5/11/2023 0 Comments Buddy ebsen![]() ![]() In 1993, when Hollywood made The Beverly Hillbillies into a feature film (with Jim Varney playing Jed), Ebsen appeared in the cameo role of Barnaby Jones. Don Ameche, who played the Cocoon role instead, won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Two detective series followed: Barnaby Jones (1973-80) and Matt Houston (1984-85).Įbsen was offered the leading role of Art Selwyn, the elderly rest-home resident who mysteriously regains his youthful vigour in Cocoon (1985), but had to turn the film down because of his Matt Houston shooting schedule. Stars such as Phil Silvers, Gloria Swanson, Sammy Davis Jnr and John Wayne were happy to make guest appearances on the long-running show, which Ebsen said brought him "the most diverting and enjoyable family I've ever known outside of my own". The show's corn-fed humour enraged the critics, but Beverly swiftly became America's No 1 programme, reaching more than 60 million viewers each week. Soon after giving a touching performance as the gentle Doc Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Ebsen returned to television to play the oil-rich widower Jed Clampett in The Beverly Hillbillies (1962-71). America suddenly went Crockett crazy, and the television episodes were stitched together to make two profitable feature films. Disney then cast him as George Russel, the hero's rowdy sidekick in the television saga Davy Crockett (1954). Back in Hollywood, he landed a minor role in Paramount's musical spoof Red Garters, then flew to Germany to film the cold war thriller Night People (both 1954).īy now he was also writing songs, some of which were published by Walt Disney's music firm. "I could've gotten leading parts in many pictures, especially with so many actors away at the war," he said, "but I wanted to be in uniform." When he was discharged as a lieutenant in 1945, no leading film parts, or even supporting ones, were being offered, and he accepted the singing-dancing role of Frank Schultz in a Broadway revival of Show Boat (1946-47). Yokel Boy had a six-month run, after which Ebsen made two films for RKO, and enlisted in the Coast Guard. He had top billing, but he leaned back, relaxed and told me, "Go get 'em, Phil." I had an open field. "Buddy Ebsen was a stabilising influence," wrote Silvers in his autobiography: When the comedian Jack Pearl left the show during its stormy Boston tryout, Silvers replaced him, and began frantically tailoring the role to his talents. Playing a minor role was Phil Silvers, a 29-year-old burlesque comic, making his musical comedy début. After his MGM contract expired in 1939, Ebsen returned to the East to star in the musical Yokel Boy.
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