TLDR: Donna Douglas was born Doris Ione Smith on September 26, 1932, in Pride, Louisiana, grew up as a genuine tomboy on her grandparents’ farm, milked a goat at her Beverly Hillbillies audition to prove she was the real thing, and played Elly May Clampett for nine seasons on a show that premiered on her 30th birthday.
After the show ended she recorded gospel albums, wrote children’s books, and spent decades as a Christian speaker.
She died of pancreatic cancer on January 1, 2015.
Her final message to Max Baer Jr. was: tell Maxie I thought I was going to get better.
When Paul Henning had narrowed his search for Elly May Clampett to the final candidates, he asked each actress one last question: could she milk a goat? Most of them hesitated.
Donna Douglas walked over to the animal and did it. She had grown up milking cows on her grandparents’ farm in Louisiana and figured, as she later told the Associated Press, that a goat was equipped the same way. She got the role.
The Beverly Hillbillies premiered on September 26, 1962. It was her 30th birthday. She played Elly May Clampett for nine seasons across 274 episodes and became one of the most recognizable faces on American television.
When it was over she walked away from Hollywood on her own terms and spent the next four decades doing exactly what she wanted to do.
Pride, Louisiana and the Actual Tomboy
Doris Ione Smith was born in the unincorporated community of Pride in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.
Her father worked for Standard Oil. Much of her childhood was spent on her grandparents’ 23-acre farm in Baywood, where she grew up alongside an older brother and eight male cousins, wearing hand-me-down clothes and doing whatever they did.
She pitched on a boys’ softball team until she was fourteen. She later said she hadn’t known a girls’ team existed.
She attended Redemptorist High School in Baton Rouge, was part of the school’s first graduating class, and excelled in softball and basketball.
She married Roland John Bourgeois Jr. in her early twenties and had her only child, son Danny, born September 14, 1954. The marriage ended in divorce that same year.
She was a single mother in the mid-1950s South with a child to support and a striking face that kept getting noticed.
She won Miss Baton Rouge and then Miss New Orleans in 1957. She moved to New York, lived in inexpensive boarding houses and ate one meal a day to send money home, and began working as a model.
She became the Letters Girl on The Perry Como Show and the Billboard Girl on The Steve Allen Show.
New York photographers named her Miss By-line. She wore the title on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Hal Wallis saw her there and cast her in the 1959 film Career, where she appeared alongside Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine.
Eye of the Beholder
Before Elly May, the role that demonstrated what she was actually capable of was a 1960 Twilight Zone episode called “Eye of the Beholder.”
She played Janet Tyler, a woman who has undergone eleven surgeries to correct a facial deformity in a society where the normal human face looks like a distorted pig-featured creature.
For most of the episode her face is entirely wrapped in bandages, requiring her to convey everything through voice and body language.
When the bandages come off and reveal her classically beautiful face, the medical staff reacts with horror. She is the monster in their world.
It is still considered one of the best episodes of the entire Twilight Zone run. Douglas carried it almost entirely without showing her face.
By 1962 she was playing a girl whose defining characteristic was her beauty and her animals. The range was always there. The industry mostly didn’t need it.
Nine Seasons of Elly May
The Beverly Hillbillies required Douglas to handle roughly 500 animals over the course of the show’s run, including raccoons, skunks, foxes, chimpanzees, and on at least one occasion a bear.
She took all of it seriously.
She worked closely with animal trainer Frank Inn and believed that wild animals could sense the sincerity of an actor. Her most famous animal co-star was a chimpanzee she called Skipper.
She once noted that Elly May didn’t kiss a lot of men but she sure kissed a lot of critters. This was accurate.
She received more fan mail than any other cast member and appeared on the cover of TV Guide multiple times. Her relationship with Buddy Ebsen, who played Jed Clampett, was the most personally important relationship of her professional life.
She described him as reminding her of her own father, a quiet, reserved, caring presence who protected her and helped her navigate the demands of fame.
They remained friends for 32 years. She and Max Baer Jr. visited Ebsen in the hospital before his death in 2003 and both delivered eulogies.
In 1966, during the show’s hiatus, she starred opposite Elvis Presley in Frankie and Johnny, a Western musical filmed in Hollywood and New Orleans. It was her only feature film lead.
The film performed modestly. She was already so completely Elly May in the public consciousness that audiences had difficulty seeing her as a riverboat singer.
After the Rural Purge
CBS cancelled The Beverly Hillbillies in 1971 as part of the rural purge. Douglas was 38 years old and one of the most recognizable women on American television.
She was also, professionally, almost exclusively Elly May. She sought dramatic roles. The industry sent her more Elly Mays.
She turned down roles in shows she felt had content that conflicted with her values, which narrowed the options further. She got a real estate license and used it briefly. She appeared in the 1981 Beverly Hillbillies television movie.
She kept looking for something that felt right.
Rhema Bible College and the Gospel Years
In 1982, Douglas enrolled at Rhema Bible Training Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
She graduated in 1984 with an emphasis in children’s ministry. This was not a retreat from public life but a redirection of it. She began recording gospel music, releasing Donna Douglas Sings Gospel in 1982, followed by Here Come the Critters in 1983, Donna Douglas Sings Gospel II in 1986, and Back on the Mountain in 1989.
She became a sought-after speaker at churches, youth groups, schools, and Christian children’s homes across the South.
She didn’t abandon Elly May so much as integrate her into the new work. She described the character as a wonderful little door opener that allowed her to share messages she wanted to share.
Fans who had loved the show found her at speaking engagements and bought the records. She wrote Bible-themed children’s books including Donna’s Critters and Kids and Miss Donna’s Mulberry Acres Farm.
In 2013 she published a cookbook called Southern Favorites with a Taste of Hollywood that included recipes from Buddy Ebsen, Phyllis Diller, Valerie Harper, and Debbie Reynolds.
The Barbie Doll Lawsuit She Won
In 2011, Douglas filed a federal lawsuit against Mattel and CBS Consumer Products over an Elly May Barbie doll that used her photograph and name on the packaging without her permission.
CBS argued they owned the rights to the show and didn’t need her consent. Douglas argued her likeness was hers.
The parties eventually reached an amicable settlement outside of court, which made it a rare instance of an actor successfully asserting right-of-publicity claims against a major network over a character from their own show.
Going Home
In her final years Douglas returned to Louisiana, living near Zachary outside Baton Rouge. She gardened, responded to fan mail, appeared at conventions alongside Max Baer Jr., and remained active in her local church. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and kept it largely private.
She died on January 1, 2015, at Baton Rouge General Hospital. She was 82.
She left a final message for Max Baer Jr.: tell Maxie I thought I was going to get better.
She was buried at Bluff Creek Community Cemetery in Bluff Creek, Louisiana, which is about as far from Beverly Hills as it is possible to be.
She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1988. The Beverly Hillbillies remains in syndication. Elly May Clampett is still on television somewhere right now.
Donna Douglas would probably find that fitting.
Who played Elly May on The Beverly Hillbillies?
Elly May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies was played by Donna Douglas, born Doris Ione Smith on September 26, 1932, in Pride, Louisiana. She played the role for all nine seasons from 1962 to 1971 across 274 episodes. The Beverly Hillbillies premiered on her 30th birthday. She received more fan mail than any other cast member and appeared on the cover of TV Guide multiple times.
How did Donna Douglas get the role of Elly May?
Paul Henning auditioned more than 500 actresses for the role of Elly May Clampett. When he asked Donna Douglas if she could milk a goat, she walked over and did it without hesitation, drawing on her rural upbringing in Louisiana. She later said she had milked cows before and figured a goat was equipped the same way. Her genuine tomboy background, Southern accent, and authentic affinity for animals gave her the role.
What did Donna Douglas do after The Beverly Hillbillies?
After The Beverly Hillbillies ended in 1971, Donna Douglas faced typecasting and gradually shifted her professional focus toward Christian ministry. In 1982 she enrolled at Rhema Bible Training Center and graduated in 1984 with an emphasis in children’s ministry. She recorded multiple gospel albums, became a speaker at churches and youth organizations, and wrote children’s books with biblical themes. She also filed and settled a lawsuit against Mattel over an unauthorized Elly May Barbie doll.
How did Donna Douglas die?
Donna Douglas died on January 1, 2015, at Baton Rouge General Hospital in Louisiana from pancreatic cancer. She was 82 years old. Her niece confirmed the cause of death. She was buried at Bluff Creek Community Cemetery in Bluff Creek, Louisiana. Her final message to co-star Max Baer Jr. was that she thought she was going to get better.
Did Donna Douglas appear in any films?
Donna Douglas’s most notable film role was starring opposite Elvis Presley in Frankie and Johnny in 1966, a Western musical filmed in Hollywood and New Orleans. It was her only feature film lead. Earlier in her career she appeared in Career in 1959 alongside Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine, and had a small role in Lover Come Back with Rock Hudson and Doris Day in 1961. Her most critically acclaimed pre-fame performance was in the Twilight Zone episode Eye of the Beholder in 1960.
