Donna Reed

The performing arts center was formerly an opera house built in 1914, and later rennovated into the Ritz Movie Theater where Donna Reed first fell in love with movies. Sarandon and Robbins are also noted for their involvement in liberal political causes. The non-profit organization grants scholarships for performing arts students, runs an annual festival of performing arts workshops, and operates The Donna Reed Center for the Performing Arts. Sarandon has three children: actress Eva Amurri (born 1985) by Franco Amurri; and John Henry (born 1989) and Miles (born 1992) by Robbins. The Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts was organized after her death in 1986. Her recent movies include Stepmom (1998), Anywhere But Here (1999), Cradle Will Rock (1999) (portraying Mussolini's mistress), and The Banger Sisters (2002). She died at age 64 in Beverly Hills, California from pancreatic cancer and was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Sarandon received four Academy Award nominations in the 1990s, finally winning in 1996 for Dead Man Walking.

She sued the show's production company and received an undisclosed seven-figure settlement. It was while filming that movie that she met actor Tim Robbins, with whom she established a relationship that continues to this day (as of 2004). When Bel Geddes was well enough to return to the role, Reed was fired. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for Atlantic City, but was still not a "household name" until the 1988 film Bull Durham. In her later years she temporarily replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie in the television series Dallas in the 1984-1985 season. That same year, she also played the female lead in The Great Waldo Pepper, opposite Robert Redford. She won an Academy Award for playing a prostitute in From Here to Eternity. She did not follow up on the success of that movie, taking roles in lesser films such as Lovin' Molly; it was five more years before she appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the cult classic.

Born Donna Belle Mullenger, Reed is probably best remembered for her roles as the wholesome housewife Donna Stone on American television's The Donna Reed Show and as Mary Bailey in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life. In 1970 she went to a cattle call for the film Joe with Chris and, although he did not get a part, Susan received the major role of the disaffected teen who disappears into the seedy underworld. Donna Reed (January 27, 1921 - January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Born Susan Abigail Tomalin in New York, New York, she attended The Catholic University of America in 1964, where she met and married fellow student Chris Sarandon, whom she would divorce fifteen years later while still retaining her married name as her stage name. Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an Academy Award winning American actress. 1982 Nominated Atlantic City.

1992 Nominated Thelma and Louise. 1993 Nominated Lorenzo's Oil. 1995 Nominated The Client. 1996 Won Dead Man Walking.