Donna Douglas is an American actress, best known for her role as Elly May Clampett in The Beverly Hillbillies 1962-1971

Donna Douglas (born September 26, 1933) is an American actress, best known for her role as Elly May Clampett in the CBS television series, The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-1971). Douglas was born Doris Smith in the community of Pride in East Baton Rouge Parish, near Zachary, Louisiana. She was the only daughter of Emmett Ratcliff Smith, Sr. (1907–1988)] and his wife, the former Elma Robinson (1910–2003). Douglas attended St. Gerard High School, a Roman Catholic school, where she played softball and basketball. She was a member of the school's first graduating class. She married Roland Bourgeois in 1949; they divorced shortly after the birth in 1954 of their son, Danny P. Bourgeois. She was a "Miss Baton Rouge" and was named "Miss New Orleans" in 1957. Douglas moved to New York City to pursue a career in entertainment and started out as an illustration model for toothpaste advertisements. She was featured as the “Letters Girl” on NBC's The Perry Como Show in 1957, and as the “Billboard Girl” on NBC's The Steve Allen Show in 1959. These and other television appearances led New York photographers and newspaper reporters to award her the “Miss By-line” crown, which she wore on CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show. Producer Hal Wallis saw the Sullivan episode and cast her in the role of Marjorie Burke in the movie drama, Career (1959), starring Anthony Franciosa, Dean Martin, and Shirley MacLaine. This was followed by a bit part in the musical comedy, Li'l Abner (1959) and the role of a secretary in the comedy/romance Lover Come Back (1961) starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day. She made numerous television appearances in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including a notable episode of The Twilight Zone, entitled "The Eye of the Beholder" (1960). She was cast as Barbara Simmons in four 1961 episodes of the CBS detective series, Checkmate. Her other credits, among others, were in U.S. Marshal, Tightrope, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Bachelor Father, and Route 66. Douglas also appeared in Thriller, season 1, episode 16, "The Hungry Glass," which also starred William Shatner, Russell Johnson, and Boris Karloff. The turning point in Douglas’ career came when she was chosen to play the role of the tomboy Elly May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies. She starred on the program for all nine seasons, along with Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Nancy Kulp, Raymond Bailey, and Max Baer, Jr. The Beverly Hillbillies became the number one show in the United States in its first two years. During the 1966 summer hiatus for the show, Douglas made her only starring motion picture appearance, cast as Frankie in Frederick de Cordova's Frankie and Johnny (1966), opposite Elvis Presley. The film proved popular, and is among Presley’s most frequently televised movies, but it did little to advance Douglas's big-screen career. In 1981, she returned for a made-for-TV reunion movie, The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies

Gallery of vintage hillbilly Donna Douglas