Elyse Donalson, who appeared in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and on such acclaimed shows as St. Elsewhere, The X-Files and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman across more than two decades in Hollywood, has died. She was 78.
Donalson died unexpectedly Jan. 28 at her home in Studio City, her sister, Harriette Meyer, told The Hollywood Reporter.
The angelic Donalson came to Los Angeles from Texas in the early 1980s and would land parts on more than two dozen TV series, among them Doogie Howser, M.D., Anything But Love, Chicago Hope, The Practice and Beverly Hills, 90210.
In Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), which marked the first starring turn for Paul Rudd, Donalson portrayed a woman in a sanitarium who startles Rudd’s Tommy Doyle after she’s stabbed by Myers (A. Michael Lerner).
She played a nun in 1986 on St. Elsewhere; a judge in 1988 on Matlock; a nurse in 1989 on Quantum Leap and on a couple of 2000 episodes of JAG; and an elderly woman in 2000 on The X-Files.
Fans of Dr. Quinn might remember her for the 1993 installment “Mike’s Dream: A Christmas Tale” when her character, Mrs. Marley, blames Dr. Mike (Jane Seymour) for the death of her husband.
Mary Elise Donalson was born on Oct. 5, 1947, in Victoria, Texas. Her father, Harry, worked as a manager at the family lumberyard, and her mother, Frances, was a church secretary and a bookkeeper.
She graduated from Victoria High School in 1965 and from Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University), where she acted in plays. She met her future husband, Joe Houde, in college, and they moved to Arlington, Texas, and then to Los Angeles.
Donalson took acting classes in L.A. and in 1983 was hired for an episode of the CBS fantasy series Wizards and Warriors, created by Don Reo.
Her résumé also included the TV shows Our House, Starman, Hardball, Paradise and Medical Investigation and such telefilms as 1988’s Man Against the Mob, 1991’s Locked Up: A Mother’s Rage and 1994’s Children of the Dark.
A longtime member of SAG-AFTRA, Donalson made ends meet when she wasn’t acting by working at such law firms as De Castro, West, Chodorow, Mendler & Glickfeld in Westwood and Hahn & Hahn in Pasadena. She loved animals and watching movies.
In addition to her sister, survivors include her nieces, Kellie and Kate; her brother-in-law, Jimmie; her great-nieces, Madison, Macy and Piper; and her great-nephew, Clay.
Editor’s note: For too many years to count, Donalson was a fantastic friend to Mike Barnes and his wife, Robin: “She was as lovely and sweet as any person we’ve ever met.”
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