
Elinor Donahue
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."
Filmografi
Pretty Woman1990 · Bridget
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement2004 · Lady Palimore
No Friends2025 · Aunt Lillian
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare1991 · Orphanage Woman
Imitation of Life1959 · Lora's Friend (uncredited)
In Name Only1969 · Esther Garrity
Just an Overnight Guest1983 ·
My Blue Heaven1950 · Mary (uncredited)
Dick Clark's Good Old Days1977 ·
Her First Romance1951 · Lucille Stewart
High School U.S.A.1983 · Mrs. Franklin
Doctors' Private Lives1978 · Mona Wise
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within2001 · Rebecca Quinn Dickinson
Tea for Two1950 ·
An Old-Fashioned Girl1949 · Maud Shaw (as Mary Eleanor Donahue)
Dear God1996 · Elinor Donahue
Going Berserk1983 · Margaret Anderson
Star Trek: Inside the Roddenberry Vault2016 · Self
Love Is Better Than Ever1952 · Pattie Marie Levoy
Gidget Gets Married1972 · Medley Blaine
Singing Guns1950 · Little Girl (uncredited)
And Now Tomorrow1944 · Janice
The Father Knows Best Reunion1977 · Betty Anderson
Girls Town1959 · Mary Lee Morgan
Hank Azaria
Héctor Elizondo
Larry Hankin
Larry Miller
Tracy Reiner
Judith Baldwin
Scott Marshall
June Gable
Steve Restivo
Anne Hathaway
Johnny Depp
Jean-Claude Van Damme