The Secret Life of Jethro Bodine
The long strange trip of Max Baer, Jr. is a backstory worthy of a pulp fiction novel
You’d be hard-pressed to find an American of my generation who is not familiar with the classic television comedy The Beverly Hillbillies. Broadcast on CBS from 1962 to 1971, the show revolved around a clan of backwoods folks who moved to the posh environs of Beverly Hills after discovering a fortune in oil on their Ozarks homestead. The humor stemmed largely from scripted interactions between these unsophisticated but well-meaning yokels and the disdaining, often unscrupulous “city folk” that surround their new life in California.
Of all the characters comprising the Clampett clan — which included Granny Moses, her son-in-law Jed Clampett, and his daughter Elly May Clampett — it was “cousin Jethro” Bodine who often stole the show. Jethro was both dim-witted and ambitious, and was eager to become a success in the big city. Numerous plot lines were driven by Jethro’s never-ending search for a career path, touting his “sixth grade education” and his “cipherin’” skills.
But while Jethro, the character, was as simple and naive a bumpkin as one could ever imagine, the actor who portrayed him — Max Baer, Jr. — is a man of many talents, who has lived in epic fashion both on and off-screen. Now 86 and the last surviving cast member of the Beverly Hillbillies cast, even a brief take on his life and career reveals a very complex and surprising reality behind the facade.
He was born to boxing royalty.
In contrast to Jethro Bodine’s humble beginnings in the swamps of the Missouri Ozarks, Max Baer, Jr. was born in sunny California, and was the son of Maximilian Adelbert Baer (Max Sr.): the former world heavyweight boxing champion.
Baer, Sr. was both renowned and feared in the boxing world. Two of his early opponents, Frankie Campbell and Ernie Schaaf, died soon after being decisively beaten by Baer, who was in the case of Campbell indicted (but later acquitted) on manslaughter charges. Baer’s own father was Jewish, and his 1933 victory over Germany’s Max Schmeling catapulted him into instant hero status among Jews and those who despised the Nazis; it also led to a brief romance with legendary film star Greta Garbo.
Baer, Sr. defeated Italy’s Primo Carnera in 1934 to become the world heavyweight champion, but only held that title for 364 days. His loss to longshot underdog James J. Braddock is still regarded as one of the greatest upsets in boxing history, and was chronicled in the 2005 film Cinderella Man, which featured Russell Crowe as Braddock and Craig Bierko as Baer, Sr.
In his post-boxing career, Baer, Sr. foreshadowed his son’s career by acting or appearing in almost 20 movies, although none of this work attained the popularity his son would enjoy. He also had brief stints as a vaudeville performer, variety show host, and disc jockey.
Suffice it to say that Max Baer, Jr.’s real-life father figure bore little resemblance to the shotgun-toting Jed Clampett.
He was both athletic and educated.
Max Baer, Jr. attended high school in California, where he earned varsity letters in four different sports, and even twice won the junior title in the Sacramento Open golf tournament. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Baer earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Santa Clara University, with a minor in philosophy.
One can only assume that cipherin’ numbers and swimming laps in the cement pond were not a great challenge.
His greatest role became his greatest torment.
Following the cancellation of The Beverly Hillbillies in 1971, Baer’s acting career fell on hard times. He made numerous guest appearances on television, but complained that he was ruthlessly typecasted. All attempts at resuscitating his star power were foiled by the shadow that his dim-witted alter ego cast over him.
“I couldn’t go into a producer’s office and say I wanted to play the part of a neurosurgeon or pilot,” Baer once said. “As soon as I came on screen, people would say, there’s Jethro.”
As Jethro once opined whilst lighting the candles on Granny’s birthday cake, “this thing is commencing to look like a brush fire.”
He became a successful writer, director and producer.
When the prize roles were not being offered to him, Baer moved behind the camera and re-invented himself, with no small degree of success.
He co-wrote, starred in and produced the 1974 film drama Macon County Line, in which he portrayed a bloodthirsty, revenge-seeking Georgia County Sheriff. This film essentially reversed the Beverly Hillbillies formula, landing two unfortunate city slickers in a setting where backwoods yokels make the rules. The film was made for $110,000, and earned almost $25 million at the box office — a highest-grossing per dollar invested record that stood for 25 years, until the release of The Blair Witch Project in 1999.
Baer was involved in several other film projects, but most notably is credited with being one of the first American producers to turn a popular song into a feature film. He produced and directed the 1976 release Ode to Billy Joe, after acquiring the rights to Bobbie Gentry’s chart-topping hit of the same name. Starring Robby Benson and Glynnis O’Connor, this movie was also a huge success, grossing an estimated $27 million at the box office.
As Jethro once described his visit to the moving pictures show, “I spent some of the money on vittles. There was boxes of popcorn, a half a dozen candy bars, and a couple of giant orange drinks.” Clearly Baer was acutely aware of the fortunes to be made in the entertainment industry, and that awareness would factor heavily in the next phase of his life.
He dabbled in the gaming industry, and (almost) built his own casino and hotel.
In the 1980’s Baer, a frequent flier in the Las Vegas gaming scene, found himself intrigued by the willingness of tourists to pay for access to sites and attractions themed on popular movie and television properties. In 1991, he purchased the sublicensing rights, including food and beverage rights, to The Beverly Hillbillies from CBS. In 1991, this investment began to pay off: sixty-five Beverly Hillbillies slot machines were built in 1999 and placed in 10 casinos.
In the mid-2000’s, Baer pursued a plan to build his own Jethro-themed casino resort, which ultimately would have included a 40,000-square-foot gambling area with 800 slot machines and 16 tables, flanked by various restaurants including "Jethro's All You Ken Et Buffet," a showroom, cinema complex, a 240-room, five-story hotel, and a 200-foot-tall (61 m) mock oil derrick spouting flaming oil.
Baer purchased two different Nevada properties for the project, in Carson City and nearby Douglas County, but persistent litigation from neighboring developers, city council members and county officials appears to have pushed those plans into a perpetual legal limbo. No Jethro resort exists to date, and likely never will.
Once a ladies’ man… always thus. (maybe)
Baer only married once, to “dancer” and “actress” Joanne Kathleen Hill in 1966, at the height of his Beverly Hillbillies fame. As the story is told, Baer saw her face on a Sunset Boulevard billboard and then appeared on her doorstep on Valentine’s Day to profess his interest. It was a private, unpublicized union lasting but 5 years and resulting in no children.
More notable was his later-life attachment to Penthouse model Chere Rhodes, a live-in girlfriend at his Lake Tahoe home who was 40 years his junior. Come on, man. You’re 70 years old and this? Rhodes committed suicide in their home, and told detectives via dying words that it was related to “relationship problems.” Apparently, this troubled person was so in love with Baer that it led to her demise.
Outliving the Legend.
Baer never backed down from a challenge. As of today, he is the last surviving cast member of the show, and is still the reigning hillbilly of our collective conscious.