She began her television career in 1966 with a recurring role on The Secret Storm, and in the same year appeared on Broadway in Woody Allen's comedy Don't Drink the Water.

Mills played the female lead in the heist film Murph the Surf (1975), and had starring roles in a number of made-for-television movies during the 1970s.

Mills was born Donna Jean Miller in Chicago, to Bernice (née Lantz), a housewife,[2] and Ambrose, a computer analyst for Union Oil.

She completed one year of course work, then left to pursue a dancing career, gaining some stage experience in summer stock productions.

[3] Mills began her acting career on television playing a nightclub singer named Rocket on the Manhattan-based CBS daytime soap opera, The Secret Storm in 1966.

[7] Following this, she made her big screen debut in the neo noir crime-thriller film, The Incident (1967), co-starring alongside Martin Sheen, Beau Bridges, Ed McMahon and Thelma Ritter.

In the fall of 1967, Mills gained a regular role as ex-nun Laura Donnelly on the new CBS daytime soap opera, Love is a Many Splendored Thing.

[8][9] During 1971–72, she starred in the short-lived sitcom The Good Life with Larry Hagman, who later guest-starred on Knots Landing as J. R. Ewing from the show's sister series Dallas.

[5] She signed a contract with Universal in 1972 and spent much of the 1970s appearing as a guest on top-rated television shows such as Gunsmoke, The Six Million Dollar Man, Hawaii Five-O, CHiPs, The F.B.I., Quincy, M.E., the UK's Thriller series, Police Woman, and Fantasy Island.

She appeared in The Love Boat S1 E11 vignette "Silent Night" as Lila Barton, who stands by her wrongly imprisoned husband, played by John Gavin (1977).

In 1975, she starred as the eponymous character's suicidal girlfriend in the American International Pictures heist film Murph the Surf opposite Don Stroud and Robert Conrad, based on a real jewel burglary involving surfer Jack Roland Murphy.

[12] In 1979, Mills returned to the Midwest to star opposite Joe Namath in a stage production of Picnic by the Kenley Players of Ohio.

While viewers may identify more with the protagonist, the villains in a serial drama always spice things up, cause trouble, and make it more fun to watch.

From tongue lashings to catfights, underhanded tricks to boldface lies, the characters we love to hate have each brought a fair share of great moments to primetime soaps.

Unapologetically going after what she wanted, Mills' character engaged in affairs with two of the husbands on the Knots Landing cul-de-sac, but like most vixens on primetime soaps, she was only out for money, not love.

She played the leading roles in the made-for-television movies He's Not Your Son (1984), Intimate Encounters (1986), Outback Bound (1988) and The Lady Forgets (1989).

In the mid-to-late-2000s, Mills appeared in various television movies such as Love Is A Four Letter Word in 2007 and Ladies of the House alongside Florence Henderson and Pam Grier in 2008, as well as guest appearances in series such as Cold Case (in a provocative role as a woman who seduces her grandson) and Nip/Tuck (guest-starring with fellow Knots Landing star Joan Van Ark).

[26] The following year, she starred in the thriller film Deadly Revenge produced by MarVista Entertainment, and played a psychologist in the independent comedy-drama When Life Keeps Getting In The Way.

The ladies were required to work together in front of and behind the cameras as they developed, pitched, and produced their steamy series with the hopes of landing a pilot deal by the end of the season.

[41] Also that year, she played a leading role in the Pure Flix streaming drama series, Hilton Head Island.

[42] In 2019, she starred alongside Dyan Cannon and Crystal Hunt in the Pure Flix comedy series Mood Swings.

[51] Never married, Mills had an on-again, off-again relationship with advertising executive Richard Holland (former husband of singer Chaka Khan) for approximately 20 years beginning in 1979.