The TV comedy The Beverly Hillbillies continued the story of the Clampett family, with Buddy Ebsen as the new millionaire Jed Lampett. He became a legend and only one of the main actors is still alive today.
This is Max Baer Jr. who plays Jethro Bodine. Max Bear Jr. He’s had quite the career, especially considering how he landed his role on The Beverly Hillbillies. He is now 84 years old and after a career in acting, he became a professional golfer.
Baer was married to Joan Hill from 1966 to 1971, but they had no children. Max was never a father. There’s even a reason for that. For some unfortunate reason, he never wanted to be a father.
Max Bear Jr. was born on December 4, 1937 in Oakland, California. He is the son of boxing legends Max Baer and Mary Ellen Sullivan.
Max Bear Jr. – childhood and career
Not only was Baer a famous star of the Beverly Hillbillies, but like his father, Baer also had a strong interest in sports.
Unfortunately, Baer’s father died in 1959 at the age of 50.
Although Baer was not a boxer, he played professional golf and competed in several tournaments in California. In 1968, along with professional golfer Max Bear Jr. Charlie Sifford, the actor won the pro-am division of the Andy Williams Golf Classic in San Diego.
“Acting is just a hobby for me,” Baer told The Times in 1971. “Golf is my specialty.”
But while Baer considered himself a golfer first and foremost, he was also a great actor.
This is the story of the man behind Jethro Bodine, a character no one in Hollywood wants to miss. It wasn’t long ago that Baer made his acting debut. His first role was in the 1949 stage production of The Golden Locks and the Three Bears at Blackpool Pavilion, England.
It was a mixture of serendipity, luck and sheer confidence that later landed him the role of a lifetime on The Beverly Hillbillies.
Baer grew up in Sacramento and later moved to Santa Clara, California. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Santa Clara University in 1959, but a year later he was sitting in a parking lot in Los Angeles.
Max Bear Jr. –
According to a 1999 article in People magazine, Max Baer Jr. A year after graduation, he rode his motorcycle to Los Angeles. I’m Warner Bros. He ended up going to a place where the manager thought he looked like James Garner. Baer was discovered and decided to try acting.
He soon signed his first one-year contract, although he knew nothing about acting. He thought he could act. He had small and guest roles on television and appeared in TV series such as 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick and Hawaiian Eye.
Although his career did not take a huge leap forward, he decided to continue in business. He soon found his most important gig. It was a sitcom about a country family who became rich through oil.
After open auditions, he landed the role of Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies, earning $1,000 for the pilot and $500 for the next show. “When you take on a role like Jethro, it’s so hard to be subjective or objective with yourself, so it depends on other people,” Baer said in an interview with Medium.
Big success – but not a big salary
“You do the best you can with the material you’re given and then you try to add as much as you can [to the performance]. But the final decision rests with the public. “We like what you did” or “We don’t like what you did.”
You have no other way to appreciate. The Beverly Hillbillies was a huge success, but Baer never earned more than $800 per episode, despite having a very special place in the hearts of American viewers.
But by the end of the show, Baer and his co-stars were making about $4,500 per episode. Max Bear Jr. knew he was doing well, and most importantly, making people smile.
“You have to do well. And for me, if I can make people laugh, it’s okay if they laugh at me. I don’t care,” Baer said. “They can laugh with me or laugh at me. It doesn’t matter as long as they’re smiling. Because I think my acting is successful if I can make them laugh. I can’t stress enough how successful it was. But I can say that he did what he had to do,” he said.
Max Bear Jr.’s cousin Jed played Pearl’s son Jethro Bodine, who demonstrated exceptional math skills with the classic multiplication: “5 gojinta times 5, 5 gojinta times 12.”
Who is Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies?
The Beverly Hillbillies was an instant hit when the show first aired in 1962. According to IMDB, the series reached No. 1 faster than any other show in television history in its first three weeks of debut.
Viewers loved this show. The series ran for 11 years, a total of 9 seasons and 274 episodes, until its cancellation in 1971.
In addition to four Emmy nominations, The Beverly Hillbillies was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Television Comedy in 1964. What is Max Baer Jr.’s character? And he had this crazy grin from ear to ear.
His smile made others laugh, and most of all, he convinced everyone that his character, Jethro Bodine, was real.
Max practiced his accent by listening to recordings of Andy Griffith and Jonathan Winters. He managed to combine that with constant antics that kept fans laughing. He appeared in 274 episodes, but it was impossible for me to pick a favorite.
“Oh my God, no. no way. You know, when you’re playing a character, it’s very repetitive,” Baer told The Five Count on KMSU Radio. “Anyway, I don’t like anything because I keep playing the same character.
And it’s very hard to judge who really likes you and who doesn’t. I mean, what is the actual episode of 274?
Better known as Jethro Bodine.
Max Bear Jr. He became an icon of American comedy for his role as Jethro. Not only that, but this show gave Max his big break. Unfortunately, his life after the show did not go as many thought.
In 1993, a feature film of the classic TV series was released, starring Dolly Parton. But unfortunately, it did not achieve the same success. Seriously, how can that happen after you cast someone else like Jethro? The famous actress Donna Douglas played the role of mountain beauty Ellie Mae Lampett in the movie “Beverly Hillbilly”.
In a 2013 speech, he praised Max Baer Jr. Because of his excellent portrayal of Jethro, he may not seem like the brightest bulb in the light box. “Max Baer did a great job playing Jethro because he didn’t seem so stupid that people didn’t like him,” he said, according to the book Dashing, Daring and Debonair: The Best Male Icons on TV in the 50s. The 60s, 70s.
“It was hard for me then and it still is. But we were all like family. Max can complain about any of us (for any reason), but don’t let anyone say anything about us. God, is Max really going to give this to her? He protected us like a real family.
Max Bear Jr. About the last days of co-star Buddy Ebsen’s life
Donna Douglas, who played Ellie Mae on The Beverly Hillbillies, died in 2015 at the age of 82, leaving Baer as the only cast member. Although it was a very difficult time, the death of Buddy Ebsen had a profound impact on Baer.
Buddy Ebsen, who played Jed Clampett, died aged 95 in 2003. It was a huge hit for beer. A few days before his death, Ebsen called his wife, Dorothy Baer, to tell her that the end was near. She and her television cousin, Donna Douglas, rushed to the hospital where Ebsen was being treated.
“I snuck in,” Baer told The Courier-Journal in a 2008 interview. “Buddy was lying there with his eyes closed and a catheter in place. I put my hand on his head and he said, “Jethro.” “It was very sweet.”
Those moments in the hospital were the last time he saw Ebdsen alive and a reminder that they were respected, loved and forever part of the legendary show. You’d think there would be plenty of offers waiting for her after appearing on The Beverly Hillbillies. But it was quite the opposite.
One of the problems was that the creators only saw him as Jethro and not Baer. Despite this, he has appeared as a guest in several entertainment programs, including “Love”, “Island of Fantasy” and “Murder, He Wrote”. Director and Producer
Instead of accepting small projects or TV shows, he decided to go his own way: producing and directing. It wasn’t an Oscar-worthy film, but it put food on the table. Bear produced and directed two films, Ode to Billy Joe and the small-town psycho-political crime drama The Macon County Line (1974).
The film cost $225,000. However, it was a huge success that no one could have imagined. According to IMDB, the film was the highest-grossing indie film of 1974, grossing $18.8 million in North America and over $30 million worldwide. It also inspired the sequel, Back to Macon County (1975).
Max Bear Jr. made money from his movies. This soon made the actor, writer and producer a businessman.
Jethro’s part of the Beverly Hillbillies legacy lives on. So he decided to buy the rights to The Beverly Hillbillies from CBS in 1991.
In the last 20 years, Max Baer has also been interested in the world of casinos. Vegas Advisor reports that a casino based on the sitcom called Beverly Hillbillies Gambler Casino has opened in Las Vegas.
But a few years later he sold it to a new owner. Max Bear Jr. was married once. He and Joan Hill married in 1966. However, they divorced in 1971. According to an article in the Arizona Republic, his wife filed for divorce a year ago.
Hill, who worked as a flight instructor, asked for “reasonable” alimony and a division of Max’s joint property according to the settlement. Why Max Baer Jr.? I never had children
After her relationship with Hill ended in the early 1970s, Baer never remarried. Moreover, he had no children. She says it’s all because of her father’s kindness. “I’ve never had kids because I don’t think I can be a father,” Baer explained in a 2017 interview with Fore magazine.
After several relationships, Baer met Chere Rhodes, a 30-year-old model from California. Their relationship continued until tragedy struck in January 2008 in Carson City, Nevada. After a police investigation, Chere was shot in the chest and authorities say he took his own life.
Baer had to fight to get Hollywood’s attention. In 1963 he spoke about his future, and this quote clearly shows what he experienced in the following years. “Our beers were never what we thought they were. My grandfather always wanted to be a medalist, but he was a butcher.
He won the butchery championship once,” Baer said, according to Closer. “My father wanted to be an actor and, as everyone knows, he was a boxer. I wanted to be a lawyer and here I am. The show had a huge impact on my career.
Exposure can help you land a job in the future. “I hope one day I can prove that I can play games other than on the mound,” he said.
Max Bear Jr. He will forever be remembered for his role as Jethro on “Beverly Hillbilly.”
