Alley Mills

Allison "Alley" Mills (born May 9, 1951), also known as Alley Bean, is an American actress best known for her role as Norma Arnold, the mother in the coming-of-age series The Wonder Years, and her current role as Pamela Douglas, the sister of the late Forrester matriarch Stephanie Forrester (Susan Flannery), on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful.

Alley Mills
Mills at the 1989 Emmy Awards with Dan Lauria
Born	(1951-05-09) May 9, 1951 Chicago, Illinois, United States
Other names	Alley Bean
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1965–present
Spouse(s)	Orson Bean ​ ( m. 1993; died 2020)

Life and career

Mills was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Ted Mills, was a television executive,[1] and her stepmother, Genevieve (Ginette Marguerite Auger), was an actress. Mills' mother, Joan (Paterson) Mills Kerr, was an author as well as an editor for American Heritage magazine, and her stepfather, Chester Kerr, was a director of Yale University Press. She has one sister, Hilary Mills Loomis, and one brother, Tony Mills.

Mills's husband was film, television, stage actor, and author Orson Bean. Bean was well known for being a long-term celebrity panelist of To Tell the Truth and Match Game. Mills (who is 23 years his junior) was Bean's third wife, and they were married from 1993 until his death in 2020.[2][3]

Her first acting role on television was in the short-lived comedy The Associates, where she played an attorney, opposite Martin Short.

Mills appeared on a special "Celebrity TV Moms" episode of the Anne Robinson version of The Weakest Link, in which she was the second contestant eliminated.

Mills had a recurring role in the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman as Marjorie Quinn, Dr. Michaela Quinn's sister. She previously appeared in the series as a saloon girl.

Mills joined the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful as Pamela Douglas, the estranged sister of Stephanie Douglas Forrester, in December 2006. She was put under contract, but after making only a handful of appearances, her character went insane, was confined to a mental hospital, and then disappeared from the show in March 2007. Mills reprised the role on recurring status in 2007 and 2008 and has been added to the opening credits as a contract player as of December 2008. In November 2019, it was reported that Mills was now off contract with the show.[4][5]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1970	Diary of a Mad Housewife	Women's lib girl
1983	Going Berserk	Nancy Reese
1984	Young Lust
2002	Jane White Is Sick & Twisted	Mom
2002	Never Get Outta the Boat	Jean
2004	Tricks	Ruth
2009	A Golden Christmas	Katherine Wright
2011	Satin	Rose Wells
2011	3 Holiday Tails	Katherine Wright
2014	Maybe Someday	Martha Donnelly	In post-production
2015	Appetite for Love	Tallulah Jones
2019	The Fiddling Horse	Ethel Truman	Feature Film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	The Waltons	Nancy	Episode: "The Obsession"
1979	Kaz		Episode: "They've Taken Our Daughter"
1979–1980	The Associates	Leslie Dunn	Main role (13 episodes)
1980	Rape and Marriage: The Rideout Case	Wanda	Movie
1981	A Matter of Life and Death	Allison Cross	Movie
1981	Lou Grant	Lisa	Episode: "Search"
1982	Making the Grade	Sara Conover	Main role (6 episodes)
1982	Hill Street Blues	Tracy Renko	Recurring role (4 episodes)
1983	Newhart	Professor	Episode: "Sprained Dreams"
1983	The Other Woman	Amy Vitelli	Movie
1983	Prototype	Dr. Rebecca Bishop	Movie
1985	The Atlanta Child Murders	Amy Kennear	Miniseries
1986	Maggie	Charlotte Farnsworth	Movie
1986	Moonlighting	Claire	Episode: "The Man Who Cried Wife"
1987	Mr. President	Pat	Episode: "Pilot"
1987	I Married Dora	Janine Desmond	Episodes: "Where There's a Will, There's No Way", "West Coast Story"
1987	Punky Brewster	Donna Deaton	Episodes: "Open Door, Broken Heart: Parts 1 & 2"
1988	To Heal a Nation	Sue, Stone Worker	Movie
1988–1993	The Wonder Years	Norma Arnold	Main role (105 episodes)
1989	I Love You Perfect		Movie
1990	ABC Afterschool Special	Linda	Episode: "Testing Dirty"
1992	Jonathan: The Boy Nobody Wanted	Carol Willis	Movie
1992–1994	Vicki!	Guest Host
1993	Tainted Blood	Mrs. Patterson	Movie
1993–1997	Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman	Marjorie Quinn	Recurring role; 11 episodes
1994	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Carol Oliver	Episode: "Love in the Dark Ages"
1994	Moment of Truth: Caught in the Crossfire	Royce Payne	Movie
1995	Family Reunion: A Relative Nightmare	Portia	Movie
1995	Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan	Julie Cresta	Movie
1998	Touched by an Angel	Liz	Episode: "Last Dance"
1999	Profiler	Amber Wiley	Episode: "Inheritance"
1999–2000	Popular	Robin John	Episodes: "Wild, Wild Mess", "Ch-Ch-Changes", "The Consequences of Falling"
2000	The Beach Boys: An American Family	Audree Wilson	Movie
2000	NYPD Blue	Sonya Morrow	Episode: "This Old Spouse"
2001–2005	Yes, Dear	Jenny Ludke	Recurring role; 5 episodes
2002	Girlfriends	Lynn's Mother	Episode: "Don't Leave Me a Loan"
2002–2003	Sabrina the Teenage Witch	Diana Spellman	Episodes: "The Whole Ball of Wax", "Soul Mates"
2003	Strong Medicine	Rhonda LaCouer	Episode: "Prescriptions"
2006–present	The Bold and the Beautiful	Pamela "Pam" Douglas	Main Cast
2019	Teachers	Joanna Bennigan	2 episodes

References

1. Monika Guttman. "Wonder casting: hippie to housewife". St. Petersburg Times. June 25, 1989. TV DIAL, 6.
2. "Veteran actor Orson Bean, 91, struck and killed by vehicle in Venice, friends say". KABC-TV. February 7, 2020.
3. "Celebrity Actor-comedian Orson Bean, 91, hit and killed by car in LA". Associated Press. February 8, 2020 – via Yahoo!.
4. Bowe, Jillian. "Alley Mills Off Contract at The Bold and the Beautiful". Daytime Confidential.
5. Young, Candace (November 7, 2019). "B&B's Alley Mills off Contract As Pam Douglas".

External links

• Alley Mills on IMDb