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Donna Mills sheds vamp image and takes on new comedy role By JERRY BUCK The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Donna Mills sheds her vamp image in a CBS movie in which she plays a successful lawyer who loses so many secretaries to wedding bells that she finally hires a man for the job. Of course, she ends up seeking her own wedding bells after she falls in love with him. “The World’s Oldest Living Bridesmaid,” to be shown Friday, is the first of a four movie deal between CBS and Mills, who spent nine years as temptress Abby Ewing on CBS’ “Knot’s Landing.” She left the se ries last season. “She’s been a bridesmaid in so many weddings,” Mills said of her character in the CBS movie. “She’s never been married, and until now she hasn't ever wanted to get married. Finally, she meets the right guy and falls in love. The problem is he’s on a lower social and economic order and he’s younger. “He has no problem dealing with that, but she does. He works as a secretary be cause he’s an artist and sculptor who's nev er sold anything. I go to London to try an international case and take my secretary with me — that’s where the romance be gins.’ Joe Scanlon directed the movie on loca tion in Toronto and London from a script by Janet Kovalcik. It co-stars Ann Magnuson and Brian Wimmer, a regular on ABC's “China Beach.” “IT was known as a vamp primarily from ‘Knots Landing,’ ” Mills said. “I didn't do any movies like that. I didn’t want to get eople forget I used to do comedy ... I didn’t want to get typecast as a comedy actress, but then I was typecast as a dramatic actress.’ Donna Mills typecast as the vixen. But I think most peo ple know me from ‘Knots.’ They know that I can do that well. But they don’t know if I can do other things. I hope to prove it.” Mills said she has had talks about doing another series, and would prefer to do a half-hour one. ‘People forget I used to do comedy,” she said. “Larry Hagman and I did ‘The Good Life’ on NBC in 1971-72. After that, I was offered only comedy. I didn’t want to get typecast as a comedy actress, but then I was typecast as a dramatic actress.” : Mills credits Burt Reynolds with launching her career. She did a guest part on his series “Dan August” and his recom mendation to Clint Eastwood got her a role in “Play Misty For Me.” The other movies she has in development for CBS are “Runaway Father,” “Lipstick on His Collar” and “Into the Darkness.” She’s also working on a television movie titled “West End,” which would focus on three women in an emerging cable televi sion empire — a young anchorwoman, a talk show hostess and an ambitious televi sion news producer. The latter character would be played by Mills. If that’s not enough, she’s involved in a number of other projects — on both sides of the camera. She currently is raising money for a six-to eight-hour miniseries she wants to produce called “A Pride of Royals.” “We'll film it in Russia in a co-produc tion with the Soviet Union,” she said. “They'll provide services such as hotels, transportation, the cameras, the horses and equipment. They’re very anxious to do that sort of thing. “It's based on a novel by Justin Scott about an attempt by King George V of En gland and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany to get Czar Nicholas II out of Russia before the Communist Revolution. It’s a real ad venture story. The only American in it will be a Naval commander. He falls in love with a Russian ballerina. “I don’t think it will go to a network,” she said. “They’re not very big on costume dra ma. Mills may take a role in another miniseries, to be based on a book by Barbara Taylor Bradford and filmed in Eu rope. She turned down the lead because it would require three months overseas, she said. In addition, the actress is developing a television series called “Riverside Drive” in which she would not appear. “We'll shoot it in New York because the look is important to the story,” she said. “It’s about five families who live on River side Drive and are linked together by their Hispanic maid. They'll all be from different economic levels.” On the domestic front, Mills is busy hav ing her house painted to look like Claude Monet’s home in Giverny, France. “It’s pink with green shutters and white trim,” she said. “It’s a very country house It was white, and it needed to be painted. One of my hobbies is doing over houses.” The Associated Press Donna Mills plays a lawyer who hires a male secretary and falls in love with him.
Newspaper Details
Burlington Times News
Burlington, North Carolina, US
Tue, Sep 18, 1990
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
George N.
CA 12 Feb 2026
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