Bella Donna

[Mysterious Benefactor]

A new Donna McKechnie article in which she actually mentions DS:

"I ... had an acting role on 'Dark Shadows'; they killed me off when I went into 'Company' with an avalanche of Styrofoam boulders and it was live on tape," she said, "so they just left me there, ass-backwards and buried in this stuff, while they went on to the next set."

Bella Donna

[ClaudeNorth]

<lol> From the subject line, I thought this was going to be about Stevie Nicks...

I find it rather ironic that Donna, who is not exactly beloved among DS fans for her work on the show, went on to have such a significant stage career.  Clearly, Dan Curtis saw something in her, but I guess he and the writers didn't quite know how to make the most of that something.  Odd, considering that even the lesser talents on DS managed to have their moments.

[Raineypark]

I find it rather ironic that Donna, who is not exactly beloved among DS fans for her work on the show, went on to have such a significant stage career.

But the two mediums are so different from one another.  Television is small and intimate.  The Broadway stage is large and the performances larger-than-life.  Some performers can make the switch with ease.  Others are obviously better suited to one rather than the other.

Who knows how perfect she'd have been for the show if DC had come up with a story line that involved a bunch of broke Broadway Gypsies being stranded at Collinsport on their way back from a stint of Summer Theatre in Maine......

[Connie]

..."so they just left me there, ass-backwards and buried in this stuff, while they went on to the next set."

A fitting ending in the minds of some, I would imagine.
Oddly, she never bothered me the way she does some people.    Never thought much about her one way or the other - particularly Amanda Harris.
BUT.....that Olivia Corey.....  those last couple of shows with her and Quentin making their way through the "styrofoam" cave......       
Oy.....all her whining and screeching made me want to kick her in the head.

 

[jennifer]

It was a fitting end to Amanda/Oliiva if you ask me never had anything against Donna
she seemed to be a better singer/dancer!

jennifer

[D_Friedlander]

It was a fitting end to Amanda/Oliiva if you ask me never had anything against Donna
she seemed to be a better singer/dancer!

I thought she was very cute, back in those days, but then,  I never had much interest in the love-life of the "Q-Man", which seems to cause a lot of the negative comments.

They should have staged a singing and dancing contest between Amanda and Pans-ity in 1897.  McKechnie might not have been much of a dramatic actress at that early point in her career, but, IMO, she would have won this kind of competition.