Elinor Donahue
Acting • Born 1937-04-19
Biography
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."
Filmography
86 credits
Pretty Woman
Movie • 1990
Bridget
Doctors' Private Lives
Movie • 1978
Mona Wise
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Movie • 1991
Orphanage Woman
Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas
Movie • 1977
Betty Anderson
Singing Guns
Movie • 1950
Little Girl (uncredited)
Love Is Better Than Ever
Movie • 1952
Pattie Marie Levoy
Tea for Two
Movie • 1950
Dear God
Movie • 1996
Elinor Donahue
Police Story: No Margin for Error
Movie • 1978
Gidget Gets Married
Movie • 1972
Medley Blaine
The Unfinished Dance
Movie • 1947
Josie (as Mary Eleanor Donahue)
Three Daring Daughters
Movie • 1948
Alix Morgan
Mulligan's Stew
Movie • 1977
Jane Mulligan
And Now Tomorrow
Movie • 1944
Janice
Her First Romance
Movie • 1951
Lucille Stewart
Mister Big
Movie • 1943
Muggsy
In Name Only
Movie • 1969
Esther Garrity
Dick Clark's Good Old Days
Movie • 1977
Going Berserk
Movie • 1983
Margaret Anderson
Girls' Town
Movie • 1942
Bit Role (uncredited)
Tenth Avenue Angel
Movie • 1948
Cynthia (uncredited)
Winter Wonderland
Movie • 1946
Betty Wheeler
The Happy Years
Movie • 1950
Connie Brown
Just an Overnight Guest
Movie • 1983
The Father Knows Best Reunion
Movie • 1977
Betty Anderson
Girls Town
Movie • 1959
Mary Lee Morgan
High School U.S.A.
Movie • 1983
Mrs. Franklin
My Blue Heaven
Movie • 1950
Mary (uncredited)
Honeymoon Lodge
Movie • 1943
Janie Thomas
An Old-Fashioned Girl
Movie • 1949
Maud Shaw (as Mary Eleanor Donahue)
Imitation of Life
Movie • 1959
Lora's Friend
Star Trek: Inside the Roddenberry Vault
Movie • 2016
Self
No Earthly Reason
Movie • 1984
Mrs. Morrison
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Movie • 2004
Lady Palimore
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within
Movie • 2001
Rebecca Quinn Dickinson
The Andy Griffith Show
TV • 1960
Ellie Walker
Murder, She Wrote
TV • 1984
Connie Lewis
Star Trek
TV • 1966
Commissioner Nancy Hedford
Ellen
TV • 1994
Delores Warwell
The Rookies
TV • 1972
The Odd Couple
TV • 1970
Miriam Welby
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Rowena
Friends
TV • 1994
Aunt Lillian
The Golden Girls
TV • 1985
Katherine
The Flying Nun
TV • 1967
Dr. Jennifer Ethrington
Cold Case
TV • 2003
Esther 'Legs' Davis (2005)
Diff'rent Strokes
TV • 1978
E! True Hollywood Story
TV • 1996
Eek! The Cat
TV • 1992
Mom (voice)
Hotel
TV • 1982
Happy Days
TV • 1974
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
TV • 1993
Rebecca Quinn
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Carol Madsen
Get a Life
TV • 1990
Gradys Peterson
Many Happy Returns
TV • 1964
Redigo
TV • 1963
The Eleventh Hour
TV • 1962
Dennis the Menace
TV • 1959
Battle of the Network Stars
TV • 1976
The New Adventures of Beans Baxter
TV • 1987
Susan Baxter
Police Story
TV • 1973
Father Knows Best
TV • 1954
Betty Anderson
S.W.A.T.
TV • 1975
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Carole Cole
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
TV • 1951
Occasional Wife
TV • 1966
Mulligan's Stew
TV • 1977
Jane Mulligan
Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961
Sharon Calloway
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
TV • 1969
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Debbie Waring
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
TV • 1950
Emily Vanderlip Foster
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Betty Anderson
Condominium
TV • 1980
Audrey Ames
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Janey
CHiPs
TV • 1977
Elnor Donahue (uncredited)
The Brothers Brannagan
TV • 1960
Diane
One Day at a Time
TV • 1975
The Love Boat
TV • 1977
Mrs. Van Buren
Police Woman
TV • 1974
Ellie Tarlow
Herman's Head
TV • 1991
Mrs. Fitzer
Coach
TV • 1989
Lorraine
Have Gun, Will Travel
TV • 1957
Letty Mae Stinchcomb
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Laura Holt
Barnaby Jones
TV • 1973
Judy Corbett
The Merv Griffin Show
TV • 1962
Self
$weepstake$
TV • 1979