Amanda Renfrew is the mother of Shirley Partridge and the wife of Fred Renfrew.
Background[]
Amanda has been married to Fred since roughly 1926. When they were courting, he used to play Bye Bye Blackbird. He also likes to sing My Best Girl to her. Over the course of their marriage, whenever Fred wanted to do something exciting or reckless, Amanda would restrain him. In 1969 or 1970, Fred started going through a mid-life crisis, much to Amanda's irritation. He got her a miniskirt for their forty-fourth anniversary.[1]
According to Hel-l-lp!!!, Chris and Tracy Partridge's grandparents live on a farm. It's unknown if that refers to Fred and Amanda or to Mr. Partridge's parents.
On the series[]
In every one of their appearances, Fred and Amanda separate, then get back together again.
In Whatever Happened to the Old Songs? Fred wants to sail to Hawaii in a twenty-foot sailing boat. When Amanda refuses to go along with him, he leaves her and follows the Partridge Family to pursue his dreams of working in show business. Amanda attends the first concert where Fred will sing lead on a song. She requests Bye Bye Blackbird. As Fred sings, he and Amanda realize they still love each other. They reconcile and buy tickets for a round-the-world cruise together so Fred can travel and Amanda can be safe.
In The Forty-Year Itch,Fred decides to move to Big Sur to live in the woods. Amanda refuses to go with him, so he goes without her. She and Fred both end up staying at the Partridges' house in San Pueblo. Over the next few days, she gets on the Partridges' nerves by constantly arguing with Fred and by lowering the hems on all of Laurie Partridge's dresses to be more modest. After Fred finally sets out to hitchhike to Big Sur, the Partridges take Amanda along and start driving to their next venue, which is on the way to Big Sur, in the hopes of finding Fred. They find him lying by the side of the road and let him into the bus. When they reach the venue, the Partridges decide to play "My Best Girl." This reminds Fred and Amanda that they love each other, and they decide to stay together. Amanda even agrees to try living in the woods for a week.
In The Modfather, Amanda and her husband, now named Walter, go to an encounter group and leave convinced that they've solved all the problems of human relationships. They temporarily move in with the Partridges in order to teach them to overanalyze their body language and share all their thoughts, no matter how insulting. Eventually Amanda and Walter decide that their work is done and leave, but not long afterwards, they both tell each other that the marriage has lost its zip. Amanda and Walter move back in with the Partridges and immediately start fighting. Soon they decide to get a divorce, but continue to live together in an open relationship. Shirley suggests that they save money on lawyers by getting an imaginary divorce. That night, Amanda goes to see the Partridge Family at the Boat House with her old friend Dwight, who spends the whole date droning on about his career and not letting her get a word in edgewise. While the Partridge Family plays Something New Got Old, Amanda and Walter ditch their respective dates and go to be with each other. They spend the next day talking to each other upstairs in the Partridge house. In the end, they decide that their problems are insurmountable, but that they still want to be together. They decide to renew their marriage vows in a small, private ceremony at the Partridge house. Keith Partridge gives Amanda away.
In Maid in San Pueblo, Amanda is furious at Walter for saying that she can't survive without him, so she pressures Shirley into hiring her as a maid in order to prove she can take care of herself. The Partridges spend the next few days trying to do all the housework before she does and distracting her before she can do difficult chores like mowing the lawn. Shirley, exhausted, invites Walter over in the hopes of getting him and Amanda to make up. Keith makes the mistake of saying that women are dependent on men but men can fend for themselves. This results in a war of the sexes. The women cook for themselves and refuse to let the men have any. The men hatch a plan for Reuben Kincaid and Walter to pretend to be burglars, but Danny Partridge tells the women everything in exchange for a slice of cake, so Shirley just calls the police. Shirley finally orders Walter and Amanda to settle their differences by morning. The two stay up all night talking and fall asleep on the sofa together. Now reconciled, the two attend the Partridge Family's next concert and listen to Ricky Stevens sing Grandma (We Love You Just the Way You Are) in the backyard.