Old Hollywood has a way of looking pretty glamorous in hindsight. Ask Donna Mills about some of the auditions, though, and the picture gets a whole lot darker. During the August 24 episode of the Creators Inc. Podcast, the “Knots Landing” star sat down with host Andy Bachman and recalled what breaking into acting looked like for a young woman in New York, years before she became one of television’s most famous villains.
“You walk into the audition, and it’s in somebody’s apartment. It’s not a studio,” she explained. “And you look at the script and all of a sudden you’re supposed to be taking off your clothes, and then they start trying to paw you and stuff like that. It happened to me more than once when I was first starting out.”
When Bachman pointed out that “the feds would be on it quick” if the same thing happened today, Mills didn’t hesitate. “Yeah,” she agreed.
What she remembers just as clearly is how quickly the embarrassment turned inward. “As a young woman, you’re embarrassed,” she continued. “You go, ‘Why did I even go to that place? Why didn’t I think of this before this happened?’”
Now, she has no trouble putting the blame where it belonged. “There were a lot of guys back then that should have been taken off the streets,” she added.
Susan Sarandon And Jane Seymour Recall Their Own Disturbing Encounters
Mills was hardly the only woman coming up in that era who learned to be wary of what could happen behind a closed door. Susan Sarandon has recalled an early New York audition where a man “practically threw” her onto a desk, while Jane Seymour said a “major producer” once summoned her to his home to watch a screen test, only for her to arrive and find him there alone.
Sarandon described the encounter as “really disgusting” and said the man’s attempt was unsuccessful. The actress did not identify him or reveal which role she had been pursuing at the time, but said the incident occurred during her early days of attending auditions in New York.
Seymour’s experience reportedly had an even longer-lasting effect on her career. The actress said she had traveled to Hollywood for a screen test when another producer expressed interest in casting her in a separate movie. Her agent and the producer connected to the project she had already auditioned for were reportedly excited about the opportunity, but Seymour found no one at the producer’s home when she arrived.
Jane Seymour Says The Encounter Nearly Ended Her Acting Career
After showing Seymour her screen test, the producer allegedly told her he had already convinced everyone that she was perfect for his movie before suggesting it was her turn to do something for him. When Seymour said she believed her responsibility was to deliver another strong screen test, he allegedly placed his hand on her thigh.
Seymour pulled away and asked to leave, but the producer allegedly warned her not to tell anyone she had been at his home or risk never working again. She said the experience left her terrified and caused her to step away from acting for an entire year. “It stopped me from being an actress a whole year, and I could’ve quit the profession completely,” Seymour recalled, explaining just how deeply the encounter affected her.
Donna Mills Says Her ‘Knots Landing’ Role Changed Everything
For actresses trying to break in, apparently figuring out whether the audition was actually an audition could be part of the job.
Things looked different once Mills was playing Abby Cunningham, the ruthless blonde who spent nine seasons wreaking havoc on the “Knots Landing” cul-de-sac. “Most of the men seemed to be a bit scared of me because she was such a strong woman,” she noted. “They wouldn’t try anything with me.”
The role put Mills at the center of one of primetime’s biggest soaps. The “Dallas” spinoff ran for 14 seasons on CBS, climbed as high as No. 9 in the Nielsen rankings and is now streaming again on Prime Video and Plex.
Her fans, however, aren’t only finding her there.
Donna Mills Is Already Earning ‘Many Six Figures’ On OF
On July 30, Mills announced that she had joined OF with Creators Inc., the management company run by Bachman, who also serves as her manager. “I’ve always appreciated the incredible support and encouragement I’ve received from my fans over the years. Social media has been a wonderful way to stay connected, but I’m excited to join OF because it offers the opportunity for a more personal and direct connection,” she said in a statement to Variety.
That connection appears to be paying off. During their conversation, Bachman said Mills is already doing “many six figures” on the platform, just weeks after joining.
It’s familiar territory for the industry veteran, whose Creators Inc. has increasingly helped established stars turn longtime audiences into direct-to-fan businesses. He managed Shannon Elizabeth’s OF launch, which grossed more than $1.2 million in its first week, and has also worked with names including Jaime Pressly, Denise Richards and Carmen Electra.
“Everyone in this space has been monetizing attention,” Bachman told Entrepreneur earlier this year. “Almost nobody’s been monetizing access.”
