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Elinor Donahue

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."

Star Trek: Inside the Roddenberry Vault

2016

as Self

The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

2004

as Lady Palimore

Cold Case

2003

as Esther 'Legs' Davis (2005)

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within

2001

as Rebecca Quinn Dickinson

Dear God

1996

as Elinor Donahue

E! True Hollywood Story

1996

Friends

1994

as Aunt Lillian

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman

1993

Eek! The Cat

1992

as Mom (voice)

Herman's Head

1991

as Mrs. Fitzer

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

1991

as Orphanage Woman

Get a Life

1990

as Gradys Peterson

Pretty Woman

1990

as Bridget

Coach

1989

as Lorraine

The New Adventures of Beans Baxter

1987

as Susan Baxter

The Golden Girls

1985

as Katherine

Murder, She Wrote

1984

as Connie Lewis

No Earthly Reason

1984

as Mrs. Morrison

High School U.S.A.

1983

as Mrs. Franklin

Going Berserk

1983

as Margaret Anderson

Just an Overnight Guest

1983

Hotel

1982

Condominium

1980

as Audrey Ames

Diff'rent Strokes

1978

Police Story: No Margin for Error

1978

Doctors' Private Lives

1978

as Mona Wise

Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas

1977

as Betty Anderson

Mulligan's Stew

1977

as Jane Mulligan

Dick Clark's Good Old Days

1977

The Love Boat

1977

as Rowena

The Love Boat

1977

as Betty Anderson

The Love Boat

1977

as Mrs. Van Buren

CHiPs

1977

as Elnor Donahue (uncredited)

Mulligan's Stew

1977

as Jane Mulligan

The Father Knows Best Reunion

1977

as Betty Anderson

Battle of the Network Stars

1976

One Day at a Time

1975

S.W.A.T.

1975

Police Woman

1974

as Ellie Tarlow

Happy Days

1974

Police Story

1973

The Rookies

1972

Gidget Gets Married

1972

as Medley Blaine

The Odd Couple

1970

as Miriam Welby

In Name Only

1969

as Esther Garrity

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

1969

The Flying Nun

1967

as Dr. Jennifer Ethrington

Occasional Wife

1966

Star Trek

1966

as Commissioner Nancy Hedford

Many Happy Returns

1964

Redigo

1963

The Eleventh Hour

1962

The Virginian

1962

as Carole Cole

Dr. Kildare

1961

as Sharon Calloway

The Andy Griffith Show

1960

as Ellie Walker

The Brothers Brannagan

1960

as Diane

Girls Town

1959

as Mary Lee Morgan

Dennis the Menace

1959

Imitation of Life

1959

as Lora's Friend

77 Sunset Strip

1958

as Laura Holt

Have Gun, Will Travel

1957

as Letty Mae Stinchcomb

Father Knows Best

1954

as Betty Anderson

Letter to Loretta

1953

as Debbie Waring

Letter to Loretta

1953

as Janey

General Electric Theater

1953

as Carol Madsen

Love Is Better Than Ever

1952

as Pattie Marie Levoy

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

1951

Her First Romance

1951

as Lucille Stewart

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show

1950

as Emily Vanderlip Foster

My Blue Heaven

1950

as Mary (uncredited)

Tea for Two

1950

The Happy Years

1950

as Connie Brown

Singing Guns

1950

as Little Girl (uncredited)

An Old-Fashioned Girl

1949

as Maud Shaw (as Mary Eleanor Donahue)

Tenth Avenue Angel

1948

as Cynthia (uncredited)

Three Daring Daughters

1948

as Alix Morgan

The Unfinished Dance

1947

as Josie (as Mary Eleanor Donahue)

Winter Wonderland

1946

as Betty Wheeler

And Now Tomorrow

1944

as Janice

Honeymoon Lodge

1943

as Janie Thomas

Mister Big

1943

as Muggsy

Girls' Town

1942

as Bit Role (uncredited)