Background
She was born Donna Arlene Atwood on February 14, 1925 in Newton, Kansas, to pharmacist Chester Atwood and Allie Atwood, his wife.
She was born Donna Arlene Atwood on February 14, 1925 in Newton, Kansas, to pharmacist Chester Atwood and Allie Atwood, his wife.
The family moved to Albuquerque before relocating to Los Angeles when she was 9. She died on December 30, 2010, aged 85, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Donna began taking dancing lessons at age 3.
That same year, John H. Harris, operating owner of the Ice Capades, offered her a contract with his show.
She signed with the Ice Capades at age 16, and within a year she was its star, billed as "The Queen of the Ice". She toured with the show for fifteen years, giving over 6,000 performances in two dozen venues.
She was so famous that newspaper headlines of the day referred to her only as "Donna". On her farewell tour, she starred in a production of Peter Pan, making her entrance flying above the audience.
She often spoke of it as her favorite role.
Donna Atwood retired from the role of lead skater in 1956 at age 31, moving into a custom-built Beverly Hills home complete with a piano that folded into the wall. She made a single television appearance in 1961 as Phyllis Merrill in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Renegade Refugee." (pairs with Eugene Turner).
