Trivia

Had a key role in the critically lauded film Sweet Smell of Success (1957) as Tony Curtis' secretary, but her role was cut extensively, including a big romantic scene with Curtis that might have reignited her movie career.

Lived in Towson, MD during her youth and was a 1938 graduate of the Towson Senior High School.

Close friends with Gloria Grahame.

Upon her death, she was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea in the Pacific Ocean.

Had two children with her (much older) first husband Bill Anderson: Michael Phineas (nicknamed Mickey Finn), born in 1942, and Sarah Jane (Sally), born 1947.

She is prominently featured as a character in the mystery novels, "Dead in the Shadows", "Dead on Their Trail", "Dead During Intermission", "Dead by Any Means" by John Dandola.

Her favorite movie was Gone with the Wind (1939).

She was a staunch Republican who gave much of her time and money towards various conservative political causes. She attended several Republican National Conventions, galas, and fund-raisers, and she was active in the campaigns of Thomas E. Dewey, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.

Donnell was born in South Windham, Maine, to Harold and Mildred Donnell, when her father was superintendent at a boys' reformatory in that town. As a child, she adopted the nickname "Jeff" after the character in her favorite comic strip, Mutt and Jeff. To avoid gender confusion, she was sometimes billed as "(Miss) Jeff Donnell.".