Why did Shelley Fabares leave Donna Reed?

Shelley Fabares played the role of Mary Stone in the long-running family sitcom “The Donna Reed Show” from 1958 to 1966. She left the show in 1963 to pursue other acting opportunities.

However, she returned to the show periodically until its end in 1966. Donna Reed was an American actress well known for her portrayal of Mary Hatch Bailey in Frank Capra’s fantasy holiday film It’s a Wonderful Life.

Donna Reed replaced Barbara Bel Geddes as Miss Ellie Ewing Farlow in the 1984–1985 season of the television melodrama Dallas. Reed had a supporting role in Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) and in Wallace Beery’s The Bugle Sounds (1942).

Donna Reed played the role of a nurse in John Ford’s They Were Expendable (1945), opposite John Wayne. Donna Reed appeared in The Human Comedy (1943) with Mickey Rooney, Dr. Gillespie’s Criminal Case (1943), and The Man from Down Under (1943).

Donna Reed starred in See Here, Private Hargrove (1944) and Gentle Annie (1945), and was in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).