Jeff Donnell

Jeff Donnell Headshot

Actress

Birth Date: July 10, 1921

Death Date: April 11, 1988

Birth Place: South Windham, Maine

Spouses: Aldo Ray

As frequent confidante or comic sidekick, sprightly character actress Jeff Donnell played supporting parts in a range of film and television productions, including such highly regarded pictures as "Sweet Smell of Success" and "In a Lonely Place." Born Jean Marie Donnell in South Windham, Maine, she self-appointed her nickname from an obsession with the comic strip "Mutt and Jeff."

She graduated from the Yale School of Drama and made her first appearance in the 1942 screwball comedy "My Sister Eileen." She landed occasional larger roles in many of her '40s pictures, including several Western musicals, though she stepped up a notch for the 1950 noir "In a Lonely Place" as best friend to the tormented Gloria Grahame. Subsequent films included "Thief of Damascus," as renowned storyteller Scheherazade, and "The Blue Gardenia," a late work by German director Fritz Lang.

In the grim and gritty "Sweet Smell of Success," she played the needy secretary of desperate publicist Tony Curtis, and on the other end of the spectrum, she played the mother of the beach-loving heroine in "Gidget Goes Hawaiian." After a number of '50s television appearances, she moved more squarely into guest spots on series in the '60s and beyond, with only a few more film roles, including a part in the drama of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, "Tora! Tora! Tora!"

Throughout the '80s, Donnell played a recurring role on the soap "General Hospital" as a housekeeper until her sudden death from a heart attack in 1988.

Credits

Fantasy IslandStream

Guest Star
Series
1978

The Amazing Spider-Man

Actor
Aunt May Parker
Movie
1977

Spider-Man

Actor
Aunt May Parker
Movie
1977

McNaughton's Daughter

Actor
Juror
Movie
1976

Chico and the ManStream

Guest Star
Series
1974

Paper Moon

Guest Star
Series
1974

The Girl With Something Extra

Guest Star
Series
1973

Barnaby JonesStream

Guest Star
Series
1973

The Bob Newhart ShowStream

Guest Star
Clara Hackler
Series
1972

Sanford & SonStream

Guest Star
Series
1972

Me and the Chimp

Guest Star
Show
1972

Cannon

Guest Star
Mrs. Holt
Series
1971

Congratulations, It's a Boy!

Actor
Rose
Movie
1971

The Partridge FamilyStream

Guest Star
Mrs. Monahan
Series
1970

Love Hate Love

Actor
Mary Blunden
Movie
1970

Love, American Style

Actor
Mrs. Hutton
Series
1969

The Mothers-in-LawStream

Guest Star
Series
1967

The Felony Squad

Guest Star
Mrs. Foster
Show
1966

GidgetStream

Guest Star
Hannah
Series
1965

The Addams FamilyStream

Guest Star
Series
1964
100%

Bristle Face

Actor
Mrs. Jarkey
Movie
1964

The Iron Maiden

Actor
Miriam Fisher
Movie
1962

The Swingin' Maiden

Actor
Miriam Fisher
Movie
1962

Dr. Kildare

Guest Star
Series
1961

Gidget Goes HawaiianStream

Actor
Monty Stewart
Movie
1961

Force of Impulse

Actor
Louise Reese
Movie
1961

Perry MasonStream

Guest Star
Sylvia Dykes
Series
1957

My Man Godfrey

Actor
Molly
Movie
1957

The Guns of Fort Petticoat

Actor
Mary Wheller
Movie
1957

Destination: 60,000

Actor
Ruth Buckley
Movie
1957

Sweet Smell of Success

Actor
Sally
Movie
1957

The Ethel Barrymore Theater

Actor
Show
1956

Climax!

Actor
Series
1954

Shower of Stars

Actor
Show
1954

Massacre Canyon

Actor
Cora
Movie
1954

The United States Steel Hour

Actor
Show
1953

So This Is Love

Actor
Henrietta Van Dyke
Movie
1953

The Blue Gardenia

Actor
Sally Ellis
Movie
1953

Cavalcade of AmericaStream

Actor
Ann Rutledge
Series
1952

Thief of Damascus

Actor
Sheherazade
Movie
1952

Skirts Ahoy!

Actor
CPO Giff
Movie
1952

Because You're Mine

Actor
Patty Ware
Movie
1952

Three Guys Named Mike

Actor
Alice Raymend
Movie
1951

La Vendedora de Cepillos

Actor
Movie
1950

Redwood Forest Trail

Actor
Julie Westcott
Movie
1950

Hoedown

Actor
Vera Wright
Movie
1950

Big Timber

Actor
Sally
Movie
1950

In a Lonely PlaceStream

Actor
Sylvia Nicolai
Movie
1950
96%

Walk Softly, Stranger

Actor
Gwen
Movie
1950

Outcasts of the Trail

Actor
Vinnie White
Movie
1949

Easy Living

Actor
Penny McCarr
Movie
1949

Post Office Investigator

Actor
April Shaughnessy
Movie
1949

Roughshod

Actor
Elaine Wyatt
Movie
1949

Stagecoach Kid

Actor
Jessie Arnold
Movie
1949

That Texas Jamboree

Actor
Jean Warren
Movie
1946

Mr. District Attorney

Actor
Miss Miller
Movie
1946

The Phantom Thief

Actor
Anne Parks Duncan
Movie
1946

It's Great to Be Young

Actor
Georgia Johnson
Movie
1946

Night Editor

Actor
Martha Cochrane
Movie
1946

The Unknown

Actor
Nina Arnold
Movie
1946

Eadie Was a Lady

Actor
Pamela 'Pepper' Parker
Movie
1945

Over 21

Actor
Jan Lupton
Movie
1945

The Power of the Whistler

Actor
Francie
Movie
1945

Dancing in Manhattan

Actor
Julie Connors
Movie
1944

Three Is a Family

Actor
Hazel Whittaker
Movie
1944

Nine Girls

Actor
"Butch" Hendricks
Movie
1944

There's Something About a Soldier

Actor
Jean Burton
Movie
1943

My Sister Eileen

Actor
Helen Loomis
Movie
1942

The Boogie Man Will Get You

Actor
Winnie Slade
Movie
1942

A Night to Remember

Actor
Anne Stafford Carstairs
Movie
1942