Betty Jo Bradley

Betty Jo Bradley Elliott
Petticoat Junction character
First appearance	"Spur Line to Shady Rest"
Last appearance	"Betty Jo's Business"
Created by	Paul Henning
Portrayed by	Linda Kaye (1963–70)
In-universe information
Nickname	Betty Miss Elliott
Gender	Female
Spouse	Steve Elliott
Children	Kathy Jo Elliott
Relatives	Kate Bradley (mother) Bill Bradley (father; deceased) Joe Carson (uncle) Billie Jo Bradley (sister) Bobbie Jo Bradley (sister)

Betty Jo Bradley, later Elliott, is a fictional character on CBS's Petticoat Junction (1963–1970). Unlike the actresses that played her sisters, Betty Jo was played by the same actress for the sitcom's entire run.

Character overview

Elizabeth Josephine, on the show usually called just Betty Jo, a pretty tomboyish redhead, is the youngest Bradley daughter. She and her older sisters, Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo, are known in Hooterville for swimming in the Hooterville Cannonball's water tower. Although not as girlish as her older sisters, she is the eye of Eb Dawson, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas's ranch hand on Green Acres, though she doesn't show as much interest in him. Out of the 222 episodes of Petticoat Junction, Betty Jo is present in a total of 221 of them. She doesn't appear in the first season episode "Bobbie Jo and the Beatnik".

In season five of Junction, Betty Jo marries pilot Steve Elliott, a boy who first showed a great deal of interest in Billie Jo. After they get married they move to a cottage down the tracks from Hooterville, but move back to the Shady Rest Hotel (her late-mother's hotel) in the show's last season. According to Kate, her mother, Betty Jo's too interested in sports. In some episodes, her Uncle Joe shows favoritism towards her. During Junction's sixth season, Betty Jo gives birth to Kathy Jo.

Where the actresses playing Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo changed over the years (in total there were three Billie Jos and two Bobbie Jos), Betty Jo was played by Linda Kaye ("Henning"), the daughter of Junction's creator, Paul Henning who shared a birthday of September 16, for the entire seven-year run. However, despite the fact that she was Henning's daughter, she had to audition for the part, and was almost passed over.

Betty Jo appears in one episode of Green Acres and in a handful of episodes from The Beverly Hillbillies, shows of which were sister show(s)/related show(s) to Petticoat Junction.