Buddy Ebsen was on the road to retirement when he landed ”The Beverly Hillbillies”
“By the time I finished laughing, I had signed a contract.”
Not to generalize, but if Buddy Ebsen is in a television series, it’s probably going to be good. We mean no disrespect to today’s actors, who seem to be getting younger by the minute, but Ebsen brought a level of talent and confidence to each of his roles that only a mature actor can.
Ebsen was fifty-four when he starred in The Beverly Hillbillies as Jed Clampett and was even older when he took on the title role of Barnaby Jones.
In many interviews throughout his career, Ebsen demonstrated a fire and energy that rivaled those half his age and showed no indication that he’d be slowing down his acting career for anything.
However, according to an interview with the Camarillo Star, Ebsen did have plans to move towards an early form of retirement… right before he got the role of a lifetime on The Beverly Hillbillies.
Ebsen explained, “I was planning to semi-retire in 1962, and intended to write and just act in things I wanted to do.” While Ebsen’s semi-retirement still sounds like a full-time career, given the actor’s speed, his version of retirement might be slowing things down his way.
Anyhow, any and all plans of slowing down were thrown out the window when Ebsen was handed a new script for The Beverly Hillbillies.
He said, “My agent handed me this script, and I started reading, and laughing, and by the time I finished laughing, I had signed a contract.”
Even after The Beverly Hillbillies was canceled, Ebsen continued to write his own work, as well as continue acting. Eventually, he landed Barnaby Jones on the very network that had previously canceled The Beverly Hillbillies, CBS.
Buddy Ebsen won the part of Jed Clampett because of his height
Ebsen spoke of it and said, “I didn’t like Silverman for a while (when the show was canceled in 1971), but when he picked up Barnaby Jones, I liked him again.”
