The Only Main Actor Still Alive From The Beverly Hillbillies
Families with a penchant for good old-fashioned country-fried laughter made the Clampett clan of "The Beverly Hillbillies" part of their viewing throughout the 1960s until the infamous rural purge made way for city-based sitcoms which heavily focused on more down-to-earth issues than giant jackrabbits.
The sitcom revolved around Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen, whose Tin Man character from "The Wizard of Oz" was once seen as gross), the folksy, kind-hearted patriarch of his small family. He strikes it rich one day when, while shooting at his family's dinner, he accidentally strikes oil. Jed is now rich beyond his wildest dreams, but that doesn't mean he's ready to change his country ways.
Settling in Beverly Hills as the Walshes would decades later, and in a newfangled mansion, the Clampetts refuse to conform to their surroundings while wondering at the glories that surround them. Aside from Jed, there's Daisy Moses, better known as Granny (Irene Ryan), who prides herself on her doctoring skills. Comely Ellie May (Donna Douglas) is Jed's 20-ish tomboy daughter. She can outwrestle, out-spit, and out-shoot any boy, and there's nothing she loves more than animals.
Rounding out the group is Jed's nephew, the imaginative Jethro Bodine (Max Baer Jr.), a wannabe ladies' man constantly on the move. Frequently running afoul of the Clampett's country ways is Mr. Drysdale (Raymond Bailey), who would gladly climb a mountain to keep the family's cash invested in his bank. His underappreciated secretary, Miss Jane Hathaway (Nancy Kulp), manages to make friends with the family while also dutifully serving her boss.
"The Beverly Hillbillies" ended its run in 1971. Unsurprisingly, much of its then-middle-aged cast has since passed away. But one member of that regular role call survives to this day, and it's the man who played Jethro.
Max Baer Jr. made his name as Jethro
The last living member of the main cast of "The Beverly Hillbillies" is Max Baer Jr., who's had quite the lively post-sitcom life, becoming something of an entrepreneur like Jethro. The son of former heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer, the actor made a number of sitcom guest appearances under his belt before nailing the role of Jethro. Though he did continue acting for a time — appearing in shows like "Love, American Style" and writing, acting in and producing films like "Macon County Line" and "The Wild McCullochs," Baer eventually retired from the business in 1991. "Macon County Line," made for just over $200,000 and grossing over $18 million, turned an impressive profit.
Baer concentrated on producing movies for a time, such as the film version of Bobbie Gentry's eerie story song "Ode to Billy Joe." He tried to further his success by making a movie out of Madonna's hit "Like A Virgin." When ABC allegedly tried to ward off the song's writers from selling their rights to Baer in 1984, he sued and won over $2 million in damages. Baer has been trying to launch a "Beverly Hillbillies"-themed casino and hotel in Douglas County, Nevada, for decades; the construction project has been put on hold indefinitely due to legal action.
Baer has never returned to the role of Jethro; when the show's cast reunited for a 1981 TV movie, he declined to appear. He also didn't show up when the sitcom, like "Bewitched" before it, got a big-screen adaptation. But it's clear the dimwitted hunk is still dear to him.