The turning point in Douglas’s career came when she was chosen to play the role of the tomboy Elly May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies. She starred on the program for all nine seasons, along with Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Nancy Kulp, Raymond Bailey and Max Baer, Jr. The Beverly Hillbillies became the number one show in the United States in its first two years.
During the 1966 summer hiatus for the show, Douglas made her only starring motion picture appearance, cast as Frankie in Frederick de Cordova's Frankie and Johnny (1966) opposite Elvis Presley. The film proved popular, and is among Presley’s most broadcast films on television, but did little to open the door to a film career for Douglas. In 1981, she returned for a made-for-TV reunion movie called The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies.
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