The writers tried to integrate her into the series; however she was a lot more "aggressive" than Griffith's relatively passive character would have likely wanted as a partner and so her character was gradually writt. After her appearance in episode The Guitar Player Returns, she inexplicably leaves the series. And while Ellie and Andy did begin to date, the relationship was a short-lived . Elinor Donahue played Ellie Walker on The Andy Griffith Show. I was very, very touched by that. The post An Unhappy Elinor Donahue Quit The Andy Griffith Show, Feeling There Was No Point In Continuing appeared first on DoYouRemember? I was called in to the office to meet with the producers, went home that afternoon, and found out I had the part. And Ellie won the seat. Her character mysteriously disappeared without any kind of explanation for the viewers. [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. As The Andy Griffith Show started, Donahue and her husband, Richard Smith, were divorcing. 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. Andy later took the blame and said he wasn't very good at showing affection while being filmed. Her character mysteriously disappeared without any kind of explanation for the viewers. 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. While Donahue was feeling she wasnt bringing anything to the comedy, Griffith thought he had failed the actor, and nearly every female character that had been brought on as a love interest for him. Id gone directly fromFather Knows Bestto having a couple of months of turmoil in my personal life that was not settled at all. After twelve appearances in the first season, Ellie disappeared with no explanation offered to the audience. However, the episode "The Guitar Player Returns" was her last. Most notably, Griffithwho played Sheriff Andy Taylorstruggled with his "peculiar nature" and relationships with women. Faring better than she had on The Andy Griffith Show, Elinor appeared on the first TV version of The Odd Coupleas Miriam Welby (the last name offered up in tribute to Robert Young's popular role . Walker was Mayberry's pharmacist. Suddenly the fan mail became all about Ellie and Andy as a couple. 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. 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. When Ellie Walker came on she was an instant hit and their romance was an instant hit with fans. 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.. 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. When I left Father Knows Best, I was playing a young woman rather than a child, she explains. She hasn't appeared in any onscreen roles since 2011. In 2001 she wed Tom Poston, her long-ago Broadway co-star, who had also been a guest star on "The Bob Newhart Show" and a regular in Mr. Newhart's second sitcom, "Newhart," in the 1980s. View results. In 1984, she made an appearance as Mrs. Broderick, the mother of a teenage drug addict on the last season of Happy Days. 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. 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. Andy talked to some of his friends who were reluctant to vote for a woman (this was 1960, after all). 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. Shes listed as being in 12 episodes. 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 had a three-year contract. Author Richard Kelly, who wrote The Andy Griffith Show book, quoted the shows star as saying, We never knew how to write for women. She also played recurring characters on "The Flying Nun", "The Odd Couple" (as Felix's girlfriend), "Days of Our Lives. I didnt think there was any real chemistry there. 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. In 1966, she guest-starred on the TV series A Man Called Shenandoah, episode 8, "Town On Fire". There was no mean spiritedness to it. However, Father Knows Best would be abruptly canceled. 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. Elinor Donahue. Just a rehearsal. We started singing and sang through the whole thing. This time it was Corsaut and not the shows writers who said no to marriage. Among regular cast members of The Andy Griffith Show, only the director Ron Howard, who played Opie, Sheriff Taylors son, is still alive. We just wish poor Ellie had been given a better send-off her character certainly deserved it! It's a site that collects all the most frequently asked questions and answers, so you don't have to spend hours on searching anywhere else. 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. RELATED: How Did The Andy Griffith Show End? His very first love interest in the series was Ellie Walker, played by actress Elinor Donahue. She went up and apologized for having left the show. We never did know, and because of my peculiar nature, and my personal relationship with women, and the difficulty that Ive always had with them it became even more difficult for us to write for women.. I was exhausted.. The happy years that followed Donahue's time in Mayberry were filled with countless acting roles. Except Don Knotts. Very good. Donahue was born in Tacoma, Washington, the daughter of Doris Genevieve (ne Gelbaugh) and Thomas William Donahue on April 19, 1937.[2]. The actor told the Television Academy Foundation how she came to be cast in 1960 on The Andy Griffith Show. Why did Elinor Donahue leave Mayberry? Donahues character, Ellie, arrives in Mayberry having taken over the drugstore from her uncle, and eventually begins dating the towns sheriff, Andy Taylor. Elinor Donahue was Andy Griffith's 1st love interest on the show. Andy later took the blame and said he wasn't very good at showing . And while Ellie and Andy did begin to date, the relationship was a short-lived one with Elinor only appearing in a dozen episodes of the season, after which she asked to be released from her contract. the Cat. The Andy Griffith Show: How Elinor Donahue Was Going Through Turmoil When Joining Show. Between her dwindling self-confidence on the set and my emotional problems, she began to lose weight and was becoming anorexic. She developed pneumonia, which kept her off the show and required scripts to be written around her. In 1959, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for her supporting role as Betty Anderson on "Father Knows Best". While Ellie isn't the first character to mysteriously disappear from a TV show (after it happened with Chuck Cunningham in Happy Days, they called doing this the Chuck Cunningham Syndrome), it can still feel unnerving to abruptly see them go without any explanation. In retrospect, from things that people have said to me very lovely things I was doing OK. Plus, when you rewatch a show, you spot details that you may have missed the first time. She was last seen in the episode "The Guitar Player Returns." After that, we saw that her character sudd. Betty Lynn, most famously known for her portrayal of Thelma Lou on the classic "The Andy Griffith Show," has died at age 95. . I didnt sing anymore, so I avoided it like the plague, she admits. Gray retired from acting in 1980. And of course, they were funny, and they made those two characters so rich and terrific. The Andy Griffith Show actress Elinor Donahue said she was not a happy camper while working on the show. why did kim fischer leave the mentalist. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. In 1977, she appeared in an episode of the ABC crime drama The Feather and Father Gang. . I had a three-year contract for that show, but at the end of the first year I asked to be let out of it, because I didnt feel that I was playing the role properly. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. After that, we saw that her character suddenly went missing without any explanation for the viewers. According to celebritynetworth.com, Betty Lynns net worth is estimated to be around $3 million. 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. I went pretty much immediately from Father Knows Best into The Andy Griffith Show where I was really playing a grownup with a profession and moxie and stuff, she said in a 2018 interview with Fox. He said they just didnt know how to write for me. 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 started performing on the radio at the age of two and was signed as a dancer and singer by Universal Studios after three years. Born in Tacoma, Washington, Mary Eleanor Donahue grew up dancing and performing. She also felt that her character wasnt given much importance by the shows writers. Walker was Mayberrys pharmacist. And while Ellie and Andy did begin to date, the relationship was a short-lived one with Elinor only appearing in a dozen episodes of the season, after which she asked to be released from her contract. But THAT is the more intense "dark side" of Andy Taylor, the flip-side. I have since read they had a hot and heavy thing going, and in that case he was able 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. Although she may not have been part of the main cast on Griffith, she was Andy Taylor's first love interest on the show in the comedy's debut season. Which Teeth Are Normally Considered Anodontia. Donahue played Gladys, the mother of Chris Peterson (Chris Elliott), in all 35 episodes of the sitcom Get a Life (199092), and had a recurring role as Rebecca Quinn on the CBS drama series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. In 1987, she played the title character's mother in the short-lived Fox series The New Adventures of Beans Baxter. And while Ellie and Andy did begin to date, the relationship was a short-lived one with Elinor only appearing in a dozen episodes of the season, after which she asked to be released from her contract. Woodsy locales were filmed north of Beverly Hills at Franklin Canyon. In a taped interview, Ms. Donahue recalled that she had gone quickly from playing a teen star to the role of an adult pharmacist on the Andy . Years later, Elinor attended an event and saw him there. Thankfully, still-single Barney and now-single Thelma Lou were reunited and married in 1986s Return to Mayberry movie. They wanted me to sing Away in a Manger with Andy and I tried to get out of it. Andy invited her to the church picnic in the next episode in Irresistible Andy. View results. Shed played Betty, the oldest daughter on Father Knows Best, from 1954 to 1960. It was the strangest feeling. Don Knotts' Exit From 'The Andy Griffith Show' Explained 55 Years Later, The Cast of 'Happy Days', 36 Years Later, Honor Garry Marshall, Where Did 'Man with a Plan' Daughter Emme Go? She has been married to Lou Genevrino since 1992 and has four children. So he would take things that were actually written for Miss Ellie and the sheriff and give them to your dad, Donahue told Karen. Donahue played Ellie Walker from 1960 through 1961. 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