‘The Andy Griffith Show’: Andy’s Love Interest Left Series After Feeling Out of Place — ‘I Didn’t Feel Capable’
One star in ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ left the series after feeling less than capable.
The Andy Griffith Show is a television mainstay, a classic TV show that has held fans’ interest for over five decades. Even though the series went off the air in 1968, it remains perennially popular — even with very young viewers, who find themselves drawn to the hilariously comic situations and the warm, heartfelt characterizations.
The Andy Griffith Show featured a large ensemble cast, with some stars coming and going over the years that the show was on the air. One actor decided to leave the series early on, in spite of the fact that she was quite a fan-favorite.
Why did Andy’s first love interest decide to leave ‘The Andy Griffith Show’?
Closer Weekly reports that Donahue revealed why she left The Andy Griffith Show after only one season.
She said: “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. But the truth is, I felt like a bird out of a nest. I didn’t feel like I had all my feathers yet and I didn’t feel capable. It was the strangest feeling. 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 didn’t feel that I was playing the role properly. I just didn’t feel right about it. In retrospect, from things that people have said to me — very lovely things — I was doing OK. I was just not a happy camper and there was no point in my trying to continue with it.”
Ultimately, after Donahue left the series, showrunners were able to soldier on and find several other serious girlfriends for Andy’s character. Still, fans fondly remember Donahue, and the humor and warmth that she brought to The Andy Griffith Show.
