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The Beverly Hillbillies star Donna Douglas dies

Veteran actress Donna Douglas has died at the age of 81. The TV star passed away at her home in Pride, Louisiana on New Year’s Day (01Jan15).
A former beauty queen, Douglas was named Miss Baton Rouge and Miss New Orleans in 1957, before she embarked on a career onscreen.
She landed appearances on a handful of U.S. talk shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, where she was spotted by film producer Hal Wallis, who cast her alongside Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine in his 1959 film Career.
She went on to score roles in musical comedy Li’l Abner and Lover Come Back, but she became a pop culture icon and earned the most recognition for her role as Elly May Clampett in 1960s TV series The Beverly Hillbillies from 1962 to 1971.
Douglas reprised her role in 1981 for the TV movie reunion, The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies.
She also featured in a string of other TV hits, including Mister Ed, The Twilight Zone, Route 66 and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and starred alongside Elvis Presley in 1966 movie Frankie and Johnny.
Her final screen credit came in 2013 with family movie Chronicles of Life Trials, which she also directed.
In her later years, Douglas also hit headlines for two famous lawsuits. In the 1990s, she tried and failed to sue bosses at film giant Disney for allegedly stealing her idea for the movie Sister Act, and in 2011, she filed suit against toymakers at Mattel for allegedly using her as the inspiration for a Barbie doll without her permission. That case was settled out of court.
Douglas was married twice – to Roland John Bourgeois, Jr. until 1954, and then to The Beverly Hillbillies director Robert M. Leeds. They divorced in 1980 after nine years of marriage.

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