With the shows we grow up to love and cherish, we can’t help but wonder if the characters portrayed on-screen become friends off-screen. With “The Donna Reed Show” lasting for 8 years, it was only natural that the whole cast became very close, proving that the show has not only impacted Donna Reed’s career but also her personal life.
The two cast members that became particularly close with Donna Reed were Paul Petersen and Shelley Fabares. They both played her children in the show, but outside of the show, they have been reported to frequently visit her at her home, even decades after the show had ended. Some friendships really do last forever!
Her Softer Side
Donna Reed has also used her popularity for good things. One of these was during World War II. Donna Reed occasionally wrote letters to soldiers during her free time to give them moral support and keep their spirits up while they were fighting. She was praised for these good and thoughtful deeds and has earned more love from her fans.
Surprisingly, some soldiers were able to write back to her. Donna Reed treasured these letters from the soldiers and kept them. In 2009, to the surprise of many, a box was found in Donna Reed’s garage which contained a total of 341 letters from the soldiers that she wrote to back in the day.
A "Jill" of All Trades
As we have mentioned, Donna Reed was very much like her character on the show. She was also a loving wife and mother to her family and let's not forget, she was also an exemplary homemaker! This just proves how important her family is to her and how she has managed to balance her life as a mother and as an actress.
While Donna Reed was best known for her acting talents, she was also known to make wonderful recipes, some of which can be found online. For example, the recipe for her bundt cake is very simple as it was designed for mothers like her. The ingredients required were just four eggs, lemon cake mix, lemon pudding mix, a cup of water, and half a cup of oil.
Conservative Turned Liberal
Donna Reed never shied away from expressing her political views and ideologies. She was a conservative and was a registered Republican for most of her life. Being the trendsetter that she was, her fans watched as her political views shifted and she consequently reevaluated their own political views and beliefs.
During the late 1960s, the war in Vietnam took place and Donna was a strong opponent of conflict. Because her personal views on war deviated from her original political party, she had gradually become more liberal. She campaigned against the war while serving as the co-chair of an anti-war organization called Another Mother for Peace.
Mad Men Featuring Donna Reed
"The Donna Reed Show" was not only one of the most popular family television programs of that era, it's still referenced in many other shows today! You can see the cast watch the show in "Gilmore Girls", and it has also been prominently featured on the AMC hit series “Mad Men”, an American period-drama hit television series.
"Mad Men" is also set in the 1960s and one of the ways that the writers and producers gave the show that 1960s feel, was by having their characters constantly be shown watching "The Donna Reed Show". What an authentic addition, as there was likely not a home in America that didn't tune in to the show at that time.