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