TV mom Donna Reed’s onetime Beverly Hills home sells

A Beverly Hills house that looks like a beloved TV mom would live there has sold for $4.08 million. The gracious Southern Colonial was once the home of actress Donna Reed, who played a housewife and mother in a sitcom bearing her name starting in the late ’50s.

The rambling two-story was built in 1938 and designed by architect William Gage, who with his partner Harry G. Koerner designed the Spanish Colonial Revival-style Beverly Hills City Hall.

Beyond the broken-pediment front door and columned front porch lie nearly 5,000 square feet of living space. Among the rooms are a two-story foyer, a formal dining room, living and family rooms, six bedrooms and five bathrooms.

The half-acre landscaped lot includes rear patio space, lawn and a keyhole-shaped swimming pool.

Reed, who died at age 64 in 1986, played opposite Jimmy Stewart in Frank Capra’s 1946 classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” and won an Oscar for her role in “From Here to Eternity” (1953). “The Donna Reed Show” ran from 1958 to 1966.

The property previously sold in 1996 for $980,000.

Bruce Walker and Bryan Walker of Rodeo Realty were the listing agents. Judson Rothschild of the same firm represented the buyer.