Donna Mills

Born: December 11, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois, USA

[Who created her character that became part of prime-time soap history]: Having created her and played her all this time, there’s a great deal of me in Abby, and a lot of her has crept into me. I think some of the ambition and some of the guts that she has as a character I’ve kind of taken on. She helped me in a lot of ways.

I played so many of those. That’s the reason I like to play Abby. I got tired of playing the victim. You’re constantly reacting to things that are happening to you rather than making things that are happening to you rather than making things happen. It’s a more active role. Abby keeps things stirred up, and I like that.

[About Knots Landing (1979)]: People don’t tune in Knots Landing to see our gowns…