'Beverly Hillbillies' Actress Donna Douglas Dies At 82

Donna Douglas, one of the four stars of “The Beverly Hillbillies” television series, died of pancreatic cancer Thursday at the Baton Rouge General Hospital, near her home in Zachary, Louisiana, USA Today reported. She was 82.

Douglas played Elly May Clampett on the situation comedy between 1962 and 1971. “She was Elly May until the day she died,” co-star Max Baer, 77, told the online site RumorFix. “When I saw her for autograph signings or other gatherings, she always dressed the same with pink or blue, and of course those signature pigtails.”

Baer is the only one of the four stars of “The Beverly Hillbillies” still alive. He said he last saw Douglas in Los Angeles in January 2013 and that the actress had been battling her cancer the past few months.

Douglas’ niece-in-law Charlene Smith described her as a “very good Christian lady. We all loved her … Whenever she gave presents, they always came with [passages] from Scripture.”

Born in 1933, Douglas was a former Miss Baton Rouge and former Miss New Orleans. She was married and divorced twice. Her second marriage was to one of the show’s directors, Robert M. Leeds. She leaves behind her only child, son Danny Burgeois, along with three grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, one brother and other extended family members.