MAX BAER JR.

Max Baer Jr. was born in California in 1937, the son of World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Max Baer Sr. His father won the championship by knocking out huge Primo Carnera, and a year later lost it to "Cinderella Man" Jimmy Braddock (but the movie called Cinderella Man grossly misrepresented the senior Baer, both factually and personally). Baer's dad died in 1959 at the age of 50. Max, Jr appeared in some TV shows, and then struck gold when he landed the role of Jethro Bodine in TV's The Beverly Hillbillies in 1962, and played him for the entire top rated series until it went off the air in 1971. Maybe it was incredibly silly unsophisticated humor, but I found it hilarious, then and now (I especially liked when Jethro, in the height of the James Bond craze, decided to become a "double naught spy"). One would have thought he would have been financially secure, but Baer had been an unknown in 1962 and signed a lousy contract, as did Donna Douglas and Irene Ryan. Apparently Buddy Epsen was paid far more than they, and I saw an interview where Baer told how after the show hit number one, he, Douglas, and Ryan agreed to "walk" if they didn't get a drastic raise (promising to stand together), but the studio threatened Ryan that they would simply replace her and she panicked and re-signed, as did Douglas soon after, which left Baer with no leverage, and he re-signed as well. In 1974, Baer was down and out, and after having had produced an unsuccessful movie (Two for the Money) in 1972, he decided he could do better himself, and he wrote a screenplay for Macon County Line, which he also produced, and this movie, which was made for $100,000 was hugely successful, and set Baer for life. As of 2021, Max is still alive at the age of 83!