Jean Peters

She died of Leukemia in 2000. 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. Peters remarried after divorcing Hughes, and returned to acting with a few roles on television. 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. She would state only that she had not seen Hughes for several years before their divorce. The Donna Reed Foundation for the Performing Arts was organized after her death in 1986. The usually-paranoid Hughes surprised his aides when he did not insist on a confidentiality agreement from Peters; aides reported Peters was one of the few people Hughes never disparaged. Peters refused to discuss her life with Hughes, and declined several lucrative offers to do so. 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.

She agreed to a lifetime alimony payment of US$70,000 annually, adjusted for inflation, and she waived all claims to Hughes' estate. She sued the show's production company and received an undisclosed seven-figure settlement. In 1971, Peters and Hughes divorced. When Bel Geddes was well enough to return to the role, Reed was fired. She retired from acting during the marriage. In her later years she temporarily replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie in the television series Dallas in the 1984-1985 season. In 1957, Peters married Howard Hughes, shortly before he faded from public view and became an eccentric recluse. She won an Academy Award for playing a prostitute in From Here to Eternity.

He thought Peters had the right blend of sex appeal and the tough-talking, streetwise characteristics he was seeking, and that Monroe was too innocent looking for the role. 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. Director Samuel Fuller chose Peters over Marilyn Monroe for the part of Candy in 1953's Pickup On South Street. Donna Reed (January 27, 1921 - January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Her first film, 1947's Captain from Castile with Tyrone Power was a hit, and Leonard Maltin writes that afterwards Peters spent the new decade playing "sexy spitfires, often in period dramas and Westerns." [1] (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0676492/bio). After competing in a beauty contest in 1946, Peters went to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.

Elizabeth Jean Peters (born October 15, 1926 in Canton, Ohio, died October 13, 2000) was an American actress.