'Beverly Hillbillies' Actress Donna Douglas Dies at 81 (Report)

Mike BarnesJanuary 2, 2015

Donna Douglas, best known for her role as the tomboy daughter Elly May Clampett on the 1960s fish-out-of-water CBS sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, died on New Year’s Day, according to WAFB Channel 9 in Louisiana, which cites family members. The actress was 81.

Douglas also co-starred opposite Elvis Presley in the 1966 film Frankie and Johnny and played the woman underneath the bandages in the memorable 1960 Twilight Zone episode "The Eye of the Beholder."

The Beverly Hillbillies centered on Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), a poor Ozarks mountaineer who strikes oil on his property and then moves the family to Beverly Hills. As the story goes in the theme song, “One day he was shooting for some food, and up through the ground come a bubbling crude ... Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.”

The goofy series, which also starred Irene Ryan as Jed’s crusty mother-in-law Daisy and the burly Max Baer Jr. as Elly May’s dumb brother Jethro, was a huge ratings hit on CBS — No. 1 in its first two years. It aired from September 1962 until its cancellation in March 1971.

The blonde, shapely Douglas, a native of Pride, La., who was named Miss New Orleans in a 1957 contest, started out making $500 a week on the show. That rose to $3,000 in the ninth and final season of the series.

“I didn’t have an agent, but I don’t know if that would have made any difference,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in early 2013.

Douglas didn’t appear much onscreen after the show ended but reprised her role for the 1981 telefilm The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies. She also appeared in a 1993 TV documentary about the show and made appearances at conventions that celebrated the series.

“The two things I am most asked is if I still love critters and can I still whistle like Elly May. The answer is yes to both,” she once said.

Leading to the Hillbillies, Douglas appeared on such TV shows as Tightrope, Bachelor Father, Dr. Kildare, Whirlybirds, Route 66, Checkmate and 77 Sunset Strip.

She performed as a gospel singer and wrote the book, Miss Donna’s Mulberry Acres Farm, which was published in 2011. Also that year, Douglas sued Mattel, claiming that the toy manufacturer used her name and likeness for a Barbie doll without her approval. The suit reportedly was settled.

Earlier, she sued Disney, CAA, Whoopi Goldberg and others, claiming that the idea for the 1992 movie Sister Act was stolen from the Dorothy Gilman book A Nun in the Closet that she said she had optioned. She lost that suit.

Twitter: @mikebarnes4

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