Donna Douglas
Donna
Douglas is best known for her role as Ellie Mae Clampett on
the '60's TV series, The Beverly Hillbillies, and she was
tailor-made for the role. Raised on her grandparents farm in
Louisiana, her only companions were her cousins (all boys)
and the "critters". It wasn't much of a stretch to play
Ellie Mae, who seemed to have two or three wild animals
running around the mansion in every episode (I'm not
counting Jethro). Donna moved to the outskirts of Baton
Rouge while still a "young-un", and at the tender age of 17,
headed for New York. She entered a beauty contest sponsored
by the local newspaper industry called "Miss Byline" (!),
and she won! This led to her appearance on Ed Sullivan's
show, and a screen test. Hal Wallis apparently liked it, and
signed her up.
She made a few appearances on TV shows in the 50's and early
60's, including Dragnet and The Twilight Zone (the episode
"Eye of the Beholder" is a classic!). This led to The
Beverly Hillbillies, which was a huge success, and kept her
busy for nine years! She made surprisingly few films,
however.
In 1965, she and Elvis began filming Frankie And Johnny,
based on the story of the folk-song. In this case, Elvis
abandons all pretense of rock n roll (well, ok, so he
abandons it even more than usual!), and attempts to make a
standard Hollywood musical in the old tradition, which makes
for some wierd moments, like "Look Out Broadway", "Chesay"
and "Petunia, the Gardener's Daughter". Although the
different versions of the title song throughout the film are
pretty interesting, and of course there's the
unabashedly-chauvinistic "What Every Woman Lives For".
Although Donna's a fine singer in her own right, for some
reason her singing in the film was dubbed by Eileen Wilson.
Elvis was an avid reader of books on philosophy and
religion, and the two stars found that they had a common
interest. Between takes, they would discuss Christianity and
talk about the different books they had read. When Elvis
started getting interested in these kinds of books, he often
consulted his friend, Larry Geller, who had an extensive
collection, and they often discussed spiritual matters. I
emailed Larry and asked him about Elvis' relationship with
Donna, and here's his response:
 Hi Greg,
During the filming of "Frankie & Johnny", Elvis and Donna
Douglas became very friendly. Both were studying the works
of Paramahansa Yogananda and were close to the president
Daya Mata. At lunch and at breaks Elvis and Donna would get
into some heavy spiritual conversations. They did have a lot
in common, and several people thought sparks were flying.
Even though Elvis respected Donna, he only regarded her in a
professional capacity and held her in high esteem. I used to
visit her in her dressing room, we would meditate and
discuss various philosophic subjects that we shared.
Eventually, Donna moved on from those studies, and embraced
a more fundamental version of Christianity.
I don't know if you've read a book I worked on with Jess
Stearn "Elvis' Spiritual Journey". In it we discuss Elvis'
relationship and spiritual connection with Donna.
I hope this helps. If there's anything else - just let me know. Larry |
