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Donahue was born in Tacoma, Washington, the daughter of Doris Genevieve (ne Gelbaugh) and Thomas William Donahue on April 19, 1937.[2]. He could tell I was nervous and said, Just sit down here on the floor and Ill just noodle around with the guitar and you come in when you feel comfortable and well start. Donahue opened up about what exactly made her exit the show so suddenly and the kindness shown to her by former co-star Don Knotts. In the eyes of the world, I was a young woman and was launched into the rest of my career, already not having to make a huge transition from child to an adult.. In the eyes of the world, I was a young woman and was launched into the rest of my career, already not having to make a huge transition from child to an adult., RELATED: Father Knows Best Star, Billy Gray, Reminisces on Childhood Fame. Before The Andy Griffith Show, Donahue found major success on the show, Father Knows Best. She played Miriam Welby on ABC's The Odd Couple, Jane Mulligan on Mulligan's Stew, and Nurse Hunnicut on Days of Our Lives. In 2015, Donahue played the role of Mrs. Chumley in Judson Theatre Company's production of the Pulitzer Prize play Harvey, by Mary Chase. [3] 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. In The Andy Griffith Shows only Christmas episode, Ellie and Andy sang a duet, Away in the Manger. Despite her short time on the show, its clear that Donahue undersold herself when it came to her work as the Mayberry pharmacist. After her appearance in episode The Guitar Player Returns, she inexplicably leaves the series. RELATED: How Did The Andy Griffith Show End? Soon after, she was selected to play the role of Charlene Darling. As of 2020, Elinor Donahue age is 83 years. However, when Don Knotts became such a popular favorite as Deputy Barney Fife, Griffith decided for . She has also made appearances on Days of Our Lives, Many Happy Returns, and The Andy Griffith Show, among others. Just a rehearsal. We started singing and sang through the whole thing. The Andy Griffith Show made its debut in 1960, and Elinor was a part of it, playing pharmacist Ellie Walker, with the idea being that she would eventually become the girlfriend of Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) following a rocky start between the two of them.And while Ellie and Andy did begin to date, the . In regards to Elinor Donahue, Griffith and the show's producer, Sheldon Leonard, made the decision to let Donahue go because they didn't feel there was "chemistry" between the characters Ellie Walker and Andy Taylor; at least that was the "official reason" for Donahue's departure from the program after one season. Then he said, Oh, that was very nice. [citation needed]. Her character mysteriously disappeared without any kind of explanation for the viewers. Just a rehearsal. We started singing and sang through the whole thing. Walker was Mayberry's pharmacist. THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, Elinor Donahue, Andy Griffith (ca. According to her IMDb page, she played Mariam in The Odd Couple, Kate Honeycutt in Days of Our Lives, had a small role in Pretty Woman, and much more. It goes to show just how much of the kindness of Mayberry and its characters was just as important behind the scenes. Donahue opened up about what exactly made her exit the show so suddenly and the kindness shown to her by former co-star Don Knotts. The Andy Griffith Show made its debut in 1960, and Elinor was a part of it, playing pharmacist Ellie Walker, with the idea being that she would eventually become the girlfriend of Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) following a rocky start between the two of . Additionally, in 1963, she played Letty May in the episode "The Burning Tree" on Have Gun Will Travel. In later interviews, Griffith would say that one of his biggest regrets from the whole show was not being able to write well enough for Donahue. I was exhausted.. Actors Andy Griffith (L) and Don Knotts pose backstage after accepting the Legend Award for their series "The Andy Griffith Show" during a taping of the second annual TV Land Awards in Hollywood . It is explained that Fife had left Mayberry to take a job as a detective in Raleigh, North Carolina. Just a rehearsal. We started singing and sang through the whole thing. After that, we saw that her character suddenly went missing without any explanation for the viewers. Donahue played a strong female role on The Andy Griffith Show. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. In 1992, she voiced the mother on the Fox Kids animated series Eek! As a producer, he dominated early television. It was the strangest feeling.. with Father Knows Best's Elinor Donahue as the druggist . She is apparently self-sufficient; her occupation is never revealed despite references to a never-seen office, yet she lives in a roomy and well-decorated house of her own. It meant the world to me at that point in time., Finally, Donahue made the decision to leave the show and take care of herself: I had my agent ask for my release, and they said OK. judy norton children; court ordered community service california As she grew older, she began seeking out roles in feature films.But it was television where she found her best work. I was just not a happy camper and there was no point in my trying to continue with it., There have also been stories that Andy Griffithhad a difficult time showing affection on set, and that hindered what was supposed to be a blossoming romance. He is a motorcycle collector and businessman. After all, she was only 23 when he agreed to the three-year contract as Ellie. [4] 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. Ellie helped her uncle Fred at Walker's Drugstore in Mayberry and she eventually starts dating Andy Taylor. In 1987, she played the title character's mother in the short-lived Fox series The New Adventures of Beans Baxter. To hear Elinor Donahue in her own words regardingFather Knows BestandThe Andy Griffith Show, as well as people likeGilligans Islandstar Dawn Wells and others, please visit theTV RetroVisionpodcast by clicking HERE. What makes literary nonfiction different from other nonfiction? Donahue played Ellie Walker from 1960 through 1961. Father Knows Best was canceled in 1960 when Young left the show. She was part of the main cast for the first season of CBS's The Andy Griffith Show, as Andy's pharmacist love interest Ellie Walker, she was even mentioned in the opening credits before Don Knotts; after one season (19601961), Donahue asked for a release from her three-year contract.[5]. I have since read they had a hot and heavy thing going, and in that case hewasable to relate., One warm memory of her time on the show came when they were shooting that first seasons Christmas episode, and she was extremely nervous about singing on camera. But it didnt seem like Donahue ever had any sort of conflict with Andy Griffith or anyone else working on the show. Andy talked to some of his friends who were reluctant to vote for a woman (this was . He wanted to make sure I was all right. I didnt feel like I had all my feathers yet and I didnt feel capable. Required fields are marked *. Betty Lynn, who portrayed Thelma Lou, died earlier this month at age 95. Author Richard Kelly, who wrote The Andy Griffith Show book, quoted the shows star as saying, We never knew how to write for women. Griffith died on July 3, 2012, from a heart attack at the age of 86 at his coastal home in Manteo, Roanoke Island, in Dare County, North Carolina. Is Ellie off of Andy Griffith Show still alive? On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Why did Elinor Donahue leave Mayberry? After Father Knows Best ended, she really struggled to adjust to a new show. The widow of TV executive producer Harry Ackerman (he was 25 years her senior), whose list of credits included Leave It to Beaver (1957), Bewitched (1964) and Gidget (1965), and a mother of four sons, Elinor married third husband, contractor Louis Genevrino, in 1992. 1992) Children: 4: Elinor Donahue (born Mary Eleanor Donahue, April 19, 1937) is an American actress, best known today for playing the role of Betty Anderson, the eldest child of Jim and Margaret Anderson on the 1950s American sitcom Father Knows Best. She later ran for City Council in Episode 10, and . If anything, Griffith felt bad that he couldnt do more. My mother said, Oh for heavens sake, you sing that in church all the time, you can certainly sing that. But I was very, very nervous about it. So Andy Griffith got rid of her so the show could stay on track. After twelve appearances in the first season, Ellie disappeared with no explanation offered to the audience. "I'm so welcomed here. Ms. Lynn said that she could have stayed with the series, which ended in 1968, had she accepted the producers offer to make her the owner of a hairdressing salon. As The Andy Griffith Show started, Donahue and her husband, Richard Smith, were divorcing. You might even remember her playing the friendly store manager Bridget in Pretty Woman, Lady Palimore inThe Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagementor eventhe "Orphanage woman" inFreddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. Among regular cast members of The Andy Griffith Show, only the director Ron Howard, who played Opie, Sheriff Taylors son, is still alive. Fife appeared on The Andy Griffith Show from the show's beginning in 1960 until 1965, when Knotts left the show to pursue a career in feature films . This is because Elinor Donahue wished to leave the show. She was last seen in the episode "The Guitar Player Returns." After that, we saw that her character sudd. In 1977, she appeared in an episode of the ABC crime drama The Feather and Father Gang. They tried other women periodically, but then Aneta Corsaut came in. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. "Nip It In the Bud": $20 'Andy Griffith Show' Tee Is a Funny, Cozy Memory. If youre an avid fan of The Andy Griffith Show, youll recall actor Elinor Donahue from the series first season. Why did Elinor Donahue leave the Andy Griffith Show? She played one of the daughters in Three Daring Daughters in 1948 and appeared as Mamie Van Doren's sister in Girls Town (1959). Elinor Donahue decided not to return after the first season, because she felt she had no on-screen chemistry with Andy Griffith. She later rejoined the original cast forThe Father Knows Best Reunionin 1977. Do you wish we could have seen more of the character?Contents of this video00:00 - Intro0:39 - Elinor Donahue1:24 - The Andy Griffith Show2:41 - Why She Left the Andy Griffith Show4:00 - Try Surfshark VPN5:02 - The Reaction6:12 - Elinors Career7:29 - OutroLike this content? turkey club sandwich nutrition Uncovering hot babes since 1919.. eileen heckart andy griffith show. Mrs. Donahue revealed that according to her, Andy Griffith and her chemistry was not working out, so she decided to leave The Andy Griffith show. I didnt feel like I had all my feathers yet and I didnt feel capable. Ms. Lynn joined the cast of the show in 1961, late in the first season, for an episode in which Sheriff Andy Taylor (Mr. Griffith) plays matchmaker between Barney and Thelma Lou. But THAT is the more intense "dark side" of Andy Taylor, the flip-side. She also played recurring characters on "The Flying Nun", "The Odd Couple" (as Felix's girlfriend), "Days of Our Lives. Very good. Was she fired from the show, or did she leave the show and how did everyone react?First, lets look into how Elinor Donahue got her start in life. It was the strangest feeling. She started performing on the radio at the age of two and was signed as a dancer and singer by Universal Studios after three years. Part of that, she believes, was because she had more or less grown up on the former. Donahue played a strong female role on The Andy Griffith Show. While The Andy Griffith Show was full of eclectic characters in the fictional town of Mayberry, it was always fun to follow along with the love stories. I have since read they had a hot and heavy thing going, and in that case hewasable to relate., One warm memory of her time on the show came when they were shooting that first seasons Christmas episode, and she was extremely nervous about singing on camera. The Andy Griffith Show Star Trek: The Original Series The Odd Couple . I just didnt feel right about it. Woodsy locales were filmed north of Beverly Hills at Franklin Canyon. I didnt know that much about it except that I was going to be in the show with Andy Griffith, Donahue said. Andy talked to some of his friends who were reluctant to vote for a woman (this was 1960, after all). While she was on tour, Maggie was discovered by The Andy Griffith Show director Bob Sweeny and producer Aaron Ruben. 26 Feb Feb The actor told the Television Academy Foundation how she came to be cast in 1960 on The Andy Griffith Show. Andy was leaving the show following the end of its eighth . He was just absolutely precious. Her co-stars were Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Billy Gray as her . 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. tyler florence sunglasses; bailey and . We're talking about pharmacist Ellie Walker, who had a pretty prominent role in Season 1. 47 6 thatphanom.techno@gmail.com 042-532028 , 042-532027 THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, Elinor Donahue, Andy Griffith (ca. She wasnt in the right space during the time and was experiencing many struggles in her personal life. Now, we finally know how Elinor Donahue felt about the show and why she decided to leave.Lets learn about Elinor Donahues life and career and why she left The Andy Griffith Show Elinor Donahue Finally Reveals Why She Left the Andy Griffith Show She guest-appeared on Star Trek in the second-season episode "Metamorphosis" (1967) as commissioner Nancy Hedford. Offers may be subject to change without notice. After training in vaudeville, she started getting parts in films and TV shows as a teenager likeMister BigandWinter Wonderland. Sheriff Andy liked to call her the "lady pharmacist.". People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. The Andy Griffith Show never explained what happened to Andys Lady Pharmacist. Welcome to early network television. In retrospect, from things that people have said to me very lovely things I was doing OK. The first time Sheriff Andy Taylor made his appearance on television, he was a guest star on The Danny Thomas Show (formerly known as Make Room for Daddy). It seemed like the conflict she experienced on the show that caused her to stay on for only a year came from herself. As she explained to Don Knotts daughter Karen in her recent book Tied Up in Knotts: My Dad and Me, she was only 23 years old when she appeared on the Griffith Show. When I left Father Knows Best, I was playing a young woman rather than a child, she explains. He was as gracious to me as you could imagine, she smiles. Why did Elinor Donahue leave the Andy Griffith Show? Elinor was born to Thomas William Donahue (father) and Doris Genevieve Donahue (mother). Answer (1 of 2): In the Andy Griffith Show the character of Ellie, played by Elinore Donahue, helped her uncle Fred at Walker's Drugstore in Mayberry. I was actually 23 when we stopped, but I was playing 19. The actress, Elinor Donahue, later admitted that she felt like she and Andy Griffith didn't have enough chemistry to portray a believable couple on screen, so she decided to leave the show. Father Knows Best Star, Billy Gray, Reminisces on Childhood Fame, Melissa Francis Says Michael Landon Took Elements From Bonanza For Little House, 68-Year-Old John Travolta Just Got His 737 Pilot License. Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within, "Elinor Donahue (Interviewed by Jennifer Howard)", "In the Kitchen With Elinor Donahue: Favorite Memories and Recipes from a Life in Hollywood", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elinor_Donahue&oldid=1141037797, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "He Always Comes Home", "Week-End in Winnetka", "My Sister, the Sister", "How to Be a Spanish Grandmother", "My Sister, the Doctor", "A Scent, a Memory, a Far Distant Cheese", This page was last edited on 23 February 2023, at 01:24. 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