It’s been twenty-two years since the tragic death of beloved actor Buddy Ebsen, best known for TV’s The Beverly Hillbillies (CBS, 1962-1971) and Barnaby Jones (CBS, 1972-1980). A former big-screen actor/dancer, Ebsen initially found small-screen fame as fish-out-of-water countrified millionaire Jed Clampett on Beverly, ten years before finding additional success at 64 as the milk-drinking, puzzle-solving detective Barnaby Jones. In each case, particularly the latter, Ebsen shattered the stereotypical youth-only-geared Hollywood success story and enjoyed senior success later in life; a long life that lasted until he was 95 years old (when he succombed to complications from pneumonia). This is his remarkable story.
A Closer Look
Buddy Ebsen was born on April 2, 1908, in Belleville, Illinois, and died on July 6, 2003, in Torrance, California.
Between that period, Ebsen enjoyed a significant measure of success, initially as an actor/dancer in movies like Captain January (1936), with Shirley Temple, and Broadway Melody (1938), with Judy Garland, and then, in his golden years, on television.
Except for an allergy to the aluminum-dust makeup, Ebsen would have been one of the Yellow Brick Road foursome in the classic movie musical The Wizard of Oz. After 10 days of filming, Ebsen, playing the Tin Man, fell ill due to the aluminum makeup on his skin and had to be hospitalized. He was replaced by Jack Haley.
But Ebsen Had Other Fish To Fry
Despite his mild movie popularity or any challenges that prevented him from achieving larger movie stardom, Buddy Ebsen’s greatest success arrived twice on the small screen, and in each instance, age was not a detriment, but a key factor.
From 1962 to 1971, a then-54-year-old Ebsen portrayed Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies, which also starred Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr.
Approximately 22 months after that hit country-comedy ended its legendary eight-year original run on CBS, Ebsen returned to TV in the crime-drama Barnaby Jones, which also enjoyed an eight-year original run on the same network.
By then, Ebsen was still going strong at 64 years old, and his age factored into the premise of the series, giving Barnaby Jones a hook that helped to distinguish the show among the myriad police and detective shows that ran rampant in the era.
The youth-centric Mod Squad (ABC, 1968-1973) was aging, ironically. Longstreet (ABC, 1971-1972), starring James Franciscus as a visually-impaired private eye with a seeing-eye dog, failed to catch on. Ironside (NBC, 1967-1975), starring past-Perry Mason actor Raymond Burr, was still rolling along well in the ratings as a wheelchair-bound police chief. William Conrad was continuing to make a name for himself as the heavy-set Cannon.
It was in the cards that Cannon then gave way to Barnaby Jones as an ultimate spin-off series, after Buddy Ebsen made a guest appearance on the Conrad show.
In the Big Picture
In the process of it all, Buddy Ebsen on Barnaby Jones broke the age barrier with a one-hour weekly crime drama that appealed to all generations.
As Barnaby Jones continued on CBS, its supporting players found their own corner of the success market. Actress Lee Meriwether, who played Betty Jones, Barnaby’s daughter-in-law/secretary, was hot off TV’s Time Tunnel, and from being the first big-screen Catwoman in the 1966 feature film edition of the campy Batman TV cult-classic. Mark Shera joined Barnaby Jones in its later seasons, adding a tiny jolt of youth to the series, as Jedediah “J.R.” Romano (while “Jed,” short for “Jedediah,” also served as a wink to Ebsen’s “Jed” Clampett character from The Beverly Hillbillies).
Buddy Ebsen, Jaclyn Smith, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Boxleitner, Efram Zimbalest, Jr, Mickey Rooney, Ronald Reagan, and more, in 1988.Photo bycommons.wikimedia.org
Barnaby Jones, however, was still Buddy Ebsen’s show, which was still further benchmarked by his senior appeal.
Then, after Barnaby Jones ended its historic original run, Ebsen returned once more to the television detective department, playing Uncle Roy Houston, an elder relative of Lee Horsley, for 22 episodes of Matt Houston (ABC, 1982-1985).
Finally, in a complete full circle media moment, Ebsen returned to the big screen, not as a dancer as he had begun in movie musicals alongside Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, but in The Beverly Hillbillies theatrical motion picture redo in 1993. But not as Jed Clampett, but rather Barnaby Jones.
