	Laura Donnelly Elliott	Series regular
1970	Love, American Style	Ellie	1 episode
1970	Lancer	Lucy	1 episode
1971	Play Misty for Me	Tobie Williams
1971-1972	The Good Life	Jane Miller	Series regular, 15 episodes
1972	Haunts of the Very Rich	Laurie
1972	Rolling Man	Bebe Lotter
1972	Night of Terror	Linda Daniel
1973	Gunsmoke	Cora Sanderson	Episodes: "A Game of Death... An Act of Love: Part 1" and "A Game of Death... An Act of Love: Part 2"
1973	The Bait	Tracy Fleming
1974	Live Again, Die Again	Caroline Carmichael
1974	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Bea Averton	Episode: "A Fevered Angel"
1974	McMillan & Wife	Laura Rainey	Episode: "Buried Alive"
1975	The Six Million Dollar Man	Liza Leitman	Episode: "The Cross-Country Kidnap"
1975	Who Is the Black Dahlia?	Susan Winters
1975	Live A Little, Steal A Lot	Ginny Eaton
1975	Hawaii Five-O	Marcia Bissell	Episode: "Murder: Eyes Only'"
1975	Beyond the Bermuda Triangle	Claudia
1976	Police Woman	Tamee Swanson	Episode: "Mother Love"
1976	Quincy, M.E.	Roberta Rhodes	Episode: "A Star Is Dead"
1976	Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby	Ellen
1976	Smash-Up on Interstate 5	Laureen
1977	Bunco	Frankie	TV pilot
1977	Fire!	Harriett Malone
1977	Curse of the Black Widow	Leigh Lockwood
1977	The Hunted Lady	Susan Reilly
1977	The Oregon Trail	Lizzie	Episode: "The Scarlet Ribbon"
1978	Superdome	Lainie Wiley
1978	Doctors' Private Lives	Dr. Beth Demery
1978	The Love Boat	Jeannie Carter	3 episodes
1979	Hanging by a Thread	Ellen Craig
1979	Fantasy Island	Cindy Carter	Episode: "The Chain Gang/The Boss'"
1979	Young Maverick	Lila Gates	Episodes: "Dead Man's Hand: Part 1" and "Dead Man's Hand: Part 2"
1980	Waikiki	Cassie Howard
1982	Bare Essence	Barbara Fisher
1984	He's Not Your Son	Kathy Saunders
1985	Alice in Wonderland	The Rose
1986	Intimate Encounters	Julie Atkins
1988	Outback Bound	Samantha 'Sam' Hollings
1980-1989, 1993	Knots Landing	Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner	Series regular, 236 episodes
1989	The Lady Forgets	Rebecca Simms/Julie Black
1990	The World's Oldest Living Bridesmaid	Brenda Morgan
1991	Runaway Father	Pat Bennett
1991	False Arrest	Joyce Lukezic	Based on true story
1992	In My Daughter's Name	Laura Elias
1992	The President's Child	Elizabeth Hemming
1993	Remember	Nicky Wells
1994	My Name Is Kate	Kate
1994	Dream On	Ashlyn	Episode: "Martin Tupper in 'Magnum Farce'"
1995	Dangerous Intentions	Beth Williamson
1995	An Element of Truth	Vanessa Graves
1996	The Stepford Husbands	Jodi Davison
1996-1997	Melrose Place	Sherry Doucette	4 episodes
1997	Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac	Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner	TV miniseries
1998	Moonlight Becomes You	Maggie Holloway
2000	Rude Awakening	Linda	Episode: "Star 80 Proof"
2004	A Very Cool Christmas	Mrs. Claus
2006	Jane Doe: Yes, I Remember It Well	Polly Jameson
2007	Cold Case	Lauren Williams	Episode: "Blackout"
2007	Love Is a Four Letter Word	Margot Harper
2008	Ladies of the House	Elizabeth
2009	Dirty Sexy Money	Cameo appearance	Episode: "The Facts"
2008-2010	Nip/Tuck	Lulu Grandiron	Episodes: "Lulu Grandiron" and "Christian Troy II"
2012	GCB	Bitsy Lourd	Episode: "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"
2014-2015	General Hospital	Madeline Reeves	Special guest star
2014	Deadly Revenge	Evelyn
2014	When Life Keeps Getting In The Way	Dr. Goldstein
2015	12 Gifts of Christmas	Joyce Rehnquist
2015	Joy	Priscilla

Awards and nominations

Year	Film / Television	Award	Category	Result
1986	Knots Landing	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Actress in a Leading Role on a Prime Time Serial	Nominated
1986	Knots Landing	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Villainess: Prime Time	Won
1988	Knots Landing	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Villainess: Prime Time	Won
1989	Knots Landing	Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Villainess: Prime Time	Won
2015	General Hospital	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series	Won

Charities

Donna Mills supports the following charitable cause: Environment.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]