Dallas Actors Out Donna Reed In Barbara Bel Geddes

[Justine]

The Capice/Katzmen didn´t like that demand (as usual, because a woman was making it!) and only agreed to the reduced hours part. Allegedly the agent answered back to the producers without consulting BBG, and they let her go.

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All this happened at Larry Hagman´s back. BBG did want to return, especially when she saw Donna Reed in the show trying to re-create her character after a Travilla makeover. Audiences disliked Reed´s "re-interpretation" of a Texan matriarch (oh why am I being so kind here...?) and the cast didn´t warm up to the actress either, with the exception of Susan Howard.

So Capice started his much-maligned scheme of discreetly luring BBG back (and diminishing Reed´s part to the minimum), and they wrapped up the season and sent everybody home. Reed went on a holiday to Urrop and she learnt about BBG´s return there, in the worst possible way, as we all know. BBG was in, Reed was out. Reed suited them and got a compensation, but she died soon after that.

So, from this thread I can only draw one conclusion (which I've always kind of known, anyway) - the Dallas producers were misogynistic pigs, who didn't understand how much pull their actresses had in terms of audience and viewer ratings, and these two women were unjustly pitted against one another.

I personally didn't mind Donna's performance. I've always understood Barbara was unwell, so it made more sense to me that Miss Ellie be re-cast, rather than disappear into the abyss until Barbara's return. This discussion does make me wonder what kind of chemistry there would have been had Donna still been Miss Ellie when fake-Jock Wes Parmalee arrived at Southfork...

 

[southfork88]

 

[southfork88]

 

[darkshadows38]

i like Donna Reed and she was brilliant in it's a wonder life, but when i watched her stint on Dallas back when Soap Net was still around i thought she was dreadfully awful on it and it really shocked me cause she's a really good actress. i do have that season on dvd actually and it's the last season i have until i get season 9 on dvd so sooner or later i will get to it. but for now i'm nearly done with Season 2 (DVD)

when i do get to season 8 if i'm not burnt out by Dallas by than which i hope and pray i'm not than maybe my opinion will change who knows? what really would have been a better Casting if they had Cast Larry Hagman's mom in the role instead. something tells me she would not have sued them like Donna Reed Did.

 

[TJames03]

She should have been on Dynasty because she was static acting at its best (worst?)....

 

[Taylor Bennett Jr.]

they might as well have replaced Larry Hagman as JR with Alan Alda dressed in army scrubs acting exactly like Hawkeye Pierce, or maybe Telly Savalas as John Ross “Kojak” Ewing - it would have been only mildly less jarring!

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

She should have been on Dynasty because she was static acting at its best (worst?)....

FALCON CREST, the same season, as Lana Turner's sister.

 

[Toni]

FALCON CREST, the same season, as Lana Turner's sister.

Or even better, as Eva Braun (she did look like her, sort of...) :

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[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I liked Donna Reed as Miss Ellie, she made a perfectly good stab at playing Miss Ellie.

What I don't like with hindsight is the shabby way Lorimar treated both her & Barbara Bel Geddes. Both of them deserved to be treated better.

 

[ClassyCo]

always felt it was a shame that Donna didn't played Ellie in the dream season - that, at least, could have been explained away as part of the dream.

Then you could simply just skip the Dream Season on a rewatch like the whole thing never even happened.

 

[Monzo]

A fun fact about the German dubbing of Miss Ellie: When Donna Reed joined the cast, Miss Ellie retained her original German voice, but when Barbara Bel Geddes returned, Miss Ellie had a new voice. The reason for this was a sad one: Miss Ellie's original voice actress Inge Landgut had passed away. Miss Ellie's new voice actress, Edith Schneider, however, had a history with Donna Reed, having been her German voice in Father Knows Best and various films starring Donna Reed.

 

[Seaviewer]

Father Knows Best

I think you mean The Donna Reed Show.

 

[Monzo]

I think you mean The Donna Reed Show.

Yes, you're right! The German title confused me: Mutter ist die Allerbeste (Mother Is the Very Best).

I have to admit that I'm not very familiar with sitcoms from the 50s and 60s, because only a few of them were shown in West Germany, and then usually not for very long—and, most importantly, they weren't repeated in later decades. So I only know most of them by name.

 

[Seaviewer]

That's interesting. I'd guess the German title was chosen as an answer or in reference to Father Knows Best which had started earlier.

 

[Monzo]

I'd guess the German title was chosen as an answer or in reference to Father Knows Best which had started earlier.

Your assumption is probably correct, because Father Knows Best's German title is Vater ist der Beste (Father is the Best). It premiered in 1958 in West Germany, and The Donna Reed Show followed four years later on the same channel. Perhaps they wanted to suggest that both sitcoms were somehow connected, as if the characters were from the same neighborhood.

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Then you could simply just skip the Dream Season on a rewatch like the whole thing never even happened.

Didn't matter. The dream season began Dallas' decline, although Season 10 was quite good and parts of season 12
were interesting