Elly May Clampett has gone home, y’hear?
She should be happy now that the Pope says there are critters in heaven.
I wouldn’t have guessed she was 81 - that’s my mom’s age!
She was also Janet Tyler (the woman under the bandages) on the Twilight Zone episode “Eye of the Beholder.”
Ellie Mae was 81? OMG only 1 year younger than my mom? I would have sworn she was only 18 or 19 when the show started in 1963.
I knew Max Baer was older than Jethro. He was born in 1937. Donna in 1933. It’s incredible to find out she was 30 and playing a teenage Ellie Mae.
Let me get my jaw off the floor. RIP Donna Douglas.
I could have sworn that in the first season, Elly May mentioned as being 14, but I’m not sure.
Huh. For some reason, I thought she was 83.
You know who else is 81? Barbara ‘99’ Feldon.
A beautiful woman. RIP, Donna.
Granny definitely tried to pass Ellie off as younger - because she was reaching the age where she was too old to get married (at least in Granny’s mind).
I don’t remember if Ellie’s age was mentioned or not.
Brian
Oh, wow! Not only was she one of the most beautiful women who ever lived (she was even prettier in her ***Twilight Zone ***episode than she was as Ellie Mae), she was a dead ringer for an old girlfriend of mine.
“A girl’s past 14, she’s past her prime,” my eye!
RIP! 
Wow, I realize she has gotten older, but had no idea she was 81 or so. The several times I saw her on TV as herself, she seemed so nice and genuine. RIP.
The Beverly Hillbillies is one of my favorite shows, and has entertained me more over the years than just about any show I can think of. I remember watching it as a small child, a teenager and young adult, and then introducing it to my kids and enjoying it all over again watching it with them. The first three or four seasons of the show were terrifically funny, especially the first two years.
Oh no! I’ll hug a critter in her honor.
RIP
“This has been a Film-ways prezzen-tayshun!”
RIP, Ellie Mae.
See ya by the great cee-ment pond in the sky!
That was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the story earlier today.
When I was 13, I interviewed her for a school project. She couldn’t have
been nicer – she even invited me to a kids’ Christmas party at the studio,
and sent me a little book as a gift. Such a sweet person.
I still remember a poem Granny had about the marriageable ages of girls.
Thirteen and fourteen, a girl’s in her prime.
Fifteen and sixteen, she’s still got time.
Seventeen and eighteen, she’s almost done.
Nineteen and twenty, her pa needs a gun.
Well, doggies! That’s just plain turrible news t’heah! RIP, Donna.
Exactly what I thought when I heard.
She was probably my first pre-Carrie Fisher crush. Come to think of it, that character probably made me have an affinity for tomboyish gals. My wife’s pretty erudite, and would never beat me if we were wrassilin’, but she’s still pretty tough, enjoys working with her hands, and has a way with animals. My subconscious ideal woman is probably a nexus between Granny, Ellie Mae, and Princess Leia.
And now I wonder if my ideal idea of a male is some nexus between Jed, Jethro Bodine, Han Solo and Obi-Wan. I had way too many Beverly Hillbillies reruns in my youth. It’s affected my musical taste, I’m sure.
Either way, she had a good run, and had an impact on this boy’s life. RIP.
One of my all time favorite TV shows. As a kid, I wanted to be Ellie May. A piece of my childhood has gone.