Max Baer Jr.
Maximilian Adelbert Baer Jr. (born December 4, 1937) is an American actor, producer, comedian, and director widely known for his role as Jethro Bodine, the dim-witted relative of Jed Clampett (played by Buddy Ebsen) on The Beverly Hillbillies.
Max Baer Jr. | |
|---|---|
 As Jethro in 1962 | |
| Born | Maximilian Adelbert Baer Jr. December 4, 1937 Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, producer, director, comedian, entrepreneur |
| Years active | 1949–1991 |
| Spouse |
Joanne Kathleen Hill
(m. 1966; div. 1971) |
| Parent |
|
Early life
Baer was born in Oakland, California, on December 4, 1937, the son of boxing champion Max Baer and his wife Mary Ellen Sullivan.[1] His paternal grandfather was of German Jewish descent, and his mother was of Irish descent. His brother and sister are James Manny Baer and Maude Baer. His uncle was boxer and actor Buddy Baer.
He attended Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, where he earned letters in four sports and twice won the junior title at the Sacramento Open golf tournament. Playing with Charlie Sifford, he later won the pro–am tournament at the 1968 Andy Williams - San Diego Open.[2]
Baer served as a medical technician in the U.S. Air Force at Gunter Air Force Base Alabama.[3] Baer later earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Santa Clara University, with a minor in philosophy.
Career
Baer's first acting role was in Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the Blackpool Pavilion in England in 1949. He began acting professionally in 1960 at Warner Bros., where he made appearances on television programs such as Maverick, Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye, Cheyenne, The Roaring 20's, and 77 Sunset Strip.[4] His career took off two years later, when he joined the cast of The Beverly Hillbillies.[4]
The Beverly Hillbillies
In 1962, Baer was cast in the role of the naïve but well-meaning Jethro Bodine, Jed Clampett's cousin Pearl's son.
He continued to take other parts during the nine-year run of The Beverly Hillbillies and appeared on the television programs Vacation Playhouse and Love, American Style, as well as in the Western A Time for Killing.[4]
He declined to appear in the 1981 TV movie Return of the Beverly Hillbillies and his character was recast as a result.
Later career
Following the cancellation of The Beverly Hillbillies in 1971, Baer made numerous guest appearances on television, but he found his TV acting career hampered by typecasting. He concentrated on feature motion pictures, especially behind the camera, writing, producing, and directing. Baer wrote and produced the drama Macon County Line (1974),[4] in which he played Deputy Reed Morgan, the highest-grossing movie per dollar invested at the time. Made for US$110,000, it earned almost US$25 million at the box office, a record that lasted until The Blair Witch Project surpassed it in 1999. Baer also wrote, produced, and directed the drama The Wild McCullochs (1975), and played the role of Culver Robinson.
Baer is credited with being one of the first to use the title of a popular song as the title and plot anchor of a film, acquiring the rights to Bobbie Gentry's hit song and producing the 1976 film Ode to Billy Joe, which he also directed. Made for US$1.1 million, the film grossed $27 million at the box office, and earned over US$2.65 million outside the US, US$4.75 million from television, and US$2.5 million from video. The film starred Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor.
Since the success of Ode to Billy Joe, the motion picture industry has produced more than 100 song-title movies. Baer pursued the rights to the hit song "Like a Virgin", recorded by the singer Madonna in 1984. When ABC tried to prevent him from making the film, he sued and won a judgment of more than US$2 million.
He directed the 1979 comedy Hometown U.S.A. before retiring to his home at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He continues to make occasional guest appearances on television.
Other ventures
In 1985, Baer began investigating the gambling industry. He noted that tourists paid a US$5 to $6 admission to tour the "Ponderosa Ranch", in Incline Village, Nevada, which was the location for filming exterior scenes for episodes of TV's popular program Bonanza. The Ponderosa was a cattle ranch with horses, barns, Bonanza displays, restaurants, hay rides, and a wedding chapel, and tourists enjoyed the Ponderosa because of the Bonanza connection. Baer decided that tourists would also pay for something dealing with The Beverly Hillbillies. He began using his Jethro Bodine role as a marketing opportunity toward the gambling and hotel industry. Baer obtained the sublicensing rights, including food and beverage rights, to The Beverly Hillbillies from CBS in 1991. His business partner estimates the cost of obtaining the rights and developing the ideas at US$1 million. Sixty-five Beverly Hillbillies slot machines were built in 1999 and placed in 10 casinos.[5]
In late 2003, Baer attempted the redevelopment of a former Walmart location in Carson City into a Beverly Hillbillies-themed hotel and casino, but was unsuccessful due to building code conflicts and other developers on the neighboring properties. On May 4, 2007, he announced the sale of the property and the purchase of another parcel just outside Carson City, in neighboring Douglas County, where he expected less resistance to his plans. Baer purchased a 2.5-acre (1.0 ha) parcel in north Douglas County for US$1.2 million, and would purchase an additional 20 acres (8.1 ha) once he obtained the required zoning variances. The plans were for a 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m2) gambling area with 800 slot machines and 16 tables, flanked by various eateries, including "Jethro's All You Ken Et Buffet". The project would feature a showroom, cinema complex and a 240-room, five-story hotel.[6]
Plans for Baer's casino included a 200-foot-tall (61 m) mock oil derrick spouting a 20- to 30-foot (9.1 m) flame.
As of July 2012, development of Jethro's Casino had been suspended. Ongoing litigation involving Baer, the developer and Douglas County has delayed the development of the project indefinitely.[7]
In 2014, Baer sued CBS after claiming a secret deal with a Des Moines-based Jethro's BBQ was interfering with his opportunity to cash in on his role from the iconic television show. The lawsuit claims that Baer negotiated a deal with CBS for the rights to use the fictional character and other motifs from the show to create a chain of restaurants, hotels, and casinos.
Recent years
He remained close friends with Buddy Ebsen until Ebsen's death from pneumonia on July 6, 2003. Just before his acting mentor's death, Donna Douglas and he both had visited Ebsen in the hospital.[8]
In January 2008, Baer's live-in girlfriend, 30-year-old Penthouse model Chere Rhodes, committed suicide in the 70-year-old's Lake Tahoe home. Her suicide note mentioned "relationship problems".[9][10]
The 2015 death of co-star Donna Douglas left Baer as the only surviving regular cast member of The Beverly Hillbillies.[11]
Filmography
List of credits
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Maverick | Ticket Taker / Chuck / Brazos | 3 episodes — "Bundle from Britain" — "A Bullet for the Teacher" — "Kiz" |
| 1960–1961 | Surfside 6 | Joe Wilk / Party Guest | 2 episodes — "High Tide" (1960) — "Facts on the Fire" (1961) |
| 1960–1961 | Cheyenne | Callow / Bert McGuire / Pete | 4 episodes — "Two Trails to Santa Fe" (1960) — "Duel at Judas Basin" (1961) — "The Beholden" (1961) — "The Frightened Town" (1961) |
| 1960–1961 | Hawaiian Eye | Ali / Bill Gorham | 2 episodes — "Vanessa Vanishes" (1960) — "The Big Dealer" (1961) |
| 1960–1961 | 77 Sunset Strip | Government Man / Luther Martell / Billy Blackston | 3 episodes — "Double Trouble" (1960) — "The Corsican Caper" (1961) — "The Chrome Coffin" (1961) |
| 1961 | Bronco | Cowboy | Episode: "The Invaders |
| 1961 | Sugarfoot | Frank | Episode: "Angel" |
| 1962 | Follow the Sun | Tom Baylor | Episode: "A Choice of Weapons" |
| 1962 | It's a Man's World | 1st GI | Episode: "Drive Over to Exeter" |
| 1962–1971 | The Beverly Hillbillies | Jethro Bodine | main role (273 episodes) TV Land Award for Favorite "Fish Out of Water" (2004) |
| 1967 | A Time for Killing | Sergeant Luther Liskell | |
| 1967 | Dream Girl of '67 | Himself (Bachelor Judge) | series regular (10 episodes) |
| 1968 | Hollywood Squares | Himself (Panelist) | recurring role (5 episodes) |
| 1971 | The Birdmen | Tanker | Television Movie |
| 1972 | Two for the Money | — | Producer |
| 1972–1973 | Love, American Style | Rocky / Jackie Lee Rhodes | 2 episodes — "Love and the Fullback" (1972) — "Love and the Games People Play" (1973) |
| 1974 | Macon County Line | Deputy Reed Morgan | also Producer/Writer |
| 1975 | The Wild McCullochs | Culver Robinson | also Director/Producer/Writer |
| 1976 | Ode to Billy Joe | — | Director/Producer |
| 1979 | Fantasy Island | Big Jake Farley | Episode: "Nobody's There/The Dancer" |
| 1979 | Hometown U.S.A. | — | Director |
| 1980 | The Asphalt Cowboy | Max Caulpepper | Television Movie |
| 1982 | The Circle Family | Hearst Circle | Television Movie |
| 1984 | Matt Houston | Andy MacKay | 2 episodes — "Return to Nam: Part 1" — "Escape from Nam: Part 2" |
| 1989 | Murder, She Wrote | Johnny Wheeler | Episode: "Jack and Bill" |
| 1991 | State Trooper Boone Willoughby | Episode: "Who Killed J.B. Fletcher?" | |
| 2005 | Biography | Himself (Interviewee) | Episode: "Buddy Ebsen" |
References
- Pilato, Herbie (2016). TV's Top Male Icons from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Taylor Trade. p. 152. ISBN 9781630760533.
- "Golf exhibition set Tuesday at CC course", Times-News (Hendersonville, NC), September 15, 1971.
- Exhibit salutes stars who wore stripes United States Air Force. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- "Max Baer Jr". TV Guide. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
- "Max Baer reflects on his fight to open Hillbillies casino". The Nevada Appeal. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
- "'Jethro' Buys Land for Nevada Casino". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
- "News Updates". Retrieved July 21, 2019.
- "Ebsen, who played Jed Clampett, Barnaby Jones, many others, dies". Las Vegas Sun.com. July 7, 2003. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
- "Girlfriend of ex-'Hillbillies' star Baer commits suicide". Las Vegas Review-Journal. February 1, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- Vigil, Jennifer (May 30, 2014). "Accused Father 'Nervous, Upset' Over Son Bringing Gun to Chula Vista Campus". Times of San Diego. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- "Max Baer Jr. On Donna Douglas: 'She Was Elly May Until The Day She Died' - RumorFix - The Anti Tabloid". RumorFix - The Anti Tabloid. January 2, 2015. Retrieved May 6, 2016.