Roy Clark First Shared His Cornpone Humor With The Masses on ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’
Roy Clark might be as well-known for his sense of cornpone humor as his country hits (“Thank God and Greyhound You’re Gone,” “Yesterday, When I Was Young”) and his virtuosic skill as a guitarist and banjo player.
That’s true mostly because of Clark’s run as Buck Owens’ co-host of country music variety series Hee Haw and his guest host gigs on The Tonight Show. Yet it’s another influential TV show, CBS’ The Beverly Hillbillies, that first introduced the masses to Clark as recurring character Cousin Roy.
Clark’s first appearance, the episode “Cousin Roy,” aired on April 3, 1968—over a year before Hee Haw debuted in the summer of ’69.
Per IMDb’s episode synopsis, “Cousin Roy from back home comes to visit and to open up a distribution point for Mother Myrtle’s Tonic. Granny isn’t very keen on any competition against her own tonic.”
Clark not only portrays Cousin Roy. He also dresses up as an old woman and plays Mother Myrtle Halsey (an inside joke aimed at Clark’s real-life manager, Jim Halsey).
Cousin Roy returned for two 1969 episodes: “Cousin Roy in Moveland” and “Jethro the Flesh Peddler.” Each time, the character brought not just laughs but down-home folk and bluegrass music to Beverly Hills.
In the process, Clark got to work with what he considered world-class talents.
“Although they were playing hillbilly parts, they were great actors, Irene Ryan [Granny] and Buddy Ebsen [Jed Clampett], and I guess it was one of the first things that Donna Douglas [Elly May] did and one of the first meaningful things that Max Baer [Jethro Bodine] had done,” Clark told the Archive of American Television (as quoted by MeTV).
Much like Rowlf the Dog, Clark’s earliest breaks on television came via former boss and fellow well-rounded entertainer Jimmy Dean.
John Wayne Answered Granny’s Prayer on ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’
The 20th episode of The Beverly Hillbillies’ fifth season, “The Indians are Coming,” debuted on Feb. 1, 1967 and culminated with a surreal cameo appearance by real-life movie star John Wayne.
Per IMDB, Granny (Irene Ryan) “misinterprets a phone call from Cousin Pearl and believes Indians have attacked in Bug Tussle and have taken over Clampett land. In reality, there is a simple boundary dispute, and when Chief Running Wolf and Little Fox travel to Beverly Hills to settle the dispute with Jed, Granny prepares for an all-out Indian war and Mr. Drysdale goes to war to protect the Clampett fortune.”
During what Granny processes as an all-out battle against an indigenous tribe, she prays that The Duke himself will show up and save the day.
Wayne shows up after the CBS sitcom’s latest wacky plot line reaches its conclusion, only to get embarrassed by Granny: “Where was ya when I needed ya, John?”
What’s wildest is the visual of Wayne dressed more like Bear Bryant than the Western movie star of The Searchers and other leaked films.
As the story goes, Wayne requested just one thing in return for appearing on the popular TV show: a fifth of Jack Daniels bourbon.
No word on whether or not a bottle of bourbon was exchanged for Wayne’s intro of Gunsmoke’s debut episode from way back on Sept. October 1955.
The Paul Henning-created series also starred Buddy Ebsen as Jed Clampett, Max Baer Jr. as Jethro Bodine and Donna Douglas as Elly May Clampett. Its use of “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” as its theme song offered a huge popularity boost to bluegrass music.
