Elinor Donahue
| Elinor Donahue | |
|---|---|
 Donahue in 1960. |
|
| Born | Mary Eleanor Donahue April 19, 1937 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.
Contents |
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 1978, Donahue starred in the NBC sitcom "Please Stand By." 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).
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/40/Elinor-Donahue.html
- ^ Jukebox Jury: Research Video, Inc.: Music Footing Licensing Agency and Vintage Television Footage Archive
- ^ Donahue, E. (1998). In the Kitchen with Elinor Donahue. ISBN 1-888952-92-X
