Basic Information
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Donna Leigh Drake (also credited as Leigh Drake, Donna Lee Drake, Donna Marie Drake, Donna Leigh Scott) |
| Date of birth | December 13, 1945 |
| Place of birth | Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress (1970s–1980s), Business director (court reporting agency) |
| Notable films | Track of the Moon Beast (1976), The Return of the Living Dead (1985) |
| Spouses | Elliott B. Drake Jr. (earlier marriage); Timothy Scott (married July 7, 1979 – June 14, 1995) |
| Children | One child (with Timothy Scott; name and details not public) |
| Current location (reported) | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| Public presence | Low-profile; minimal social media or recent press |
Biography Overview
Donna Leigh Drake was born on December 13, 1945, in Minneapolis and emerged in film during the 1970s, a period when low-budget genre pictures often served as laboratories for offbeat talent. She stepped into the limelight through regional auditions in New Mexico and landed parts that would become cult curiosities. Her screen life reads like a brief, bright comet across the midnight sky of horror and science fiction cinema — visible, memorable to a niche, then gone.
By the mid-1980s Drake’s on-screen appearances had tapered. Instead of chasing marquee billing, she redirected her energy toward business: she assumed leadership of a court reporting agency in Albuquerque. That professional pivot suggests a deliberate retreat from public performance to steady, private enterprise. Her path illustrates a common post-Hollywood arc: a move from the performative to the procedural, from lights and takes to ledgers and management.
Family and Relationships
Donna’s personal life has largely stayed off public stages. The available outline centers on two marriages and a child whose details have been preserved from the public eye by choice.
| Family Member | Relationship | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
| Elliott B. Drake Jr. | First husband | Marriage preceded 1979; few public details available. |
| Timothy Scott (born Thomas Harmon) | Husband (July 7, 1979 – June 14, 1995) | Character actor with extensive credits; married to Donna until his death from lung cancer in 1995; one child together. |
| Unnamed child | Child (with Timothy Scott) | Born during the 1979–1995 marriage; no public identifying details. |
Timothy Scott, born July 20, 1937, was a prolific character actor whose résumé included westerns, dramas, and stage work. The marriage to Drake lasted 16 years and produced their only publicly acknowledged child. Beyond that nucleus, records and public mentions are sparse — a family life protected from publicity rather than packaged for it. Friendship circles from Donna’s acting days reportedly included notable figures such as Robert Redford, a detail that hints at the social orbit she briefly inhabited.
Career and Achievements
Donna Leigh Drake’s cinematic footprint is compact but genre-specific. Her first notable credit, Track of the Moon Beast (1976), is a low-budget sci-fi horror film shot near Albuquerque and emblematic of the regional productions that provided work for local actors in that era. Nearly a decade later she appears in The Return of the Living Dead (1985), a title that has since become part of a cult horror vocabulary. The roles were never numerous, but they were enough to knit her into fan conversations decades later.
| Year | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Track of the Moon Beast | Early genre role; filmed regionally near Albuquerque. |
| 1985 | The Return of the Living Dead | Part of a cult-classic zombie comedy-horror; one of her last notable screen credits. |
No major industry awards or public financial disclosures attach to her name. Her career is better measured by cultural afterlives — festival midnight screenings, forum threads, and the quiet curiosity of genre aficionados — than by box-office columns. After leaving acting, she became director of a court reporting agency still reported to operate in Albuquerque, a pragmatic and sustained second act that contrasts with the ephemeral glare of filmmaking.
Recent Mentions and Public Profile
In recent years Donna Leigh Drake’s presence in the public record has been faint. Mentions are primarily fan-driven, appearing in community posts and nostalgic threads rather than news outlets. For people who follow cult cinema, she is a figure to be rediscovered, not a headline-maker.
Her name occasionally collides with others — historical actress Dona Drake (1914–1989) or contemporary figures who share the Donna Drake nomenclature — producing confusion that further obscures the particulars of her life. Social media searches turn up few, if any, authoritative personal accounts, which aligns with a pattern of purposeful privacy: a life removed from daily public scrutiny and retained, instead, in the pockets of film history and personal memory.
The Shape of a Private Life
Donna Leigh Drake’s story models an old Hollywood metaphor: she is less a photograph in a marquee and more a cameo sketch in the margins of genre history. She passed from acting into a local business role; she married, parented, and protected family details from public consumption. Numbers — birth date, marriage date (July 7, 1979), years together with Timothy Scott (16 years), and the span of her two main film credits (1976 and 1985) — sketch a life measured in decisions rather than headlines.
Privacy, in Drake’s case, functions like a curated exhibit: what the public sees are a few artifacts — two films, a marriage to a known character actor, a business leadership role — while the rest remains behind a cordon. That arrangement suits many who once sampled the stage and then preferred the backstage.
FAQ
When and where was Donna Leigh Drake born?
Donna Leigh Drake was born on December 13, 1945, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
What are her best-known film roles?
Her most recognized credits are Track of the Moon Beast (1976) and The Return of the Living Dead (1985).
Who were Donna Leigh Drake’s spouses?
She was first married to Elliott B. Drake Jr. and later married character actor Timothy Scott on July 7, 1979.
Did Donna Leigh Drake have children?
Yes; she and Timothy Scott had one child, though the child’s name and personal details have not been publicly disclosed.
What did she do after acting?
She transitioned into business and served as director of a court reporting agency based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Is Donna Leigh Drake active on social media?
No active, verified personal social media presence has been identified; she maintains a low public profile.
Did she receive awards for her acting?
No major awards or industry honors are publicly associated with her acting career.
Are there recent news stories about her?
Recent mentions are limited to fan discussions and nostalgic threads rather than formal news coverage.
