Buddy Ebsen (April 2, 1908 – July 6, 2003) was a beloved American actor and dancer with a remarkable seven-decade career, forever known to television audiences as the kind-hearted patriarch Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies and the folksy detective Barnaby Jones.
Ebsen began his career as a lanky and eccentric dancer with his sister Vilma in Vaudeville and MGM musicals. He was famously cast as the original Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz but was forced to leave the production after a severe allergic reaction to the aluminum makeup nearly cost him his life. He made a major comeback in the 1950s as Davy Crockett’s trusty sidekick, Georgie Russel, in the hugely popular Disney films.
In 1962, Buddy Ebsen was cast as Jed Clampett, the sensible and dignified center of the wildly successful sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, a role that made him a superstar. He found stardom again in 1973 with the title role in the long-running detective drama Barnaby Jones, cementing his legacy as one of television’s most versatile and enduring stars.
