Elinor Donahue

DOB: 1937-04-19

DOD: -

Mary Eleanor Donahue (born April 19, 1937), credited as Elinor Donahue, is an American actress, best remembered today for playing the role of Betty Anderson, the eldest child of Robert Young and Jane Wyatt, on the 1950s American sitcom Father Knows Best. Donahue achieved stardom for her role as the elder daughter, Betty, on the television family series Father Knows Best. Her co-stars were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Billy Gray as her younger brother, James "Bud" Anderson, Jr., and Lauren Chapin as her younger sister, Kathy. Donahue was a musical judge in ABC's Jukebox Jury (1953–54). While in the first season of Father Knows Best she also appeared on The Ray Bolger Show, starring Ray Bolger as a song-and-dance man. Thereafter, she was cast with James Best, Ann Doran, and J. Carrol Naish in the 1956 episode "The White Carnation" of the religion anthology series, Crossroads. She guest starred on an episode of U.S. Marshal. She also appeared as a new bride in the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show episode titled "The Newlyweds" that aired April 2, 1956. She played Georgiana Balanger in the episode "Dennis and the Wedding" (1960) on Dennis the Menace.[5] Donahue was also cast, in 1960, with Marion Ross in an episode ("Duet") of The Brothers Brannagan. She played Miriam Welby on ABC's The Odd Couple, Jane Mulligan on Mulligan's Stew, and Nurse Hunnicut on Days of Our Lives. She was featured in 12 episodes of CBS's The Andy Griffith Show as pharmacist Ellie Walker, even getting a mention in the opening credits. The character was intended to be a love interest for Sheriff Andy Taylor, but after one season (1960–1961), Donahue decided to ask for a release from her three-year contract.[6] In 1963, Donahue was cast in an episode of NBC's short-lived modern Western series, Redigo, with Richard Egan as the rancher Jim Redigo; then in 1964, she appeared as Melanie in "The Secret in the Stone" in the NBC medical drama dealing with psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour, starring Jack Ging and Ralph Bellamy. Additionally, on February 9, 1963, she played Letty May in the episode "The Burning Tree" on Have Gun Will Travel. In the 1964–65 season, Donahue costarred as Joan Randall, the daughter of Walter Burnley, played by John McGiver, on the CBS sitcom, Many Happy Returns about the complaint department of a fictitious Los Angeles department store. She guest-appeared on Star Trek in the second-season episode "Metamorphosis" (1967) as commissioner Nancy Hedford. In 1966, she guest starred on the TV series A Man Called Shenandoah, episode 8, "Town On Fire."

Starred In

1990
Movie

Pretty Woman

1950
Movie

Singing Guns

1950
Movie

Tea for Two

1996
Movie

Dear God

1977
Movie

Mulligan's Stew

1944
Movie

And Now Tomorrow

1951
Movie

Her First Romance

1943
Movie

Mister Big

1969
Movie

In Name Only

1983
Movie

Going Berserk

1942
Movie

Girls' Town

1948
Movie

Tenth Avenue Angel

1946
Movie

Winter Wonderland

1950
Movie

The Happy Years

1959
Movie

Girls Town

1983
Movie

High School U.S.A.

1950
Movie

My Blue Heaven

1943
Movie

Honeymoon Lodge

1959
Movie

Imitation of Life

1984
Movie

No Earthly Reason

1966
Tv

Star Trek

1994
Tv

Ellen

1972
Tv

The Rookies

1977
Tv

The Love Boat

1994
Tv

Friends

2003
Tv

Cold Case

1992
Tv

Eek! The Cat

1982
Tv

Hotel

1974
Tv

Happy Days

1990
Tv

Get a Life

1963
Tv

Redigo

1973
Tv

Police Story

1975
Tv

S.W.A.T.

1962
Tv

The Virginian

1961
Tv

Dr. Kildare

1977
Tv

The Love Boat

1980
Tv

Condominium

1977
Tv

CHiPs

1977
Tv

The Love Boat

1974
Tv

Police Woman

1991
Tv

Herman's Head

1989
Tv

Coach

1973
Tv

Barnaby Jones