Max Baer Jr. is best remembered as Jethro Bodine from The Beverly Hillbillies, but what became of this legend when the show ended?

Max Baer Jr. is 84 years old today.

The comedy program The Beverly Hillbillies chronicled the Clampett family’s saga, with Jed Clampett, portrayed by Buddy Ebsen, gaining fortune at an alarming rate.

Jed became a billionaire in an instant and decided to relocate to Beverly Hills, California. The story’s turning point? The family kept up their backwoods lifestyle.

Jethro Bodine and Jethro Baer Jr.
The streetwise Jed brought his Clampett family clan, and one of the many famous personalities stood out.

Jethro Bodine, the son of Jed’s cousin, Pearl, was portrayed by Max Baer Jr., a naive and borderline dimwitted guy who demonstrated his amazing arithmetic abilities with his multiplication classic “five gozinta five one times, five gozinta ten two times.”

When The Beverly Hillbillies first broadcast in 1962, it was an immediate hit. According to IMDB, it soared to the top faster than any other program in television history within the first three weeks of its launch.

The program was a hit among television viewers. It lasted 11 years, with nine seasons and 274 episodes, until being discontinued in 1971.

In 1964, The Beverly Hillbillies was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Show Comedy, as well as four Emmy nominations.

Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies
Max’s persona, on the other hand, had a silly year-to-year smile; his chuckle made everyone else laugh; and, most importantly, he made everyone think his character, Jethro Bodine, was genuine.

Max had honed his southern drawl by listening to Andy Griffith and Jonathan Winters recordings. He was able to do this while keeping a perpetually idiotic expression on his face, which clearly made people giggle.

While playing the rustic bumpkin Jethro, Max Baer Jr. became an American comic star. Not only that, but the performance provided Max with his big break.

Unfortunately, his life following the program did not go as planned. This is the tale of the guy behind Jethro Bodine, a figure that Hollywood couldn’t get enough of.

Max Baer Jr. was born in Oakland, California, on December 4, 1937. He is the son of boxing champion Max Baer and Mary Ellen Sullivan.

I was picked up in the parking lot.
It would be a long time before Baer Jr. entered the acting world. In 1949, he appeared in a theater version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears at the Blackpool Pavilion in England. Later, it was a combination of chance, luck, and a lot of self-confidence that got him the part of a lifetime in The Beverly Hillbillies.

Baer Jr. grew up in Sacramento before moving to Santa Clara to study. He graduated from Santa Clara University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1959, but a year later he found himself in a Los Angeles parking lot.

According to a People Magazine story from 1999, Max Baer Jr. chose to ride his motorcycle to Los Angeles the year following graduation. He wound himself up on the Warner Bros. lot, where an executive recognized him as James Garner.

When Baer Jr. was noticed, he wanted to try his hand at acting. Despite knowing nothing about acting, he quickly signed his first one-year contract. Instead, he reasoned that he might as well go for it.

He had modest parts and guest appearances on television in shows including 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick, and Hawaiian Eye.

Even though his career wasn’t taking off, he opted to remain, and soon he found himself with the best job he’d ever had: a comedy about a rural bumpkin family who get wealthy via oil.

Max Baer Jr.’s professional career
He landed the part of Jethro Bodine in The Beverly Hillbillies after an open audition, receiving $1000 for the pilot and $500 for the next program.

“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,” Baer Jr. said to Medium.

“You just do your best with the material you’re given, and then you try to add as much to it [with your performance] as you possibly can.” However, in the end, the audience gets the last word. ‘Well, we like what you did,’ or ‘We don’t like what you did.’ And you don’t have any other method of assessing it.”

The concert was a big success at this time. Baer never made more than $800 per episode, but he had a unique place in the hearts of the American television audience.

Max Baer Jr. felt he was performing well and, more importantly, making people laugh.

“You must perform well. And, in my situation, it’s OK if I’ve made people laugh, even if it’s at my cost. ” I don’t care,” remarked Baer Jr. “They can laugh together with or at me. It makes no difference as long as they laugh. Because if I can make them laugh, I’ll consider my performance a success. I don’t know what level of success it achieved. But I can say it accomplished its purpose.”

A feature-length remake of the iconic TV program, starring Dolly Parton, debuted in 1993. Unfortunately, it did not enjoy the same degree of success. To be honest, it’s hard to believe after they cast someone else in the role of Jethro.

Known as Jethro Bodine
On Beverly Hillbillies, renowned actress Donna Douglas portrayed mountain beauty Elly May Clampett.

In 2013, she applauded Max Baer Jr. for his great performance as Jethro, who may not have been the brightest bulb in the bulb box.

“Max Baer did well as Jethro because he didn’t come across as so dumb that you didn’t like him,” she remarked in the book Dashing, Daring, and Debonair: TV’s Top Male Icons of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

“He was and still is difficult with me.” But we were all like a family. Max might complain about any of us (for whatever reason), but he must not allow anybody else to say anything about us. Max would never let that person take it. He’d protect us as though we were genuine family.”

Donna Douglas died in 2015 at the age of 82, leaving Baer Jr. as the show’s sole surviving cast member.

Baer Jr.’s buddy and TV historian Jeffrey D. Dalrymple agrees.

“You thought Uncle Jed, Granny, and cousin Elly May were his family because they were so good at it,” he adds. “And Max was able to blend in with the rest of the cast without overplaying or underplaying Jethro. “He was and is a terrific performer and a decent man.”

Father of Max Baer Jr.

Baer Jr., in addition to being a recognized character on The Beverly Hillbillies, had a keen interest in athletics, much like his father, who was a professional boxer.

Max Bear used to make a living by wandering across town and collecting trash from restaurants. He earned 35 cents every night and worked seven nights per week.

Boxing contests were another source of income for the father; during the Great Depression, Max Baer requested additional fights.

Max Baer delivered a deadly blow to his opponent, Frankie Campbell, during a bout in 1930. Max Baer was shocked by the horrific tragedy, and he was never the same thereafter. He had to spend some time in prison, and his reputation suffered as a result.

“He was only interested in the money.” “He never liked boxing,” Max Baer Jr. claimed, adding:

“They transformed a good-hearted, fun-loving, friendly, and warm human being who despised boxing into Mr. T from Rocky III with no redeeming qualities.”

Unfortunately, Baer Jr.’s father, Max Baer, died in 1959 at the age of 50.

Baer Jr. was no boxer, but he did play professional golf, competing in various California competitions.

Baer Jr. lettered in golf, football, baseball, and basketball while attending Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, California. He also won the Sacramento Junior Open Golf Championship for the second year in a row. Later, he finished second in the men’s competition.

Max Baer Jr. paired up with professional golfer Charlie Sifford to win the pro-am category of the Andy Williams Golf Classic in San Diego in 1968.

“Acting, on the other hand, is really just a hobby for me,” Baer told The Times in 1971. “Golf is my occupation.”

Following the cancellation of The Beverly Hillbillies, Baer Jr. was left with few options.

One issue was that the producers only viewed him as Jethro, not Baer. He appeared as a guest on various series, including Love, Fantasy Island, and Murder, She Wrote.

Instead of working on many little films and TV series, he opted to strike out on his own, producing and directing. They may not have been Academy Award-worthy films, but he sure did put food on the table.

Bear Jr. found himself producing and directing two films, Ode to Billie Joe (1974) and Macon County Line (1974), both about small-town cops.

According to reports, the film cost $225,000 to create. However, it was a greater success than anybody could have predicted. According to IMDB, it was the single most lucrative independent film of 1974, with $18.8 million in North America and more than $30 million globally.

It also served as inspiration for the 1975 sequel, Return to Macon County.

Max Baer Jr. amassed a fortune from his own films. And it quickly inspired the actor, writer, and producer to start his own firm.

His Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies legend was still intact. That’s why, in 1991, he chose to buy the Beverly Hillbillies moniker from CBS.

Max Baer Jr. has ideas for a casino.
Baer Jr., now 84, intended to use the show’s premise and characters in casinos, amusement parks, restaurants, and cosmetics. The themed casino and amusement park were to be erected on 24 acres of his property in Carson Valley, Nevada.

The resort was to include over 200 rooms, 1,000 slot machines, and animatronic figurines of the performers.

However, Baer Jr. has been involved in various disputes relating to his projects, and nothing has come of his desire to create a blockbuster franchise based on the successful TV series.

Baer was said to have sued CBS in 2014. He alleged that the network had struck a secret contract with Jethro’s BBQ in Des Moines. According to the actor, it hampered his ability to earn money from his position on the popular television program.

However, the proprietors in Des Moines were convinced that it would not have an impact on their company.

Max Baer Jr. has had one marriage. Joanne Kathleen Hill and he married in 1966. In 1971, they divorced.

Max Baer Jr.: Personalities
He dated Chere Rhodes, a 30-year-old model from California, after a string of romances. Their romance lasted until a catastrophe occurred in Carson City, Nevada, in January 2008. Chere was shot in the chest, and his death was ruled a suicide after an inquiry by authorities.

Baer Jr. told about the event three months after her death, revealing that there was blood everywhere and that he was shocked when he saw her.

Officers allegedly ran a paraffin test on the famed actor “to make sure I didn’t shoot her.”

Max Baer Jr. had to battle his way into the limelight in Hollywood. He remarked about his future in 1963, a comment that accurately depicted what he went through in the years that followed.

“We Baers never turned out the way we had intended. My grandpa always wanted to be a prize boxer, but he ended up working as a butcher. “He did win a slaughter championship once,” Baer told Closer. “Dad aspired to be an actor, but as everyone knows, he became a boxer. “I intended to be a lawyer, and now I’m an actor. My career has benefited greatly from the show. The exposure will also help me get jobs in the future. And I aspire to show eventually that I can play anything other than a hillbilly.”

Whatever occurred before or after the show, we will remember Max Baer Jr. as a fantastic performer who made us laugh in almost every episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.

He’ll always have a special place in our hearts, it’s fair to say.