Donna Douglas, the actress who won over TV viewers as Elly May Clampett on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” has died. She was 81.
The star’s granddaughter told TMZ Douglas died in her Louisiana home surrounded by friends and family.
The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, her niece told The Associated Press.
Douglas appeared “The Beverly Hillbillies,” a comedy about a backwoods Tennessee family who moved to Beverly Hills after striking it rich from oil on their land. for all nine seasons of the show and reprised her role in a TV movie reboot of the series in 1981.
As Elly May, she seemed blissfully unaware of her status as a bumpkin blond bombshell. Typically she was clad in a snug flannel shirt and tight jeans cinched with a rope belt, and she seemed to prefer her critters to any beau.
Chosen from more than 500 other actresses, Douglas said she felt at ease playing the role because, like her character, she grew up a poor Southern tomboy. Her childhood in Pride, Louisiana, came in handy when she was asked during her audition to milk a goat.
"I had milked cows before," she recalled in a 2009 interview with The Associated Press. "I figured they were equipped the same, so I just went on over and did it."
The show was not only assailed by critics, but by the network president who put it on the air: "I HATED it," Michael Dann confided much later. "After screening the pilot, I don't think I ever watched another segment."
The public, however, felt quite the opposite: It ran for nine seasons, often in the Top 10. In their own way, the Clampetts were a forerunner of the `60s counterculture.
It wasn't much of a stretch for Douglas to fit into the troupe, said her cousin, Charlene Smith.
"She was always happy, and she really loved animals -- just like her character on `The Beverly Hillbillies.' She was a wonderful lady, a very good Christian lady."
Indeed, when Douglas gave her autograph, she included a biblical verse ("Trust in the Lord with all your heart..."), according to New Orleans TV station WAFB.
Douglas' career began with beauty pageants -- she was 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 said.
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.
Throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s the 1957 Miss New Orleans winner appeared in series like “The Twilight Zone” and “Mr. Ed.” In 1966, she transitioned to film with a role opposite Elvis Presley in the movie “Frankie and Johnny.”
After "The Beverly Hillbillies," Douglas worked in real estate, recorded country and gospel music albums and wrote a book for children that drew on biblical themes.
[News24] Four officers suspected of participating in a failed military coup against Gambia ... The Gambia is actually surrounded by Senegal on all sides but its west coast. It has a population of about 1.7 million. The difference between the two is that in colonial days Senegal was ruled by La Belle France and The Gambia (so-called because there's only one of it, unlike Guinea, of which there are the Republic of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, New Guinea, the English coin in circulation between 1663 and 1813, and Guyana, which sounds like it should be another one) was ruled by Britain... 's strongman President Yahya Jammeh have taken refuge in Guinea-Bissau, a military source in the west African country told AFP on Thursday.
They "arrived on Wednesday evening in Bissau and turned themselves in to the [military] authorities", the source in Bissau told AFP.
The source, who asked not to be identified, did not explain how the runaways had reached Guinea-Bissau, which is to the south of Gambia, but separated by Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees...
A group of heavily gunnies led by an army deserter attacked the presidential palace in the Gambian capital Banjul before dawn on Tuesday, but were repelled by forces loyal to Jammeh, who has ruled for 20 years.
Jammeh returned overnight on Wednesday from Dubai where he was on a private visit at the time of the putsch attempt.
Three suspects including the alleged ringleader identified as Lamin Sanneh were killed, according to a military officer.
According to a diplomatic source in Banjul, Jammeh appears to be preparing a purge of opponents, with "accusations flying".
Jammeh on Thursday blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and "terrorists" for an assault on his presidential palace and said that the army remains loyal.
"It is an attack by dissidents based in the US, Germany and UK," Jammeh said in a televised address. "This was not a coup. This was an attack by a terrorist group backed by some powers that I would not name."
"The names of military and civilian individuals are starting to be put on the table" at the feared National Intelligence Agency," the source said. "I'm afraid that innocent people are going to be caught up through denunciations."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/02/2015 00:00 ||
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A new-type of frigate built for the Bangladesh Navy was launched in the riverside city of Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Tuesday, according to a dispatch of Xinhua, Chinese state news agency.
While we twiddle our thumbs China continues to buy influence in Asia and Africa. The Indians might just begin to feel as though they're being surrounded, because they are...
The frigate, with a displacement of 1,300 tons and maximum speed of 25 knots, is 90 meters long and 11 meters across the beam. It can accommodate 80 crew members, Xinhua reported. It is equipped with 76 mm and 30 mm naval guns as well as ship-to-ship and ship-to-air missiles, said the Xinhua report.
It will be the most advanced frigate in the Bangladesh Navy. Bangladesh has bought two frigates from China. The first was launched in November.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/02/2015 00:00 ||
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CHINA + PLAN are allegedly rapidly closing the "AEGIS" GAP vee the USN, espec as China plans to build at least three NIMITZ/FORD-class CVNS very soon, + one "Improved Liaoning" CV.
Russia and Argentina are eyeing a deal under which Moscow would lease 12 Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer aircraft to Buenos Aires in return for beef and wheat, the London-based paper Sunday Express has claimed.
As a result, the British Defence Ministry has reportedly launched a review of the air defenses of the Falkland Islands.
In a statement, the MoD said it regularly reviews the military situation around the south Atlantic islands and would adjust force levels on the Falklands to meet any new threat posed by Argentina.
Doug Barrie, the senior air analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and an expert on Russian aircraft and weapons, said that even with only four Typhoons, the British would come off better. Barrie said just how effective the Su-24 would be in the hands of the Argentine Air Force depended on the weapons package that came as part of any deal with the Russians.
"The Su-24 is not what Argentina needs. They have competent crews but they need a multi-role platform not a single-role air-to-surface aircraft, which is expensive to fly and expensive to maintain," he said.
The Argentine Air Force is known to be in the market for a fighter jet to replace the obsolete fleet of Skyhawk and Mirage III aircraft it has operated for several decades. The possible sale of second-hand Mirage 2000 and Kfir aircraft have been discussed. Most recently a possible sale of Saab Gripen aircraft was raised by Argentina, but any possibility of that deal taking off was rapidly scotched by the British government. British companies supply about 30 percent of the new Gripen NG model.
Russian jets or the Chinese FC-1/JF-17 are often touted as potential platforms for the Argentine Air Force. The hard-up Argentine government won parliamentary approval recently for an economic and investment deal with China.
In 2010, Moscow and Buenos Aires signed a deal under which Russia delivered two Mil Mi-17 helicopters to the country's Air Force, marking Argentina's first purchase of Russian military hardware.
#1
Argentine April December Fools joke that went viral.
Argentine minister denies leasing of Russian combat aircraft
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/argentine-minister-denies-leasing-russian-combat-aircraft/
#4
What is going to happen to Argentina when beef and wheat prices drop like oil did? See possibly same situation with China loans to Venezuela. Lots of free beef and wheat to service the debt. Russia and China: the new loan sharks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/02/2015 15:53 Comments ||
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Energy closed up today. I continue to see indications that cheap oil is a temporary phenomena. One analyst reportedly said higher fuel prices could actually "snap back." Now that the holidays are over, producers are said to be scheduling production cutbacks and layoffs. It will be interesting to see what happens.
PARIS France's Interior Ministry says 940 cars were set alight by revelers ringing in the New Year -- 12 percent fewer than the 1,067 set aflame last year.
The figures issued on Thursday show that, despite the dip, setting fire to parked cars remains a firmly entrenched way for some French to send out the old and ring in the new.
Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said on BFM-TV that numerous cars were burned around the country, particularly in the east, as well as in suburban Paris, notably the Seine-Saint-Denis region -- where fiery riots around France started in 2005.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/02/2015 00:00 ||
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An unmanned merchant ship with 450 migrants on board is heading for the Italian coast - the second such vessel to be abandoned in less than a week. The Ezadeen, sailing under the flag of Sierra Leone, had no crew on board and was going towards Puglia in the south-east of Italy when it ran out of power.
One of the passengers on board was able to operate the ship's radio and informed the coastguard that the crew had jumped ship.
A helicopter has been sent to lower rescuers on to the ship, to try to bring it under control.
The coastguard also asked for assistance from Icelandic patrol boat Tyr, which was in the area on a mission with Frontex, the European Union's border agency. The Tyr was able to draw alongside the runaway ship, but the weather conditions made boarding impossible.
The new high-seas drama came two days after Italian sailors intercepted a “ghost ship” carrying more than 700 mostly Syrian migrants which had been heading for the rocks of Italy's southeastern shore on autopilot, having been abandoned by the people smugglers who had navigated it from Turkey via Greek waters. In that incident, the Moldovan-registered Blue Sky M cargo ship got to within five miles - 45 minutes sailing time - of a disaster before six navy officers were lowered on to the ship by helicopter and succeeded in bringing it under control. The vessel's human cargo included some 60 children and two pregnant women, one of whom gave birth on board as the boat steamed towards catastrophe.
More than 170,000 people have been rescued by Italy in the last 14 months and hundreds, possibly thousands, have perished trying to make the crossing. They are almost invariably under the control of traffickers who earn thousands of dollars for every person they put to sea from Libya and other departure points in North Africa.
Increasingly, the traffickers appear to have decided that the best way to get their human cargoes to Europe is to put to sea and then abandon the boats.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/02/2015 00:00 ||
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The Patna?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/02/2015 12:07 Comments ||
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"Make tubes one and two ready in all aspects." There, what's so hard about that?
Two Air Force squadrons of C-17 transport aircraft are being inactivated over the next two years as a cost-saving measure, the service announced. The two squadrons -- 16 planes in all -- are located at Joint Base Charleston, S.C., and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
The inactivation, the Air Force said, is based on President Barack Obama's defense budget for fiscal 2015.
"In this fiscally constrained environment, we have to balance readiness, capability and capacity," said Maj. Gen. Michael S. Stough, the AMC Strategic Plans, Requirements and Programs director.
"To best preserve this capability, the intent is to fund these aircraft back into primary mission aircraft inventory in future years, and transfer them to the Reserve Component -- and we're working with our Air National Guard partners to do that, perhaps even as early as FY16.
"We rely on our total force partners to meet our global mobility requirements; we couldn't do the mission without them. We'll continue to leverage the unique strengths of the active and Reserve components to meet current and future requirements with available resources," he said.
The fiscal year 2015 budget transfers the 16 aircraft from the primary mission aircraft inventory to backup aircraft inventory. As part of the backup inventory, the planes will continue to receive funding to support weapon system sustainment but there will be no funding to assign personnel to the aircraft or to aircraft flying hours.
The Air Force said the move will save about $110 million annually.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/02/2015 14:04 ||
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#1
I'm waiting to see if the Navy starts using (auxiliary) sails, like they did in the 1920s and 30s.
#4
We spend billions, literally billions, on subsidizing illegals, known fraud in Social Security and Medicare, IRS tax credits, and force the US military to cut back capability in the first obligation of government, national defense. We are not far from insurrection I fear as government has become our Master, not our servant, and uses our money and credit to buy the loyalty of imported masses to overwhelm our actual citizens.
#9
So how many pentagon positions are going away? How many fighter jets?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/02/2015 20:34 Comments ||
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Yeah - I'm sure that Valerie Jarrett will still get a full Air Force One type aircraft with escort fighters to take her and her Secret Service attachment to fund raising and political strategy sessions.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Russian cargo plane climbing out of Ramstein AFB, GE. 
