Donna Reed's Impactful Role in It's a Wonderful Life

Donna Reed's Portrayal of Mary

Donna Reed portrayed Mary in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life at a surprisingly young age, which the actress would later describe as the most difficult role of her career. Frank Capra’s 1946 Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life remains one of the most inspiring and important movies of all time, with much of the film’s long-lasting success being attributed to the timeless performances of its cast. In telling the life story of George Bailey and his romance with Mary Hatch leading up to his existential crisis on Christmas Eve 1945, It’s a Wonderful Life’s impact largely rests on the chemistry and accomplishments of stars James Stewart and Donna Reed. Over a decade before starring in her own 1950s sitcom The Donna Reed Show, actress Donna Reed won the iconic girl-next-door role of Mary Hatch in It’s a Wonderful Life. Mary is featured every step of the way as the angels recount the boyhood, adolescence, adulthood, and parenthood experiences of George Bailey, with the pair’s relationship blossoming from childhood crushes to a married couple with four young children. Mary is ultimately just as important to It’s a Wonderful Life’s inspiring themes and story as George himself, and the impact of the role becomes all the more impressive given how young Donna Reed was in Frank Capra’s movie.

A group of people gathered around inside a house with Christmas decorations in It's A Wonderful Life

Born in January 1921, Donna Reed was only 25 years old when filming It’s a Wonderful Life in 1946. Reed had made her credited film debut just five years prior in The Get-Away, which would be followed by 16 more credited film roles before the release of It’s a Wonderful Life. According to TCM, the actress had come to the attention of director Frank Capra for her performance as courageous Navy nurse Sandy Davyss in John Ford’s 1945 war movie They Were Expendable. The 25-year-old Reed was soon paired opposite Jimmy Stewart for It’s a Wonderful Life, though the actor was over 12 years her senior.

James Stewart and Donna Reed in It's a Wonderful Life

Despite being 25 years old while filming It’s a Wonderful Life, Donna Reed portrays Mary Hatch Bailey from the time the character is 18 years old to 35 years old. Meanwhile, Jean Gale plays Young Mary, who is around nine years old in It’s a Wonderful Life’s early flashbacks. Reed plays Mary throughout the character’s most formative years, beginning with her reunion with 21-year-old George Bailey at her high school graduation party. Reed continues to portray Mary when she returns from college and marries George four years later, when the couple has their first child two years later, and throughout the war years until the fateful night on Christmas Eve 1945. By It’s a Wonderful Life’s ending, Reed is playing a character 10 years older than herself.

Mary as a librarian in It's a Wonderful Life

Only a few months after It’s a Wonderful Life’s December 1946 premiere, Donna Reed reprised her role as Mary Hatch Bailey for the Lux Radio Theater’s 1947 production of It’s a Wonderful Life. The radio show also brought back legendary movie star James Stewart as George Bailey, with the episode being aired on March 10, 1947. The radio version of It’s a Wonderful Life is only about an hour long, which is significantly cut down from the 1946 movie’s two-hour-and-10-minute-long runtime.

James Stewart as George Bailey with his family on the It's a Wonderful Life poster.

Challenges and Legacy

While Donna Reed would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 1953’s From Here to Eternity, she cited It’s a Wonderful Life as the most difficult movie she had ever made. Following the actress’s death in 1986, several of Donna Reed’s obituaries (via The Chicago Tribune) quoted her as saying It’s a Wonderful Life was “the most difficult film I ever did. No director ever demanded as much of me [as Frank Capra].” Both professionally and personally, It’s a Wonderful Life was a taxing production on Reed with difficulties that didn’t stop after filming commenced.

Its a Wonderful Life George Mary Rain

Donna Reed’s daughter, Marry Anne Owen, later elaborated to Closer Weekly that the 25-year-old actress experienced plenty of tension on set, with James Stewart then blaming Reed for It’s a Wonderful Life flopping at the box office. It’s a Wonderful Life initially only earned approximately $3.3 million against a $3.2 million budget, whereas the general rule of thumb is that a film needs to double its original cost to break even. Stewart apparently couldn’t wrap his head around why the movie failed commercially, so he placed the blame on Reed for not being as well known at the time. Consequently, Reed and Stewart never made another movie together after It’s a Wonderful Life.

It's A Wonderful Life Mary and George (James Stewart) at Bailey Building & Loan

Despite being a difficult production and box office failure, It’s a Wonderful Life remained a film that Donna Reed was proud of later in life. Her daughter recalled that Reed was “happy” when the movie was released and took joy in the subsequent popularity that It’s a Wonderful Life earned before she passed away. According to her daughter, Reed and her family would watch It’s a Wonderful Life every Christmas, much like many still do today.

Mary and Pete Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life.