Donna Mills, 81, Reveals Career Plans for the Future: 'I Don't Want to Stop'
At 81-years-old, Donna Mills isn't letting anything stop her from advancing her career!
The actress, best known for her role as Abby in soap opera Knots Landing, was recently cast for a part in Jordan Peele's upcoming film, Nope, with hopes that the small yet significant part will put her back on Hollywood's radar.
"I want to look to the future," she told The Daily Beast in a wide-ranging interview. "I'm not done yet," she stated, adding, “I have had a wonderful career so far. I do not see myself retiring. I want to work for as long as possible.”
Despite age, she's in a great position to do just that, as she divulged her dedication to healthy living and staying active by working out four or five times a week and playing tennis often.
Related: Why Daniel Kaluuya Isn't Returning for 'Black Panther 2'
After stepping away from work for full-time family life, the actress made it clear that she's ready to jump back into the industry, and has no plans to stop her passion of acting any time soon.
“I left the business for 18 years to raise Chloe,” Mills said of her adopted daughter, now 27. “I didn’t want to work when she was little, to be out of town for two months at a time. Once she was in school, I didn’t want to take her out of school. I wanted to be a mom and loved every minute of it. When she went off to college, I was like, ‘OK, what do I do now.’ I love interior design, and then thought, ‘Shoot, I’ll have to go to college to train for that.’"
She then recalled getting offered a spot on General Hospital, which allowed Mills to win a Daytime Emmy for her role as Madeline Reeves from 2014-15 and 2018, as well as her "fun" reality show stint on Queens of Drama in 2015.
Mills worked on a few projects before the COVID-19 pandemic, re-enlisting her old manager, Larry Thompson, whom she worked with at the height of her fame in the '80s, to better position her for landing future roles.
Related: We Ranked the 101 Best Thrillers of All Time, From Psycho to Parasite
“The year before the pandemic I did five independent movies and two independent series, but the reason I re-hired Larry was because I wanted to bring an awareness of me back as an actor who was working again. I don’t want to stop. Not at all. I seriously love acting," she said. "I love creating a character and creating a role. Now I’m trying to get back to a ‘network’ level, whatever ‘network TV’ means these days. There are a lot of opportunities for women of my age. As Larry says, ‘We have to get you back into the conversation.’ That’s what we’re attempting to do now—so people think about me when they’re casting.”
Knots Landing filmed over 14 seasons between 1979 and 1993, and Mills' glamorous portrayal of character Abby catapulted her to superstardom in the '80s. The drama's 344 episodes along with TV movies is still remembered and beloved by its passionate fan base, though at the time went relatively overlooked because of rivaling successes Dynasty and Dallas.
Before her hiatus, Mills also appeared in Clint Eastwood's Play Misty for Me, as well as '90s films False Arrest and Dangerous Intentions.
Next, The 75 Best Psychological Thrillers of All Time, From Gone Girl to The Lost Daughter
