Country folk were big business in the '60s, thanks to producer Paul Henning. The creator of the hit show "The Beverly Hillbillies" knew a good theme when he saw one. In the fictional town of Hooterville he placed not only the Douglases of "Green Acres" but a widow, Kate Bradley, and her three gorgeous daughters: Betty Jo, Bobbie Jo and Billie Jo. Between 1963 and 1970 the series featured two actresses as Bobbie Jo -- Pat Woodell (1963-1965) and Lori Saunders (1965-1970) -- and three young women as Billie Jo, Jeannine Riley (1963-1965), Gunilla Hutton (1965-1966) and Meredith MacRae (1966-1970). But there was only one Betty Jo, Linda Kaye Henning. Though she was the boss's daughter, no one ever accused Paul Henning of favoritism. Says Linda, 53, with a chuckle, "I got the least billing, the least money -- everything." And, she adds, "I loved it."By the time Linda Henning was doing showcases and theater in her native California, her dad had already spent years writing for George Burns and Gracie Allen, had written the 1961 movie hit "Lover Come Back" and had been nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay for 1964's "Bedtime Story". Henning recalls, "I was doing something with Bea Benederet's son, Jack Bannon (who later appeared on the series Lou Grant), and Bea came to see the show with my parents. When CBS asked Paul Henning for a series, he wrote "Petticoat Junction" with Bea in mind as the lead. She said to him, 'Have your own daughter be a character.' He would never have thought of it. He was always worried about nepotism. So he let me try out and left it up to the rest of the people involved in the series. The first year everybody was looking at me to see if was I going to be the brat kid or what. But it all worked out."
Linda was 18 when the series started, though Betty Jo was supposed to be 15. "I looked it," Henning tells PEOPLE Online. "I was very young when I started -- it was like going to school for seven years with all the best teachers. Bea Benederet was a mentor in a way. She was a wonderful lady to work with. We had the finest character actors in the business on our show -- Edgar Buchanan, Smiley Burnette, Regis Toomey, Elvia Allman. And we got to do so many fun things. I remember that at the end of the first year of the show, right when the Beatles were so successful, the daughters performed as The Ladybugs -- my father wrote that particular episode. From that, we actually went to New York and were on The Ed Sullivan Show. What a kick that was. We went on both as ourselves and as The Ladybugs doing a Beatles song."
By the end of the series, Benederet (who died in 1968) had been replaced by June Lockhart (though Lockhart played a different character, Dr. Janet Craig). And Betty Jo had married Steve Elliott, played by Mike Minor, her boyfriend in reel life and real life. "Mike did another part on the show the first year that we were on," says Henning. "He then came on the show as a regular in the part of Steve in the fourth season. We were married about five years, and we're still friends." She says Minor continues to work as an actor in New York, where he was on "All My Children" and "As The World Turns" for a time, in addition to performing in the theater.
For the last four years Henning has been married to actor-musician Leon Adams. They have no children. She has continued her acting career and can currently be seen as the mother of Quinn, the main Slider on the series "Sliders", now on the Sci-Fi Channel. Henning also works as a member of the California Artists Radio Theater. "We do plays on the radio before a live audience, tape them, and they are later broadcast," she says. "I've worked with people like Lynn Redgrave and (the late) Roddy McDowall."
Hennings' non-show biz activities include working at an L.A. gift shop. She says, "It's something I really enjoy doing, because I like the people and it gives me flexibility with the hours." She also lectures and leads tours for the Los Angeles Zoo.
As for the other Petticoat gals, Lori Saunders lives in Southern California and concentrates on her sculpting and painting. She recently had a showing of her pieces, and a second exhibit is in the works. She is married and has a son, Ron, and a daughter, Stacy. Saunders is involved in the organization For the Love of Animals. Meredith MacRae lives in L.A., is married and the mother of a daughter, Allison, and is recovering from recent surgery for removal of a brain tumor. Guinilla Hutton, Henning tells PEOPLE Online, now lives in Boston.
Paul Henning, the creator of so many hit shows, is retired, his daughter says. "He was very busy for a long time, and I think ultimately, when CBS canceled his shows, he just decided, 'I've done it.' And by then the business had changed a lot. He came back briefly in 1981 and did "The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies" as a TV movie."
Linda Kaye Henning is thrilled that people are interested in Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo and Betty Jo. "It was one of the most wonderful events of my life," she says. "Even getting up at five in the morning."