{"id":48669,"date":"2016-02-05T15:52:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T15:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/?p=48669"},"modified":"2016-02-07T15:54:36","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T15:54:36","slug":"elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Elinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Elinor<\/a>

Elinor Donahue with TV parents Robert Young and Jane Wyatt in Father Knows Best-2.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Elinor<\/a>

DeForest Kelley, Elinor Donahue and Leonard Nimoy in a scene from the Star Trek episode Metamorphosis.<\/p><\/div>\n

Widely known for her role as Robert Young\u2019s eldest TV daughter on the series \u201cFather Knows Best,\u201d Elinor Donahue was a regular on other series such as \u201cThe Andy Griffith Show\u201d and \u201cThe Odd Couple.\u201d She also guest starred in dozens of TV shows from the 1960s into the early 1980s including \u201cStar Trek.\u201d<\/p>\n

But even before little Elinor, as she was then known, began working as a 5-year-old on radio in her hometown of Tacoma, Wash., the arts were influencing her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 18 months old, my mother let me join in a dance class to work off energy,\u201d she recalled from her home in California\u2019s Coachella Valley.\u00a0\u201cAnd while she prepared dinner, my brother would keep me busy by playing the piano and teaching me songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young Ellie was just six when her mother packed up the children, moved to California, and was hired for her first movie \u201cMister Big\u201d (1943) with Donald O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d seen in him movies and had such a crush on him even at that early age,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n

As her teenage years approached, Donahue had already appeared in a dozen movies, although the roles were small and often uncredited. Then one day, around 12 years old, she reached for a book that would impact her career in an unexpected way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I opened it, out fell a newspaper clipping about Elinor Glyn,\u201d she recalled, referring to the British novelist and screenwriter. \u201cI loved the way the name was spelled and how it looked. So I changed my name and son of a gun, if things didn\u2019t suddenly turn around for my career!\u201d<\/p>\n

Donahue was cast \u2013 now as Elinor \u2013 in \u201cFather Knows Best\u201d from 1954 to 1960.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents had been divorced for some time, so Robert Young became a father figure,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

In 1967, Donahue guest starred on the \u201cStar Trek\u201d episode Metamorphosis where she plays an irritable, ailing Federation diplomat who lands on a planet inhabited by a famous Earth inventor, Zefram Cochrane, and an alien energy cloud known as the Companion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter we finished filming and the set was torn down, something happened to the film and we had to do some re-shooting two weeks later,\u201d recalled Donahue. \u201cMeanwhile, I had been really sick and lost an enormous amount of weight, so the original dress I had worn was just hanging on me. They wrapped a scarf around my head and chest to cover up that I was all boney.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she essentially retired from film work in the late 1950s, Donahue was occasionally coerced back to the big screen. In 1990, she appeared briefly with Julia Roberts in \u201cPretty Woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shot the scene at Gucci\u2019s on Rodeo Drive,\u201d said Donahue. \u201cWe only worked together for one day and Julia was delightful. When the film opened, I sat in the back of the theater and when my scene came on, the audience roared and I heard the chatter \u2018that\u2019s Elinor Donahue.\u2019 It was such a thrill that they recognized me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donahue, who turns 79 in April, was again induced out of retirement for several episodes of \u201cThe Young and the Restless\u201d in 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think actors can truly retire because when a plum role comes along, it\u2019s hard to resist,\u201d she says. \u201cSo you never know!\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 600 magazines and newspapers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Widely known for her role as Robert Young\u2019s eldest TV daughter on the series \u201cFather Knows Best,\u201d Elinor Donahue was a regular on other series…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nElinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Widely known for her role as Robert Young\u2019s eldest TV daughter on the series \u201cFather Knows Best,\u201d Elinor Donahue was a regular on other series...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-05T15:52:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-07T15:54:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WGTPTinseltown1-300x228.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"opennysaver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"opennysaver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/\",\"name\":\"Elinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change - Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WGTPTinseltown1-300x228.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-05T15:52:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-07T15:54:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e90b97e3c9fe75a643c31b3439ed7b15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WGTPTinseltown1-300x228.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WGTPTinseltown1-300x228.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Elinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/\",\"name\":\"Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e90b97e3c9fe75a643c31b3439ed7b15\",\"name\":\"opennysaver\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bec4be7017247fe88bfa55f4162d3e4f733b538d1e5778a56aec357ba2765b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bec4be7017247fe88bfa55f4162d3e4f733b538d1e5778a56aec357ba2765b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"opennysaver\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/author\/opennysaver\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Elinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change - Owego Pennysaver Press","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Elinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change - Owego Pennysaver Press","og_description":"Widely known for her role as Robert Young\u2019s eldest TV daughter on the series \u201cFather Knows Best,\u201d Elinor Donahue was a regular on other series...","og_url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/","og_site_name":"Owego Pennysaver Press","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/","article_published_time":"2016-02-05T15:52:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-07T15:54:36+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WGTPTinseltown1-300x228.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"opennysaver","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"opennysaver","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/","url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/","name":"Elinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change - Owego Pennysaver Press","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WGTPTinseltown1-300x228.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-05T15:52:07+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-07T15:54:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e90b97e3c9fe75a643c31b3439ed7b15"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WGTPTinseltown1-300x228.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/WGTPTinseltown1-300x228.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2016\/02\/05\/elinor-donahues-career-took-off-after-name-change\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Elinor Donahue\u2019s career took off after name change"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/","name":"Owego Pennysaver Press","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e90b97e3c9fe75a643c31b3439ed7b15","name":"opennysaver","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bec4be7017247fe88bfa55f4162d3e4f733b538d1e5778a56aec357ba2765b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bec4be7017247fe88bfa55f4162d3e4f733b538d1e5778a56aec357ba2765b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"opennysaver"},"url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/author\/opennysaver\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}