Andy Griffith Was Never Comfortable With Onscreen Romance
Andy had his share of love interests throughout the series, but his first romantic relationship was with Ellie Walker (Elinor Donahue), the town’s newcomer who worked in her uncle’s drug store. Elinor Donahue was in 12 episodes as pharmacist Ellie Walker. Her character was intended to be Andy Taylor’s love interest for a while, but after one season, Donahue asked for a release from her three-year contract.
Source: Eternal Lifestyle
The reason was that she never felt true chemistry with Andy Griffith. Griffith later explained the reason for this as being his fault. He admitted that he actually had a hard time showing affection on screen. The result was that the onscreen relationship didn’t appear to be real and wasn’t believable. In the end, Elinor’s character disappeared with no explanation to the viewer.