Donna at Rockfeller Center, 2006
Donna at Rockfeller Center, 2006
One of the things I’ve always wanted to do was share with you a snippet of information here and there about some of the most wonderful people it has been my privilege to know through book publishing.
Since I just found some pictures of Donna Mills in a box labelled “2006 MISC” then that’s who I will start with.
Most people think I met Donna while working on the Knots Landing book back in the early 80′s. Actually, the way we met was she read Riverside Drive and thought it would make the best mini series for TV and optioned it. The next thing I knew I was on a plane and sitting in her kitchen, talking about everything under the sun. She was acutely bright, extremely gracious and very funny.
She tried every which way to Sunday to get Riverside Drive made but it never reached end game. But what a learning experience it was and what a great teacher I had. (Where else could I learn about the California authorities notifying an actress that an inmate who thought her character on TV was cheating on him had escaped?)
Over the years she listened to some of the messier problems in my personal life and was never judgemental, only really, really smart.
Before the end of the year Benedict Canyon will be coming back into print. For those of you who never read it, think Riverside Drive in Beverly Hills. (In the meantime, the unabridged audio version is still very much alive and kicking. *) The book is dedicated to Donna.
She came to motherhood later than most women and her daughter and immediate family are very much the center of her life. To watch someone who has worked so hard and so successfully for so long in such a grueling business transcend into such a joyous family person has been wonderful.
Which brings me to these pictures I found. Who knew that Donna Mills had been a champion speed skater as a teenager? Certainly I didn’t. Ballerina yes, speed skater, no. And so when I suggested we take her daughter ice skating in Rockefeller Center I thought we would just sort of wobble around and laugh a lot. Good grief, Donna got on that ice and you have never seen so many people held spell-bound around the rink as that afternoon. I mean, she skates like an angel.
“Hey, it’s Sherri from Melrose Place!” someone called from the gallery.
“Knots Landing!” another voice called.
“The nun on Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” said the lady clutching the wall next to me.
“She’s my mother,” Chloe said to the lady. A grin. “And she skates GREAT!”
Rockefeller Center, 2006
Wonderful memories! Thanks for sharing!