In Carol of the Bells, Mills played the role of Helen Harris. “It was a wonderful experience. It really was. When I took the role, I just read the script and I thought it was nice and I told them that I really wanted to do it. I didn’t know anything about the circumstances, where 70 percent of the crew was special needs. At first, I thought it would be a challenge, but it turned out to be a wonderful, really life-affirming experience,” she said.
“Joey Travolta is a doll. I love Joey and RJ Mitte is an amazing guy. I love him,” she added. “Joey devoted his life to this profession and this cause, and he wanted to make a feature film with it and he did it. I think this was such an accomplishment, and at its screening, everybody was sobbing. I’ve never been a screening where this happened before.”
She praised the set of Carol of the Bells for being incredible. “It was amazing to come to work every morning and everyone there was so happy, and happy to be there, and determined to do their very best. It was really wonderful,” she said.
Whenever she is presented with any script, Mills tends to work from the inside out. “When you work from the inside out, you hit the emotional component and the words just follow,” she said.
Mills also played the role of Madeline Reeves, the onscreen mother of Michelle Stafford’s character Nina Reeves (at the time), on General Hospital from 2014 to 2018, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award for “Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series,” as part of a three-way tie that year. “That was really fun,” she admitted.
Speaking of General Hospital, the show just celebrated its 57th anniversary and she praised the cast for being “a really great group.”
For young and aspiring actors, she encouraged them to “study.” “If you’re just going after it to be a star, then forget it. If you’re going after it because you love the art (you love to act and emote), then I would recommend a career in acting,” she said.
She described her role as Abby Cunningham in Knots Landing as a career-defining moment. “I was fortunate enough to play that role for nine years and I really got to be creative with it. That was a lot of fun and one of my favorites. To this day, most people think of me for that role,” she said.
On being an actress in the digital age, she said, “It is weird. When I did Knots Landing, we would get audiences of 60 to 70 million in one night because there were three networks at the time, and most of them were watching us because we did very well in the ratings. These days, people are happy if they get one million viewers. Things are so different, and the turnover is so much faster these days. I am glad that I had the experience and the success when I did because it was very rewarding back then, and I don’t think it’s quite as rewarding now. It’s a whole different kettle of fish.”
Earlier this year, Donna Mills, as well as actresses Joan Van Ark and Michele Lee were interviewed by respected entertainment personality Michael Fairman about the 40th anniversary of Knots Landing. His interview with these three veteran actresses may be seen below.
In her spare time, she enjoys spending it in the vineyard. “We have a small vineyard right behind our house, and we have been working in the vineyard every day,” she said.
She defined the word success as “fulfillment.” “You feel fulfilled if you are successful, but the thing about success is that you are always chasing it. You need to do it again and again. Savor when you have it if you are lucky enough to have it,” she said.
Mills encouraged all of her fans to go out and see Carol of the Bells. “First of all, it’s a good movie, and it’s very touching. If a movie can really touch your emotions and your psyche, then that’s great. It opens people’s eyes to what people with different abilities can do,” she said.
Carol of the Bells is available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Google Play, YouTube, Vudu, and DirectTV, among others. Carol of the Bells is available on DVD by clicking here.
Read More: Carol of the Bells garnered a favorable review from Digital Journal.
