Donna Douglas, ‘Elly May Clampett’, Has Passed Away At Age 82

According to the Associated Press, Actress Donna Douglas has passed away.

(AP) - The actress who portrayed the pretty tomboy, Elly May Clampett on "The Beverly Hillbillies," has died. Donna Douglas was 82 years old. She died Thursday from pancreatic cancer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is where she had lived. Douglas appeared in commercials and TV shows in the 1950s, but was best known for her role in "The Beverly Hillbillies," a 1960s sitcom about a backwoods Tennessee family who moved to Beverly Hills after striking it rich from oil. In 2009, Douglas told The Associated Press that she enjoyed working on her son's farm in Louisiana, cutting grass and baling hay.

Here's the original story when she celebrated her 80th birthday:

So many of us of a, uh, certain age grew up with Granny, Jed, Jethro and Jed.  Then of course there was Mr. Drysdale, Miss Hathaway and all those critters!

"The Beverly Hillbillies" became a staple in our house as we watched the shenanigans of the Clampetts in their Beverly Hills mansion.  Ol Jed became a millionaire when "Black Gold, Texas Tea" was discovered on this land back in "them thar hills".  So it was off to California.

Jed is gone now.  Actor Buddy Ebsen died in 2003 at the ripe old age of 95.  Granny (Irene Ryan) passed away too young, back in 1973, at the age of 70.

Max Baer Jr. played Jethro and is 74 years old.  Did you know his Dad was a World Boxing Champion?

And believe it or not, the lovely Ellie May Clampett is having a birthday September 26th.  I first remember seeing Donna Douglas on an episode of "The Twilight Zone". (Remember the episode where the young woman has plastic surgery, and it doesn't work...she stays beautiful while the rest of the world is facially deformed?).

Donna Douglas is now 80 years old.  Somehow it kind of makes you feel old, right? The Ellie May in her swimsuit by the "cement pond" is 80.

Happy birthday Donna,or Ellie May.  And thank you so much for the great memories!  Of course, the Hillbillies will never die.  Check your TV, they're on there somewhere and always will be!