BATON ROUGE —Donna Douglas, the Louisiana actress best known as Elly May Clampett on the 'Beverly Hillbillies' television show, has died according to family members quoted by WBRZ.com in Baton Rouge.

Douglas died New Year's Day. She was 81 years old.

"Yesterday, our family lost a mother, grandmother, sister and a friend," Douglas' granddaughter said. "She will be remembered for her strong Christian presence, upbeat spirit, and unbelievably kind heart. Her career and life brought joy and smiles to so many, and our family respectfully asks for privacy during this difficult time. We appreciate the thoughts and prayers from all those who knew and loved her."

Douglas was chosen for the part of Elly May from more than 500 other actresses. She said she felt at ease playing the role because, like her character, she grew up a poor Southern tomboy. The experience came in handy when she was asked during her audition to milk a goat.

"I had milked cows before," she recalled in a 2008 interview with the Associated Press. "I figured they were equipped the same, so I just went on over and did it."

Though assailed by critics, the show ran for nine seasons and can still be seen in reruns.

Douglas' career began with beauty pageants -- she was a Miss Baton Rouge and Miss New Orleans -- followed by a trip to New York to pursue a career in entertainment.

"That was the first time I had ever been on an airplane," Douglas recalled.

While modeling didn't appeal to her -- "I didn't want to be that skinny" -- television did. Douglas was featured as the Letters Girl on "The Perry Como Show" in 1957 and as the Billboard Girl on "The Steve Allen Show" in 1959.

The titles landed her an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," which Douglas says was her big break. Hollywood producer Hal Wallis saw her on the show and invited her to audition for a movie contract in Los Angeles.

"I didn't know what I was doing," she said with a laugh. "I had been in acting class all of two weeks."




http://www.koco.com/news/donna-douglas-tvs-elly-may-clampett-dead-at-81/30502392#comments

She kind of retired after "The Beverly Hillbillies" went off the air - I don't recall seeing her in anything after that.

Normally, I hate "I met those celebrities" stories - except for this one time. Because this one (and come to think of it, only one) is mine:

It was about 1980 or so and I was working as a Field Service Engineer for a computer typesetting company. I was installing a typesetting machine at one of the mega-ministries that are in or near Tulsa, Oklahoma (no, it wasn't Oral Roberts'). I was crouched down behind one of the machines doing something to it, when all of a sudden one of the graphics artists came into the room where I was and tapped me on the shoulder: "Do you know who that lady is over there?" he asked as he pointed to a rather attractive, middle aged looking lady.

I was in a glass enclosed room, and I looked at the woman standing on the other side of the glass and said, "not really. Who is she?"

"Donna Douglas - she played Elly Mae Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies".

I looked again and then said, "oh yeah. I see the resemblance now."

"Would you like to meet her?" my graphics artist friend said. "Sure!" I replied.

So I went over, met her, and even got her autograph. She seemed very sweet, quiet and nice. I told her I had been a big fan when TBH was running.

It turned out that she was attending school there (part of the ministry was a Bible School) - she had just recently become a Christian.

Very sad news, indeed - especially given that it was Pancreatic Cancer that claimed her. Not a pretty way to die.

RIP, Elly Mae.

Quote: ThirstyMan wrote in post #2

---

A Christian witness! She's with the Lord tonight.

Rufus did she add Proverbs 4:5-6 under her siggy?

I read somewhere that's what she did.

---

RIP, Donna. The fact she was 81 when she died makes me feel very, very old.

Nice story, Rufus, The typesetting machine really took me back. I remember those painfully. Poring over type samples to see what we could afford. Changing the belt or disk to change fonts. Printing out headers and affixing them to the layout with hot wax...ah, the good old days.