Posted on 05/06/2011 2:13:02 AM PDT by markomalley
The actress who played Elly May Clampett on the hit television series "The Beverly Hillbillies" is suing toy manufacturer Mattel Inc., claiming the company used her name and likeness for a Barbie doll without her authorization.
The federal suit filed Wednesday in Baton Rouge, La., says packaging for the "Elly May" Barbie doll features a photo of Donna Douglas portraying the character. Douglas says she never endorsed the doll or gave Mattel permission to use her name to promote its sale before the toy maker introduced the doll in December 2010.
From 1962 to 1971, Douglas appeared in all 274 episodes of the CBS comedy show about a poor family that moves to Beverly Hills after striking oil on their land.
A Mattel spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a call and e-mail seeking comment.
Douglas lives in Zachary, near Baton Rouge, and continues to make public appearances and speaking engagements in connection with the show, according to one of her attorneys, Charles von Simson.
"Depending on their age, people remember the show immediately and they remember her," he said of Douglas, now 77. "It's something she gets a lot of fan interest from."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
274 episodes???? Ye gads! I had no idea that the show lasted that long.
If the producer didn’t purchase rights to have merchandise made in “Elly Mae’s” likeness, well....
And this isn’t chintzy on the part of the actress. Usually such famous actresses and actors end up getting scrod by producers who conveniently lose records of their merchandising licensing and then offer to settle at a pittance.
My father met Buddy Ebsen at Universal Studios years ago. Dad said that he was one of the most charismatic people he had ever encountered. I believe that Mr. Ebsen was also very conservative in his politics.
eeeeeeegads,,,Donna Douglas is 77?. I feel very old and better lay down.
And Willie Mays is 80 today. Move over. I need a pillow, too!
Yep, Ebsen was a Republican. When his castmate Nancy Kulp (Miss Jane, the bank president's secretary) ran on the Democrat ticket for the Senate seat in Pennsylvania, she had a radio commercial done which made it sound as if all her surviving castmates supported her candidacy (I'm not sure but I think Max Baer, Jr. and Donna Douglas were also Republicans, but just not as vocal as Ebsen was about their politics). So Ebsen had a commercial done for Kulp's Republican oppinent. This infuriated Kulp. And she lost. :-)
*Hic-cup*
My young boy heart would race when Ellie May suited up in a one-piece bathing suit and headed to the Cement Pond out yonder.
Yep, that’s our Elly May alright. I only wonder how the actress has rights to the character. Wouldn’t the producer’s hold those rights?
Mattel needs to pay somebody, that’s for sure. I don’t blame her for suing, but I’m not sure she’s the wronged party.
>>> If there is a little money to be made..
They didn’t issue a Donna Douglas doll. So a “little money” is probably the most she can hope for. A nuisance settlement from the toy company. The character “Elly May” belonged to the production company and presumably still does. They can license it out as they see fit, as they have done for decades in comic books, lunch boxes, and whatever else they could sell.
Old time actors had almost no rights whatsoever beyond their regular paycheck. Once on the original Dick Van Dyke show they did a bit with Rob dressed as and imitating Stan Laurel. Looking into the payment for the rights, they learned Laurel had no legal rights at all, the character being owned by some film company. This was the inspiration for a good but forgotten Van Dyke movie called “The Comic”.
“eeeeeeegads,,,Donna Douglas is 77?. I feel very old and better lay down.”
My feelings exactly.
For example, if you wanted to do an illustrated story based on a character Terri Garr played, you can license the character from its owner, but you'll have to change the appearance since she controls her likeness and doesn't authorize its use.
In this case Mattel used a photo of the actress herself in character so there's no question whether it's her or not.
Some clerk or lawyer dropped the ball. It's quite common.
She was running for Congress from the Pennsylvania 9th district against Bud Shuster, not for a US Senate seat. In 1984 Shuster was running for his 7th term of his 14-term congressional career. From Wikipedia:
Shuster was frequently unopposed for re-election. His most notable challenger came in 1984 when Nancy Kulp, the actress who played Miss Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies won the Democratic nomination. Kulp, a native of Pennsylvania, had returned to her home state upon her retirement from acting and received support from her friends in Hollywood. This prompted Shuster to recruit Kulp's Hillbillies co-star Buddy Ebsen, a Republican, to record radio spots declaring, "Hey Nancy, I love you dearly but you're too liberal for me — I've got to go with Bud Shuster." Shuster went on to win re-election with two-thirds of the vote.I doubt she would have won even without Buddy Ebsen's help to Shuster. Ronald Reagan may have not had coattails when he ran for reelection in 1984, but congressional Republican incumbents didn't have trouble getting reelected then either.
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