Donna Douglas, the girl who sported Elly May Clampett’s blonde pigtails for nine seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies has passed away. Friday morning, January 2, 2015 her family announced that she died in Zachary, LA. She was 81 years-old.

Douglas was born in September 1933 in Pride, Louisiana. Prior to her acting career she was named Miss Baton Rouge and later Miss New Orleans. She moved to New York and won a role in Twilight Zone in 1959, then followed that up with several TV guest spots in shows such as Mister Ed, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Adam 12, and Route 66. From 1962 to 1971 Douglas starred in every episode of The Beverly Hillbillies as Jed Clampett’s only daughter Elly May, and revisited the character in a made for TV reunion movie in 1981. In 1966 she starred in Frankie and Johnny with Elvis Presley.

Douglas sued Mattel in 2011 for using her name and likeness without permission and the suit was settled for an undisclosed sum. Her last onscreen appearance was in Chronicles of Life Trials in 2013.