Elinor Donahue

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."

Cast

Pretty Woman

(Bridget)

Doctors' Private Lives

(Mona Wise)

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

(Orphanage Woman)

Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas

(Betty Anderson)

Singing Guns

(Little Girl (uncredited))

Love Is Better Than Ever

(Pattie Marie Levoy)

Tea for Two

Dear God

(Elinor Donahue)

Police Story: No Margin for Error

Gidget Gets Married

(Medley Blaine)

The Unfinished Dance

(Josie (as Mary Eleanor Donahue))

Three Daring Daughters

(Alix Morgan)

Mulligan's Stew

(Jane Mulligan)

And Now Tomorrow

(Janice)

Her First Romance

(Lucille Stewart)

Mister Big

(Muggsy)

In Name Only

(Esther Garrity)

Dick Clark's Good Old Days

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within

(Rebecca Quinn Dickinson)

Going Berserk

(Margaret Anderson)

Girls' Town

(Bit Role (uncredited))

Tenth Avenue Angel

(Cynthia (uncredited))

Winter Wonderland

(Betty Wheeler)

The Happy Years

(Connie Brown)

Just an Overnight Guest

The Father Knows Best Reunion

(Betty Anderson)

Girls Town

(Mary Lee Morgan)

High School U.S.A.

(Mrs. Franklin)

My Blue Heaven

(Mary (uncredited))

Honeymoon Lodge

(Janie Thomas)

An Old-Fashioned Girl

(Maud Shaw (as Mary Eleanor Donahue))

Imitation of Life

(Lora's Friend)

Star Trek: Inside the Roddenberry Vault

(Self)

No Earthly Reason

(Mrs. Morrison)

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

(Lady Palimore)

The Andy Griffith Show

(Ellie Walker)

Murder, She Wrote

(Connie Lewis)

Star Trek

(Commissioner Nancy Hedford)

Ellen

(Delores Warwell)

The Rookies

The Odd Couple

(Miriam Welby)

The Love Boat

(Rowena)

Friends

(Aunt Lillian)

The Golden Girls

(Katherine)

The Flying Nun

(Dr. Jennifer Ethrington)

Cold Case

(Esther 'Legs' Davis (2005))

Diff'rent Strokes

E! True Hollywood Story

Eek! The Cat

(Mom (voice))

Hotel

Happy Days

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

General Electric Theater

(Carol Madsen)

Get a Life

(Gradys Peterson)

Many Happy Returns

Redigo

The Eleventh Hour

Dennis the Menace

Battle of the Network Stars

The New Adventures of Beans Baxter

(Susan Baxter)

Police Story

Father Knows Best

(Betty Anderson)

S.W.A.T.

The Virginian

(Carole Cole)

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

Occasional Wife

Mulligan's Stew

(Jane Mulligan)

Dr. Kildare

(Sharon Calloway)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Letter to Loretta

(Debbie Waring)

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

(Emily Vanderlip Foster)

The Love Boat

(Betty Anderson)

Condominium

(Audrey Ames)

Letter to Loretta

(Janey)

CHiPs

(Elnor Donahue (uncredited))

The Brothers Brannagan

(Diane)

One Day at a Time

The Love Boat

(Mrs. Van Buren)

Police Woman

(Ellie Tarlow)

Herman's Head

(Mrs. Fitzer)

Coach

(Lorraine)

Have Gun, Will Travel

(Letty Mae Stinchcomb)

77 Sunset Strip

(Laura Holt)