Jeff Donnell; Played Wife of George Gobel in Series

Jeff Donnell, who began in films as a wide-eyed ingenue playing teen-age daughters and ended by portraying their mothers, has died of a probable heart attack.

George Gobel’s long-suffering wife “Alice” on the TV series of the 1950s was 66.

Her son, Phineas Anderson, said Wednesday his mother had died at her Hollywood home on Monday. A featured or utility player in more than 50 films, she most recently had been seen as Stella Fields, a housekeeper and maid on “General Hospital.” In a Columbia pictures career that spanned 30 years, Miss Donnell was seen in such films as “My Sister Eileen,” “A Night to Remember,” “Roughshod,” “The Fuller Brush Girl,” “My Man Godfrey,” “Tora! Tora! Tora!” and “Stand Up and Be Counted,” in 1972.

She also was seen as Gidget’s mother in the film series about young love at the beach.

On television she appeared frequently on “U.S. Steel Hour,” “Play of the Week,” “Playhouse 90” and the June Allyson and Ann Sothern shows.

Since 1979 she had been the housekeeper for the Quartermaines, an elderly couple on “General Hospital.” A spokesman for the series said no decision had been made on the future of the role.

Born Jean Marie Donnell in South Windham, Me., Miss Donnell took the name “Jeff” to the stage in deference to a favored uncle. (She was given the name legally in 1966).

She attended Yale University Drama School, Leland Powers School in Boston and was appearing in summer stock and repertory theater in New England when seen by agents for Columbia.

Her 1942 screen test in New York produced what proved to be a permanent trip to Hollywood. Although she was in her early 20s she appeared so youthful on screen that she was given roles normally assigned to teen-agers.

But her appearances from 1954 to 1958 on the popular Gobel show probably made her more of a celebrity than all her films.

On them she was “Lonesome George’s” alternately loving and tormenting wife, adding to the consternations already plaguing the diminutive, crew-cut comic. From the show sprang such popular phrases as “You don’t hardly get those no more” and “Well, I’ll be a dirty bird.”

Miss Donnell was married and divorced three times. Her second husband was the actor Aldo Ray.

A memorial service will be held Friday at 1 p.m. at Pierce Brothers Mortuary, 1218 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles 90024. Her son asked that in lieu of flowers checks be sent to the mortuary in care of his sister, Sally Durham.

“We hope to get enough money to get her a star” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he said. “It was something we had wanted to do as a surprise while she was alive.”