Donald Arlen "Donnie" Pritchett was the loud and obnoxious younger brother of Jay Pritchett.
He suffered from prostate cancer.
History[]
When he was eight, a bully named Joey Calieri took Donnie's bicycle, so his older brother defended him and put Joey's head in the ice as revenge. ("The Musical Man").
Season 1[]
While not onscreen, his voice is heard on a phone call wishing Jay a happy birthday, he discusses the subject of physical health with Jay much to his fright.
Season 2[]
Donnie, now seen onscreen visits Jay for a while. Donnie appears, at first, to have an abrasive, dysfunctional relationship with his brother, which mostly consists of frequent physical assaults and insults to one another, much to the confusion of Gloria. On top of that, Donnie mentions relatives that Jay doesn't remember knowing about. Gloria advises Jay to be nicer to his brother when he plans to prank him, at first Jay doesn't think much of it. However, during a game of pool and while having awkward small talk, Jay tries to have a civil conversation with him insisting that families are always open with each other, Donnie now feeling that he has no alternative, tells Jay that he's ill but the doctors managed to catch it early giving him a good chance to sur. Jay realizes that his brother is suffering from cancer, he becomes much more sympathetic, Donnie asks Jay to keep it quiet to which he agrees, he watches Donnie leave the room feeling very concerned for him. During the play, Donnie teases Jay which annoys Gloria resulting in her almost hitting him, Jay tells her not to hit him and carelessly reveals his secret unintentionally, Donnie leaves and Jay goes after him. The two share an emotional moment, as Donnie reminds Jay of the time he protected him against a bully. They walk back to the play while bantering with each other. As the two watch the rest of the play, havoc occurs on the stage, the children tries to hold up letters to spell we "We Love The World", but the L is missing from "World", Cam orders the stagehands to lower the insignia which turns out to be the F, humorously spelling out "We Love The F Word", Jay and Donnie both laugh at the situation. After this episode, Donnie is never seen again. It is unknown whether or not he is still alive, though since he mentioned that the doctors were able to help him early, it's very likely that he is still alive and possibly even overcame his cancer.
Appearances[]
- He only appears in one episode.
| Modern Family, Season 2 | |||||||
| #01 | "The Old Wagon" | #09 | "Mother Tucker" | #17 | "Two Monkeys and a Panda" | ||
| #02 | "The Kiss" | #10 | ""Dance Dance Revelation" | #18 | "Boys' Night" | ||
| #03 | "Earthquake" | #11 | "Slow Down Your Neighbors" | #19 | "The Musical Man" | ||
| #04 | "Strangers on a Treadmill" | #12 | "Our Children, Ourselves" | #20 | "Someone to Watch Over Lily" | ||
| #05 | "Unplugged" | #13 | "Caught in the Act" | #21 | "Mother's Day" | ||
| #06 | "Halloween" | #14 | "Bixby's Back" | #22 | "Good Cop Bad Dog" | ||
| #07 | "Chirp" | #15 | "Princess Party" | #23 | "See You Next Fall" | ||
| #08 | "Manny Get Your Gun" | #16 | "Regrets Only" | #24 | "The One That Got Away" | ||
Trivia[]
- Donnie is both uncredited and does not physically appear in the episode "Hawaii", however his voice is heard. It is unknown if that was the voice of Jonathan Banks who played the character in "The Musical Man", however it is unlikely.
- It is revealed that Donnie is younger than Jay in "Spring-a-Ding-Fling" when Jay calls him "my baby brother". Also in "The Musical Man", Donnie said that Jay cared about him since they were 8 and 10 years old, signifying that the two brothers are 2 years old apart.
- Despite their turbulent relationship as adults, they appeared close as children.
- Jay appears to have a better relationship with Donnie than their sister.
- It is unknown if he gets along with his sister Becky.