Elinor Donahue

[MichaelKeith]

I know this question has probably been asked about here before but I searched and couldn't find it. Does anyone know why Ms. Donahue left the show so soon? I thought she and Andy had great chemistry together on screen. And she was a pretty woman so that should have posed no problem for her being on the show. I wish she had stayed a lot longer.

[vitoscotti]

I thought I read her and Andy Griffith agreed it wasn't working on screen chemistry wise between the two. She was likable to me but didn't seem to have any comedic talent.

She was on the first year also where Griffith and Knott's characters were forming and changing to Griffith turning to more of Knott's straight man.

I also remember reading she didn't like working on the 70s "Odd Couple".

[Coffeecup]

I also read that there was a bit of age difference. She was around 23 or so and Andy was in his 30's when the show started and he felt she was too young to play a girlfriend.

[stevea]

I'd rather see him with Ellie than that she-devil, Helen Crump.

[SarahBellum]

Originally Posted by Coffeecup

I also read that there was a bit of age difference. She was around 23 or so and Andy was in his 30's when the show started and he felt she was too young to play a girlfriend.

Even though she didn't work out as Andy's girlfriend, it would have been nice for her to remain on TAGS as a recurring character.

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by SarahBellum

Even though she didn't work out as Andy's girlfriend, it would have been nice for her to remain on TAGS as a recurring character.

Agreed, I really liked her style.

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by vitoscotti

I thought I read her and Andy Griffith agreed it wasn't working on screen chemistry wise between the two. She was likable to me but didn't seem to have any comedic talent.

She was on the first year also where Griffith and Knott's characters were forming and changing to Griffith turning to more of Knott's straight man.

I also remember reading she didn't like working on the 70s "Odd Couple".

Actually SHE said they didn't have chemistry & chose to leave the show. That's too bad because she was the hottest lady in the entire run of that show!

Did Thelma Lou & Helen Crump have any comedic talent?? I never noticed anything in particular. They did a good job of reading their lines just like Elinor did.

Since Don Knotts & Andy handled most of the comedy on the show the women on the show didn't have to worry about comedians or anything.

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by stevea

I'd rather see him with Ellie than that she-devil, Helen Crump.

Me too!

[GentlemanJim]

We all know that Griffith and Aneta Corsaut became "very close friends" off camera. And I always suspected that Donahue was retreating from a similar opportunity when she decided that the chemistry between them was unworkable.
I'm aware that several people have painted Griffith to be a shy, choir boy type. but I don't buy it. I think there likely was more Lonesome Rhoades in Andy Griffith than the press releases admit to

[SitcomsHeydayfan]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

We all know that Griffith and Aneta Corsaut became "very close friends" off camera. And I always suspected that Donahue was retreating from a similar opportunity when she decided that the chemistry between them was unworkable.
I'm aware that several people have painted Griffith to be a shy, choir boy type. but I don't buy it. I think there likely was more Lonesome Rhoades in Andy Griffith than the press releases admit to

Yes, Andy even admitted there were aspects of Andy Griffith he wanted to keep OUT of Andy Taylor.

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

We all know that Griffith and Aneta Corsaut became "very close friends" off camera. And I always suspected that Donahue was retreating from a similar opportunity when she decided that the chemistry between them was unworkable.
I'm aware that several people have painted Griffith to be a shy, choir boy type. but I don't buy it. I think there likely was more Lonesome Rhoades in Andy Griffith than the press releases admit to

Originally Andy Griffith was shy around women to the point that he originally rebuffed Betty Lynn's advances (Lynn is on record of telling him she wished he had a twin brother and would've had had sex with him if Griffith wasn't worried about protecting Barbara) and was awkawrd about romance. Griffith was what one might call a late bloomer and i think where he started to really go after girls was after the Wall Incident (aka the real reason he wears a cast in Aunt Bea the Warden and The County Nurse) where he punched a wall during a heated argument with his first wife Barbara. One only has to compare his romantic performance in Three's a Crowd (The episode after the County nurse) to the romantic ones with Eleanor Donahue and one can see it's night and day.

I think that incident coupled with it slipping out that Sam and Dixie (Griffith and barbara's two children) were adopted probably drove him to having affairs and a sex life in order to "prove" that he could have sex like a normal man and that he wasn't the problem (though in all honesty he probably was infertile). There's also the fact that griffith tended to prefer Blondes and redheads to brunettes which also might explain things as well.

[GentlemanJim]

So you're saying that punching the wall jump started his testosterone production?

Sorry, I'm more inclined to believe he just wasn't attracted to Betty Lynn. She's got somewhat of a milquetoast persona, and I never found her particularly appealing either.(for that exact reason)

So Elinor Donahue has this opportunity to become a fixture in a popular TV show, a sure-thing paycheck, and she just walks away from it over "chemistry"? I just don't buy that. Co-stars with much deeper personality conflicts than that have managed to tough it out for the sake of success. Look at how long Frances Bavier lasted, yet she and Griffith truly didn't like each other.

[Willbo]

Elinor Donahue was always my favorite female lead. I don't buy the chemistry excuse also. I thought Ellie and Andy had lots of chemistry on screen. Actually, Elinor had chemistry with all the actors on the show. I loved her with Ron Howard. It was a loss for the show when she left.

[GentlemanJim]

I think we've all had co-workers that didn't particularly appeal to us. The ones we always have a ready excuse for "just in case" they try to invite you over to their house....etc.

But, how bad would it have to get, to cause you to quit and go work elsewhere?

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by GentlemanJim

So you're saying that punching the wall jump started his testosterone production?

Sorry, I'm more inclined to believe he just wasn't attracted to Betty Lynn. She's got somewhat of a milquetoast persona, and I never found her particularly appealing either.(for that exact reason)

So Elinor Donahue has this opportunity to become a fixture in a popular TV show, a sure-thing paycheck, and she just walks away from it over "chemistry"? I just don't buy that. Co-stars with much deeper personality conflicts than that have managed to tough it out for the sake of success. Look at how long Frances Bavier lasted, yet she and Griffith truly didn't like each other.

I think you're off base here. Donahue was coming off a very successful run as Betty Anderson in the very successful Father Knows Best. She was sitcom star, she moves into her first adult role with that on her resume and she's looking to be the female lead and one of the featured players of The Andy Griffith Show. That's not how Andy and the other owners of the series saw that part. They saw the role as the generic "love interest", a character that would be used on an as needed basis. Take another look at the rest of the series run, the love interest which was played for the last five seasons by
Aneta Corsaut was a regular but she had a small part in many episodes, Frances Bavier was the closest thing the series had to a female lead.

This may not seem like a big deal, but to stars this kind of thing is a very big deal. Donahue thought she was going to have major role in this series and that was simply not in the cards, Don's character was going to get major screen time along with Ron and Frances, she thought of the role as a step back and she wasn't ready to do that at this point in her career.