TV's Elly May Clampett is happy at home in La.

BATON ROUGE, La. — Donna Douglas still embodies Elly May Clampett, the critter-loving beauty from "The Beverly Hillbillies."

"Elly has always been good for me," says Douglas. "That was a slice out of my life, a very happy slice out of my life."

Douglas returned from California to her native Louisiana a few years ago. She lives just outside Baton Rouge near her only child, a son who owns horses and several acres of land. Douglas likes to help him bale hay.

"Cutting grass, baling hay ... I grew up doing all that stuff," Douglas says as she picked blueberries on a sweltering summer day. "I don't mind getting sweaty and dirty. I enjoy being outside."

Douglas, out of the entertainment business for years, appeared in commercials and TV shows in the 1950s and '60s. But she is best known for her role in "The Beverly Hillbillies," the CBS comedy about a poor rural family who moved to Beverly Hills after oil was discovered on their land. The show ran from 1962 to 1971.

Douglas, now 76, was chosen for the part of Elly May from more than 500 other actresses. She says she felt at ease playing the role because, like her character, she grew up a poor Southern tomboy. The experience came in handy when she was asked during her audition to milk a goat.

"I had milked cows before," she says. "I figured they were equipped the same, so I just went on over and did it."

Though assailed by critics, the show ran for nine seasons and can still be seen in reruns.

Douglas' career began with beauty pageants — she's a former Miss Baton Rouge and Miss New Orleans — followed by a trip to New York to pursue a career in entertainment.

"That was the first time I had ever been on an airplane," Douglas recalls.

While modeling didn't appeal to her — "I didn't want to be that skinny" — television did. Douglas was featured as the Letters Girl on "The Perry Como Show" in 1957 and as the Billboard Girl on "The Steve Allen Show" in 1959.

The titles landed her an appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," which Douglas says was her big break. Hollywood producer Hal Wallis saw her on the show and invited her to audition for a movie contract in Los Angeles.

"I didn't know what I was doing," she says with a laugh. "I had been in acting class all of two weeks."