Donna Douglas died yesterday at 82 years of age. She played a starring role as Elly May on that beloved but whacky TV sitcom comedy The Beverly Hillbillies. It was one of American television’s most watched series, and it ran for nine years. It was about a poor, backwoods family that struck oil on their land, making them filthy rich. They then moved west to Beverly Hills, California, next to Hollywood. Enjoying the “good life” in sunny and culturally-modern California, however, did not take the country out of those hillbillies, and that’s what the comedy was all about.
USA TODAY reports that Donna Douglas’ relative, Charlene Smith, says Donna was a “very good Christian lady. We all loved her. Whenever she gave presents, they always came with (passages) from Scripture.” That affirms our image of the sweet, pretty, and unpretentious Elly May.
Max Baer Jr., who played Jethro as Elly May’s cousin, is now the only living member of the four-person starring cast of The Beverly Hillbillies. He says, “She was Elly May until the day she died. 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.” Ditto for you too, Max; you’ll always be Jethro.
I knew Max Baer Jr. because he participated for some years in the PGA Tour’s Bing Crosby National Pro-Am golf tournament at Monterey, California. The last round, on Sunday, was always played on the famed, picturesque Pebble Beach Golf Links that skirted Big Blue–The Pacific Ocean.
The Crosby tournament always had lots of Hollywood celebrities who played in it because crooner and Hollywood actor Der Bingle (a nickname) was very involved in it. For many of the years I played in that tournaent, I stayed with my wife and children at a kitchenette motel in Pacific Grove, next to Monterey. One year Max stayed there and we visited quite a while on the outdoor porch of his room. When I first met Max, I thought he was putting on his Jethro stage personna. But I soon realized that Max Baer Jr. is Jethro in real life. He was a lot of fun to talk to. So Max–like Donna Douglas with Elly May–you’ll always be Jerhro.
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