Donna Barrell

Donna Barrell (born Teresa Luisa Michelena, June 26, 1889 – April 5, 1941) was an American screenwriter and actress active primarily during the silent era.

Donna was born in Detroit, Michigan, to opera singers Fernando Michelena^[1] and Catherine Maddock;^[2] her father was from Venezuela, and her mother was from England.^[3] Her parents split when she was young, and her father had two daughters, actresses Vera Michelena and Beatriz Michelena, from his marriage to the soprano Francis Lenord (1867–1912).^[4] She grew up primarily with her mother and stepfather.^[5]

As a young woman, she developed an interest in acting, and she married fellow actor Walter Hitchcock; the two began working in the early motion picture industry on the East Coast before Hitchcock died of an illness in 1917.^[6] She wrote films like The Love Master and A Certain Young Man during the 1920s under the name Donna Barrell; she also made uncredited appearances in a number of films. She died in Los Angeles in 1941; she had no children with Hitchcock or her second husband, Joseph Barrell.

As screenwriter:

• Merrily Yours (1933)
• A Certain Young Man (1928)
• The Love Master (1924)
• Captain Jinks' Cure (1917)

As actress:

• The Love Master (1924)
• Life's Shop Window (1914)
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914)