Elinor Donahue

Elinor Donahue
Donahue in 1960.
Born	Mary Eleanor Donahue April 19, 1937 (1937-04-19) (age 74) Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Other names	Mary Elinor Donahue
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1942–present
Spouse	Richard Smith (1955-1961; divorced) 1 child Harry Ackerman (1962-1991; his death); 3 children Lou Genevrino (1992-present)

Mary Eleanor Donahue (born April 19, 1937), best known as Elinor Donahue, is an American actress. The naturally red-headed Donahue played Robert Young's eldest/popular daughter, Betty Anderson, on the 1950s sitcom, Father Knows Best. She was married for nearly 30 years to producer Harry Ackerman, whom she met on the set of that series. She and Harry Ackerman had three children together: Peter, James, and Christopher Ackerman.

Early life and career

Donahue was born in Tacoma, Washington, the daughter of Doris Genevieve (née Gelbaugh) and Thomas William Donahue.^[1] Her mother was a theatrical costumer, who moonlighted as a department store saleswoman in order to pay for her daughter's dancing lessons. Appearing in dancing-chorus film roles from the age of five, Donahue was at one point a ballet-school classmate of future Fred Astaire partner Barrie Chase. Donahue was a child actor working in vaudeville and had several bit parts in movies as a teenager, including Love is Better Than Ever (1952), starring Elizabeth Taylor.

Father Knows Best

Main article: Father Knows Best

She 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, and Lauren Chapin.

Donahue has had roles on many television programs. She was a musical judge in ABC's Jukebox Jury (1953-54).^[2] In the first season of Father Knows Best she appeared on The Ray Bolger Show, starring Ray Bolger as a song-and-dance man.

She appeared in 1960 with Marion Ross in an episode (""Duet") of the crime drama series 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. Donahue was featured in several episodes of CBS's The Andy Griffith Show as pharmacist Ellie Walker, even getting a mention in the famous opening credits. The character was intended to be a love interest for Andy Taylor, but after one season (1960–1961), Donahue decided to ask for a release from her three-year contract.^{[citation needed]}.

In 1964, Donahue appeared as Melanie in "The Secret in the Stone" in the NBC medical drama, The Eleventh Hour, starring Jack Ging and Ralph Bellamy. In the 1964-1965 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). She played Commissioner Nancy Hedford alongside Glenn Corbett as Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive. She played Sister Bertrille's Sally Field's sister, Dr. Jennifer Ethrington, in three "Flying Nun" episodes (1968–1970). In 1984, she made an appearance as Mrs. Broderick, the mother of a teenaged drug addict on the last season of Happy Days. In 1987 she played the title character's mother in the short lived Fox series "The New Adventures Of Beans Baxter". Donahue appeared on an episode of The Golden Girls as Stanley Zbornak's third wife Katherine (1989).

1990s and later

In 1990, she played the part of "Bridget," a Beverly Hills clothing store manager, in the movie Pretty Woman.

Donahue played Gladys, the mother of Chris Peterson (Chris Elliott), on the sitcom Get A Life! (1990–92), and had a recurring role as Rebecca Quinn on the CBS drama series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. In 1994, she made an appearance as Aunt Lillian in The One Where Nana Dies Twice on Friends.

In 1998, Donahue published a memoir entitled In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue, in which she relived some of her memories of Hollywood along with providing more than 150 of her recipes.^[3]

In September 2010, Donahue made an appearance on The Young and the Restless as Judge Anderson, one of Nikki Newman's old friends, and also as the woman who will be marrying Billy Abbott and Nikki's daughter, Victoria Newman.

Donahue also starred in 1978 in "Please Stand By. This NBC half hour sit-com had a little something for everyone and a wonderful writing staff to make it all work. Unfortunately they couldn't get the numbers needed to secure a second season. Take the comedic talents of the veteran actors Dick Schaal and Elinore Donahue as the parents, their son, the pop singing heartthrob,( Stephen Michael Schwartz), a brash, know-it -all daughter, (Darian Mathias) and a rambunctious little genius kid brother, (Bryan Scott). Put them all together and you have Lampert Family. Father Lampert (Schaal) gives up his high tension job in a law firm to open up a TV studio. Each of the 24 episodes had guest artists who came on to play various roles. Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster) was a frequent guest as was Ruth Buzzi (Laugh In) and Marcia Lewis (The Bob Newart Show).

References

1. ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/40/Elinor-Donahue.html
2. ^ Jukebox Jury: Research Video, Inc.: Music Footing Licensing Agency and Vintage Television Footage Archive
3. ^ Donahue, E. (1998). In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue. ISBN 1-888952-92-X

External links

• Elinor Donahue at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Elinor Donahue at the Internet Movie Database
• Elinor Donahue interview at Archive of American Television
• [1]

Persondata
Name	Donahue, Elinor
Alternative names	Donahue, Mary Eleanor
Short description	Actress
Date of birth	April 19, 1937
Place of birth	Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death