She was 82.
Shelley Fabares, an actor who was a fixture on television for decades from her days as a young teenager on “The Donna Reed Show,” through “One Day at a Time” and “Coach,” has died.
In the late 1970s, Fabares made an impression as Francine Webster on the CBS sitcom “One Day at a Time. She also played James Caan’s wife in “Brian’s Song. During that time she also got a recording contract and had two Top 40 hits including “Johnny Angel.
Her biggest break came when she was cast as Mary Stone on “The Donna Reed Show,” where she was a regular from 1958 through 1963. In the early 1960s, she also co-starred in three movies with Elvis Presley : “Girl Happy,” “Spinout” and “Clambake. One of her biggest roles came when she was cast as Christine Armstrong in “Coach,” although the show took a minute to find its audience.
Fabares was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1944, and started acting as a young child. Her first television credit came at age 10 when she appeared on “The Loretta Young Show. No cause was given. “Donna Reed was simply an extraordinary woman, a woman of great strength, kindness, integrity and compassion. I am not trying to make her sound like a saint, but she had the most profound influence on me. We will miss her deeply — not only as a celebrated performer, but as the loving and extraordinary person she was in our everyday lives.”
She died Saturday in Los Angeles, her family said in a statement to The Associated Press. Many movies and television shows followed: She acted with Paul Newman , Frank Sinatra and Eva Marie Saint in a Producers Showcase production of “Our Town”; was in the Rosalind Russell movie “The Girl Rush” and the Rock Hudson drama “Never Say Goodbye. Other early credits include “Annette,” “Captain Midnight” and the “Black Leather Jackets” episode of “The Twilight Zone. “I think the years on ‘The Donna Reed Show,’ the years from 14 to 19, were so incredibly important,” Fabares told the Los Angeles Times in 1993. “I did always feel from the very beginning if they could find the right spot for us, this was a show that would last,” she said in the 1993 Los Angeles Times interview. Her family, in their statement, said “we will remember Shelley for her kindness, loyalty, wit, courage, and beautiful spirit.
I carry her with me today.
