{"id":197,"date":"2023-06-29T19:05:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T19:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=197"},"modified":"2023-06-29T19:05:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T19:05:22","slug":"elinor-donahue-star-of-father-knows-best-and-her-six-decade-screen-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/used82.com\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"Elinor Donahue star of \u2018Father Knows Best\u2019 and her six-decade screen career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elinor Donahue is best known for her pivotal role in American TV hit sitcom \u201cFather Knows Best\u201d, but her career didn\u2019t end when the show did, she went on to shine both on screen and off.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Washington-born actress is now 86 years old and most recently had a guest role in long-running soap opera \u201cThe Young and the Restless\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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As elder daughter Betty \u2018Princess\u2019 Anderson on \u201cFather Knows Best\u201d, Elinor was a central character to the show which portrayed a middle-class family living an idyllic all-American life in the Midwest.<\/p>\n

The show started on the radio in 1949 and aired every Thursday until 1954. It was then picked up by CBS for television keeping only actor Robert Young from the radio show who played dad Jim Anderson.<\/p>\n

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During her six years with the hit show, which at its height was in the top ten most watched American TV shows, Elinor also appeared in \u201cCrossroads\u201d and in the \u201cGeorge Burns and Gracie Allen Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her schedule was hectic and she once admitted that she didn\u2019t have time to watch the show back.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBy the time we\u2019d get home at night and have our dinner, we\u2019d be getting ready to learn our lines, go to sleep to get up and do it again. So, I never saw the show,\u201d she told\u00a0<\/em>Closer.<\/a><\/p>\n

Born in Tacoma in 1937 she eventually became the main breadwinner of the household when her career took off in her teenage years appearing in movies\u00a0Love is Better than Ever<\/em>, starring Elizabeth Taylor and\u00a0Girls Town.<\/em><\/p>\n

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As Elinor was still a child and living in California she had to have an adult on set with her at all times so because her father was out of the picture and her mom worked full-time her mom Doris gave up her job.<\/p>\n

After \u201cFather Knows Best\u201d ended Elinor went on to appear in \u201cThe Andy Griffith Show\u201d, \u201cDr Kildare\u201d, \u201cStar Trek\u201d and \u201cMork & Mindy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wikipedia Commons \/ Elinor Donahue\u00a0and\u00a0Lawrence Pressman\u00a0promoting the premiere of the\u00a0NBC\u00a0television series\u00a0Mulligan\u2019s Stew<\/em>.
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In all the 86-year-old screen legend has appeared in more than 70 TV shows as well as movies such as\u00a0Winter Wonderland<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Pretty Woman.<\/em><\/p>\n

Elinor married her first husband when she was 19 years old and admitted that she hoped if she got married and had a baby she would become a grown up.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI had just turned 19 and I was like a 13-year-old 19,\u201d she told\u00a0Emmy TV Legends.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d never had a chance to grow into a real person so I was not mature at all. I\u2019d had no high school friends\u2026I had this idea if I ran away and got married and had a baby I\u2019d be a grown up.\u201d<\/p>\n

So she decided the next person who asked she would agree to, this man turned out to be sound man on \u201cFather Knows Best\u201d Richard Smith.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe had gone to see a movie and after he whispered in my ear \u2018I love you and I\u2019d like to marry you\u2019 and I said \u2018Okay,\u201d\u00a0she said laughing.<\/a><\/p>\n

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She had her first son Brian with him and the couple divorced six years later in 1961.<\/p>\n

In 1962 she married prolific TV producer Harry Ackerman and had three sons with him. He was 20 years older than her and they remained happily married for almost 30 years until his death in 1991.<\/p>\n

The following year she married her third and current husband contractor Lou Genevrino. She has been retired from our screens for the last decade.<\/p>\n

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