Max Baer Jr. is best remembered as Jethro Bodine from The Beverly Hillbillies, but what became of this legend after the show ended?Max Baer Jr is 84 years old today.Comedy program The Beverly Hillbillies followed the Clampett family’s saga, with Jed Clampett, played by Buddy Ebsen, gaining fortune at an alarming rate.Jed became a millionaire instantly and decided to relocate to Beverly Hills, California. The story’s turning point? The family kept up their backwoods lifestyle.
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 played by Max Baer Jr, a naive and borderline dimwitted man who demonstrated his excellent arithmetic skills with his multiplication classic “five gozinta five one times, five gozinta ten two times.” It was an instant hit when The Beverly Hillbillies first broadcast in 1962. According to IMDB, it soared to the top spot faster than any other show in television history within the first three weeks of its launch. The show was a hit among television viewers. It lasted 11 years, with nine seasons and 274 episodes, before being discontinued in 1971. In 1964, The Beverly Hillbillies was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Show Comedy and four Emmy nominations.On the other hand, Max’s persona had a silly year-to-year grin. His chuckle made everyone else laugh, and, most importantly, he made everyone believe his character, Jethro Bodine, was real.