Mrs. Kirkeby, the mansion’s owner, was mourning the loss of her husband, and fans would knock on the door and ask, “Where are the Beverly Hillbillies?”
There are many ways for a production to be filmed. It can be captured on a green screen, at a studio where there are sets or on location. The Beverly Hillbillies was filmed at Kirkeby mansion in Bel Air.
Mr. andMrs. Kirkeby rented their beautiful home to the series for $500 a day. However, the media leaked the location, which caused fans to visit and ask about the cast, even when filming wasn’t in progress. Paul Henning, the producer of the series, sat down with the Television Academy to talk about how this ultimately affects the show.
“We were asked that no one revealed the real location of the mansion, and everyone went along with us,” he began. “I think it was, and I hope I’m right, TV Guide [who revealed the actual] location of the Beverly Hillbillies mansion. From that day on, these wonderful people who had given us permission to film [there] were besieged by people just driving up to the house, knocking on the door, and saying, ‘where are the Beverly Hillbillies?'”
Henning revealed that Mrs. Kirkeby’s husband was killed in an airplane crash and decided not to allow it to continue to be filmed at their home.
“She said, ‘I hate to do this, but we can no longer have this location known because people are driving us crazy,'” Henning added. “Tourists will just drive up and annoy them, so we said it’s perfectly understood.”
The show had to use stock footage after agreeing to no longer film at the mansion. Around this time, the series was transitioning to color, and the decision was a “great blow.”
“It was a great blow. We were just ready to go to color, and we were preparing to go up to the mansion and reshoot all of our stock shots with color,” the producer said. “That was a great blow, but we certainly couldn’t blame Mrs. Kirkeby; she was kind to let us film there in the first place.”
So, how did the series find a solution? They filmed at different locations. “We faked it. We shot around at various locations.”
