Oh God, that episode seriously traumatized me when I saw it in its first run. I was about 12.
RIP, Ellie May.
So Jethro is the last person standing from the Hillbillies. Granny died first. Drysdale . Miss Hathaway and Jed.
Donna and Max were all that was left of the cast.
The character with the sixth grade education outlasted them all.
Gettin lonesome at the fancy eatin table.
Dash Riprock (Larry Pennell), Ellie’s on again off again beau, died a couple years ago.
One of the actresses (Sharon Tate) who worked in the Bank’s “Secretarial Pool” was killed by Charles Manson’s family according to wiki. She was married to Roman Polanski.
In the billy-ard room, y’mean. 
Use that there fancy pot-passer and hand me th’ grits ‘n’ jowls, will ya?
The paper here said 82.
I couldn’t believe the clueless headline that showed up on google news - from eOnline - that referred to her as the ‘matriarch’ of the 60s show Beverley Hillbillies…
According to wikipedia, she was only the unbandaged woman. The actress under the bandages was Maxine Stewart. Eye of the Beholder - Wikipedia
Here’s her 1999 appearance on “The Nanny” as herself, but in the Ellie May character. - YouTube
Not exactly. Bea Benaderet (Cousin Pearl) was the first to go. She passed away in 1968, while she was still working as Kate Bradley on Petticoat Junction.
As an aside, Wally Cox, Miss Jane’s fellow birdwatching enthusiast Caspar Biddle, departed this vale of tears in 1973.
Frank Wilcox, who played oil tycoon John Brewster, died in 1974.
Harriet E. MacGibbon, aka Mrs Drysdale, went to that big mansion in the sky in 1987.
Louis Nye, the inimitable Sonny Drysdale, managed to hang on until 2005.
And the show debuted in 1962, not '63.
It’d be interesting to see how many more of the often recurring guest stars are still among us (or not, as the case may be).
Here’s a list of all the actors with ten or more appearances (lots more with fewer than 10, though), with their date of death or the current age, whichever applies. Looks like three of them are still alive. Before you look. . . can you guess which three?
[spoiler]Buddy Ebsen…2003… Jed Clampett… 274 Episodes…1962-1971
Irene Ryan…1973…Granny…274 Episodes…1962-1971
Donna Douglas…2014… Elly May Clampett…274 Episodes…1962-1971
Max Baer…(77)…Jethro Bodine…274 Episodes…1962-1971
Raymond F. Bailey…1980…Milburn Drysdale… 247 Episodes…1962-1971
Nancy Kulp…1991…Jane Hathaway…246 Episodes…1962-1971
Harriet MacGibbon… 1987… Margaret Drysdale… 55 Episodes…1962-1969
Bea Benaderet…1968… Pearl Bodine…23 Episodes…1962-1967
Shug Fisher…1984… Shorty Kellems…17 Episodes…1969-1970
Danielle Mardi… (67)… Helen Thompson…17 Episodes…1969-1971
Linda Kaye Henning… (70)… Jethrine Bodine… 16 Episodes…1962-1970
Sharon Tate…1969… Janet Trego… 15 Episodes…1963-1965
Frank Wilcox… 1974… John Brewseter… 14 Episodes…1962-1966
Hope Summers… 1979… Elverna Bradshaw…13 Episodes…1963-1970
Roger Torrey… 1985… Mark Templeton…12 Episodes…1969-1970
Larry Pennell…2013… Dash Riprock…10 Episodes…1965-1969
Frank Cady… 2012… Sam Drucker… 10 Episodes…1968-1970
Notes:
Linda Kaye Henning supplied Jethrine’s voice.
According to some stories, Roger Torrey (the Frog Man) was trying out for the role of Jethro, but his roommate Max Baer ended up getting the part.
The actress playing Janet Trego wore a dark wig, although she did appear in one episode as a different character with her normal hair.[/spoiler]
Huh! I’d’ve thought that “Cousin Roy” Clark would be on the list, but I see on Wiki that he was only in three (!) episodes. Joi Lansing (one of my first infatuations) was in more than that (five).
I knew Max was still alive; I would never have guessed the two others.
Jethrine wasn’t Max Baer in drag???
Yes, but with a real woman’s voice.
Certainly it was Maxine Stuart’s voice (until the end of the episode, when Donna Douglas did a very skillful imitation of Stuart’s voice). But the audio doesn’t sound as though the recording was made by someone actually under the bandages–it sounds as though it was made in front of a microphone and then just played over the visuals.
I happened to watch that episode during the recent Syfy Channel marathon (just before Douglas’ death was announced, by chance). From the quality of acting Douglas did at the end, it’s a shame they didn’t let her do the whole episode. She could have carried it off. But Stuart (about a dozen years older than Douglas) had a reputation as a stage actress, and I suppose the producers of that Zone episode felt that such gravitas was called for.
Far from being a teenager, she had a teenaged son for the last few years of the show’s run.
By all accounts a sweet if weird person, though she looked sort of Baby Jane terrifying with those pigtails in her last few decades.
A funny story she told: she gave her acting teachers nightmares with her southern accent when she moved to Hollywood, but finally managed to drop it just in time to get the role of Elly Mae which required a thick southern accent.
I can think of three main credits: Elly Mae, The Twilight Zone episode, and Frankie and Johnnie with Elvis (who apparently she had a fling with but did not like to talk about). Anything else memorable from her career?
I wouldn’t call this ‘memorable,’ but in a departure from the Elly May character, she had a brief role in a “Night Gallery” vignette Last Rites for a Dead Druid, in which she is enticing Bill Bixby to cheat on his wife. Coincidentally, Buddy Ebsen is in another vignette from that same airing.
I can remember that as if it was yesterday. And it still brings a smile to my face.
She will be missed but not forgotten.
I also scanned the IMDb listing for the show to see who else appeared of odd interest and/or might still be around.
David Prowse appeared in one episode! Darth Vader and Ellie Mae. The real Odd Couple.
Don Rickles, Julie Newmar, Rob Reiner, Bernie Kopell, Rich Little, June Lockhart, Pat Harrington Jr., Jo Ann Pflug, Sharon Farrell, Edy Williams and on and on.
Even Robert Osborne had one of his few acting roles on the show. Yes, that Robert Osborne.
Sitcom legend writer/producer Susan Harris appeared as a harem girl on the show. Her only acting credit aside from bits on her show Soap.
Lots of musical guests, of course. Like Roy Clark. But also a local group called “The Enemies” fronted by Cory Wells, later of 3 Dog Night fame.