Family members say Donna Douglas passed away at the age of 82. Douglas was an actress, best known for her role as Elly May Clampett, the only daughter of Jed Clampett, in the CBS television series The Beverly Hillbillies. The series ran for nine years, ending in 1971.
Charlene Smith, Douglas' niece and former mayor of Zachary, says her aunt passed away Thursday, Jan. 1 in her Zachary, LA home, with family members by her side. She says pancreatic cancer was the cause of death and only learned she had cancer three months ago.
Douglas was born Doris Smith, near Pride, LA. Her family was poor, but they moved to north Baton Rouge when her father, Emmett Smith, got a job with Esso Oil Company.
She married at age 17 and a baby boy came along, but the marriage split. Her parents, Emmet and Elma Smith, kept their grandson while Donna moved to New York to try and make as much money as possible to send back home.
"I believed if I believed with all my heart that if I did the best I could do, that God would take care of me," said Douglas in a 2009 interview with WAFB. "Then I didn't have to be afraid. And the other thing was that Mom and Daddy trusted me enough to let me go and was gonna help me with my little boy, because he was gonna stay. Then I was gonna be worth of their trust."
Donna then moved to Los Angeles where she landed the coveted role of Elly May Clampett...
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