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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."

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1996

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1993

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1987

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1985

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1984

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1984

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1983

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1982

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1980

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1978

as Mona Wise

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1977

as Betty Anderson

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1977

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1977

as Rowena

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1977

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1977

as Mrs. Van Buren

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1977

as Elnor Donahue (uncredited)

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1977

as Jane Mulligan

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1977

as Betty Anderson

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1976

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1975

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1974

as Ellie Tarlow

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1974

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1973

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1972

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1972

as Medley Blaine

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1970

as Miriam Welby

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1969

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1969

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1967

as Dr. Jennifer Ethrington

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1966

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1966

as Commissioner Nancy Hedford

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1964

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1963

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1962

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1962

as Carole Cole

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1961

as Sharon Calloway

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1960

as Ellie Walker

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1960

as Diane

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1959

as Mary Lee Morgan

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1959

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1959

as Lora's Friend

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1954

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1953

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1953

as Janey

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1953

as Carol Madsen

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1952

as Pattie Marie Levoy

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1951

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1951

as Lucille Stewart

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1950

as Emily Vanderlip Foster

My Blue Heaven

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1950

as Mary (uncredited)

Tea for Two

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1950

The Happy Years

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1950

as Connie Brown

Singing Guns

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1950

as Little Girl (uncredited)

An Old-Fashioned Girl

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1949

as Maud Shaw (as Mary Eleanor Donahue)

Tenth Avenue Angel

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1948

as Cynthia (uncredited)

Three Daring Daughters

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1948

as Alix Morgan

The Unfinished Dance

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1947

as Josie (as Mary Eleanor Donahue)

Winter Wonderland

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1946

as Betty Wheeler

And Now Tomorrow

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1944

as Janice

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1943

as Janie Thomas

Mister Big

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1943

as Muggsy

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1942

as Bit Role (uncredited)