With enthusiastic energy, beloved actor Max Baer, Jr. portrayed Jethro Bodine, the monumental TV character on the classic TV country-comedy, The Beverly Hillbillies.
In the series, which originally aired on CBS from 1962 to 1971, Jethro was born as “mountain folk” because his Uncle Jed Clampett, played by a pre-Barnaby Jones Buddy Ebsen, struck gold, “Texas tea.”
Along with Jed’s daughter Elly May, portrayed by Donna Douglas, and their Granny, the Emmy-winning Irene Ryan, the country clan “loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly…Hills, that is.”
In the mountains or the Hills, the young Mr. Bodine, proud of his “sixth-grade education,” had a way with the ladies.
That included, if to his relative disinterest, Nancy Culp’s Miss Jane Hathaway, secretary to banker Millburn Drysdale (Raymond Bailey), who guarded the Clampett’s millions.
A Closer Look at the Actor Behind the Character
Max Baer, Jr. was born Maximilian Adalbert Baer Jr. on December 4, 1937, in Oakland, CA, the son of champion boxer Max Baer and Mary Ellen Sullivan.
Baer, Jr. made his acting debut in a stage production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the Blackpool Pavilion in England in 1949.
Ten years later, he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Santa Clara University and gained a Minor in Philosophy.
One year after that, Baer began making TV guest appearances on shows like Maverick, Surfside 6, Cheyenne, Hawaiian Eye, and 77 Sunset Strip, among others.
Then Came Jethro
Max Baer, in more recent years, with author Herbie J Pilato|Photo byHerbie J PilatoIn 1962, Max Baer, Jr. (who prefers to be called just Max Baer) was cast in his benchmark role as Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies, which CBS aired until opting to cancel “every show with a tree in it.”
That meant rural-purging all country-geared programming, such as Green Acres and Petticoat Junction, and replacing them with what was considered the more sophisticated programming (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family).
Post-Hillbillies
After The Beverly Hillbillillies, between 1972 and 1991, Max Baer did TV guest spots on Love, American Style, Fantasy Island, Matt Houston (on which Buddy Ebsen had a recurring role), and Murder, She Wrote.
In 1974, he wrote, produced, and acted in the hit film Macon County Line. The following year, he also multi-tasked in the same creative three ways for The Wild McCullochs. In 1976, he produced and directed Ode to Billy Joe.
In 1991, Baer purchased the rights to The Beverly Hillbillies name from CBS and utilized the show’s theme and its characters for casinos, theme parks, restaurants, cosmetics, and consumables.
With International Game Technology, he licensed Beverly Hillbillies–themed slot machines, such as “Clampett’s Cash,” “The Bubblin’ Crude,” and “Moonshine Money.”
In the Final Analysis: A Truly Humble Human Being
Much wiser than his most famous TV male alter ego, Max Baer offered insight into his portrayal of Jethro Bodine:
“When you play a role like Jethro, it’s for other people to judge, because it’s pretty hard to be subjective or objective about yourself. You just do the best you can with the material that you’re given, and then you try to add to it [with your [performance] as much as you possibly can. But in the end, it’s the audience who has the final say.”
“As long as you give 100 percent,” Baer went on to explain, “…even if you’re sick… You show up! You do your job—and you do it as if you aren’t sick…because it’s going to be on film in perpetuity.”
“You’re not going to be able to put a little quote at the bottom of the screen saying, ‘Well, he wasn’t as good today because he was sick…or emotionally disturbed or had a headache.’ You have to give a good performance. You have to perform well.
“And, [with Jethro],” he added, “…if I have made the people laugh—and even if they can laugh at my expense—it’s okay. I don’t care. They can laugh with me or at me. It doesn’t matter…just as long as they laugh. Because if I can make them laugh, then I believe that my performance was a successful one. I can’t evaluate it as to what degree of success it was. But I can say it did what it was supposed to do.
Baer did just that, winning over millions of Jethro fans for decades, including his Hillbillies co-stars, including Buddy Ebsen, about whom Baer once concluded, “To me, Buddy was the star of The Beverly Hillbillies.”
A true talent is a humble talent.
