'', 1973 McDonough began her career as a child actor, portraying
Erin Walton in the series
The Waltons beginning in September 1972, a role which she would portray until the series' finale nine years later in 1981. She appeared in the PBS children's television
Zoom as a ZOOMguest; the segment showed her filming the Season 1 episode "The Yearling" while she narrated. She made her feature film debut with a minor part in the action film
Lovely But Deadly (1981) before co-starring with
Melissa Sue Anderson in the television horror film
Midnight Offerings (1981). McDonough was subsequently cast in a lead role in the slasher horror film
Mortuary (1983), opposite
Lynda Day George and
Bill Paxton. She reprised her role of Erin Walton in several of
The Waltons subsequent television reunion films ''A Wedding on Walton's Mountain
, Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain
, and A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain'' (all released and televised in 1982). In 1987, she had a lead role in the dark comedy
Funland, about an unhinged amusement park operator. In the 1990s, McDonough appeared again as Erin Walton in a further three
Waltons reunion made-for-TV films:
A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (1993),
A Walton Wedding (1995), and
A Walton Easter (1997). In the 2000s, she returned to other television acting roles, guest-starring on
Boston Legal (2004–2008 on
ABC) and
The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–2010 on
CBS). McDonough has been a radio guest on international and syndicated shows such as
Get Focused Radio with
Kate Hennessy. She can be seen on the internet in the show
McDougall M.D. as part of the broadcasts on the TBN network. In 2018, McDonough's book
Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane was adapted into the
Hallmark Channel film
of the same name starring
Alicia Witt and
Colin Ferguson. McDonough also appeared in the film in a minor supporting role. ==Personal life==