1. Donna Douglas was born Doris Ione Smith in the community of Pride, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, on September 26,1932.
25 Facts About Donna Douglas
1. 2.
Donna Douglas attended St Gerard Catholic High School, where she played softball and basketball, and was a member of the school's first graduating class.
3.
Donna Douglas was named Miss Baton Rouge and Miss New Orleans in 1957.
4.
Donna Douglas moved to New York City to pursue a career in show business, and started as an illustration model for toothpaste advertisements.
5.
Donna Douglas was featured as the "Letters Girl" on NBC's The Perry Como Show in 1957 and as the "Billboard Girl" on NBC's The Steve Allen Show in 1959.
6.
Donna Douglas appeared in a 1958 episode of The Phil Silvers Show "Bilko and the Crosbys" credited as Doris Bourgeois, her given name and her married name from her first marriage.
7.
Donna Douglas made numerous television appearances in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including The Twilight Zone episode "Eye of the Beholder".
8.
Donna Douglas played Barbara Simmons in four 1961 episodes of the CBS detective series Checkmate.
9.
Donna Douglas appeared in Thriller, season one, episode 16, "The Hungry Glass".
10.
Continually typecast as a result of her Hillbillies role, Donna Douglas decided to focus on her career as a gospel singer.
11.
Donna Douglas was a guest star on a number of other television programs and the subject of paper dolls, dolls, coloring books, and various toys during the height of the show's popularity.
12.
Donna Douglas is a wonderful little door opener for me because people love her, and they love the Hillbillies.
13.
Donna Douglas received her real-estate license after The Beverly Hillbillies finished production.
14.
Donna Douglas did not work in that field long as she remained in show business and found other projects.
15.
Donna Douglas frequently performed as a gospel singer and was a speaker at church groups, youth groups, schools, and colleges across the United States.
16.
Donna Douglas recorded several gospel albums, the first released in 1982, and recorded a few minor country music records during the 1970s and 1980s.
17.
In 2013, Donna Douglas published a cookbook, Southern Favorites with a Taste of Hollywood, which collects recipes of Southern cooking from show-business friends and colleagues such as Ebsen, Phyllis Diller, Valerie Harper, and Debbie Reynolds.
18.
Donna Douglas had her only child, Danny Bourgeois, in 1954.
19.
Donna Douglas married Robert M Leeds, director of The Beverly Hillbillies, in 1971; they divorced in 1980.
20.
In 1982 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Donna Douglas enrolled at Rhema Bible Training Center, where she graduated in 1984 with an emphasis in children's ministry.
21.
On May 4,2011, Donna Douglas filed a federal lawsuit claiming that Mattel and CBS Consumer Products used her name and likeness for a Barbie doll in the Classic TV Collection without her authorization.
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Donna Douglas maintained that she had never endorsed the doll nor given Mattel permission to use her name to promote its sale, and she sought $75,000 in damages.
23.
Donna Douglas claimed that CBS and Mattel needed her approval to design the doll, while CBS and Mattel maintained that they did not need her consent or approval because the network held the exclusive rights to the character.
24.
Donna Douglas died of pancreatic cancer at Baton Rouge General Hospital on January 1,2015, aged 82.
25.
Donna Douglas was buried in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana's Bluff Creek Cemetery.