| Donna Barrell | |
| Birth Name: | Teresa Luisa Michelena |
| Birth Date: | June 26, 1889 |
| Birth Place: | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Death Date: | April 5, 1941 (aged 51) |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other Names: | Mrs. Walter Hitchcock |
| Occupation: | Screenwriter, actress |
| Spouse: |
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| Relatives: | Beatriz Michelena Vera Michelena (half-sisters) |
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:
As actress: