TLDR: Max Baer Jr. played Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies for nine seasons and 273 episodes. A
fter the show ended he produced Macon County Line for $225,000 and grossed $30 million, then spent three decades trying to build a Beverly Hillbillies-themed casino in Nevada that never materialized.
He is 88 years old as of 2025, the last surviving member of the original cast, and lives quietly near Lake Tahoe.
The audition that made Max Baer Jr. famous was an accident. In 1962, he drove his roommate to try out for a new CBS show and went in himself on a whim. Producers didn’t give him lines.
They had him chase a bird around the set. He didn’t get the part that day, but something he did made an impression.
Later in the process, during a lunch break, Irene Ryan — who was auditioning for Granny — bought him martinis. He returned to the set slightly disoriented, walked into a doorframe, and offered a vacant grin with a slurred “Scuse maay.”
It was perfect.
He had never used a hillbilly accent before in his life. He learned one before filming started and played the role for nine years.
Son of the Heavyweight Champion
Maximilian Adelbert Baer Jr. was born on December 4, 1937, in Oakland, California.
His father, Max Baer Sr., was the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion from 1934 to 1935, known as Madcap Maxie, a man with one of the most powerful right hands in the history of the division.
He was also a showman, a party-lover, and by his son’s account one of the kindest and most scatterbrained men you would ever meet.
Growing up as the champion’s son had a specific texture. Other kids tested Max Jr. to see if he was tough.
He was.
His father encouraged him to confront his tormentors directly, which was formative in ways that showed up later in boardrooms and courtrooms.
Max Sr. also carried genuine psychological damage from his career, including recurring nightmares about the 1930 bout in which his opponent Frankie Campbell died.
Max Jr. has defended his father’s character against a Hollywood portrayal in the 2005 film Cinderella Man that he felt made the elder Baer a villain rather than the complex, haunted man he actually was.
Max Sr. died of a heart attack in Hollywood in 1959 at age 50. Max Jr. was 21.
He earned a business degree from Santa Clara University with a minor in philosophy, lettered in four sports in high school, and won the junior title at the Sacramento Open golf tournament twice.
None of this prepared anyone for what happened when he wandered into a CBS casting session three years later.
Jethro for Nine Seasons
The Beverly Hillbillies premiered in 1962 and became one of the highest-rated shows in American television history, drawing up to 60 million viewers.
Baer appeared in 273 of the show’s 274 episodes as Jethro Bodine, Buddy Ebsen’s Jed Clampett’s nephew, a well-meaning and thoroughly unself-aware giant who cycled through career aspirations — double-naught spy, brain surgeon, movie producer — with the kind of serene confidence that only genuine obliviousness can produce.
He also played Jethro’s twin sister Jethrine in early episodes, in drag, with his voice dubbed by Linda Kaye Henning.
The cast dynamics were, by his own description, like a real family: warm and occasionally fractious. “I yelled at Irene and she yelled at me, I’d get pissed at Donna and she would cry, Buddy would get angry with me and just turn his back on me,” he said. “But don’t let anyone else pick on them.”
He has described Ryan as a demanding professional who could be a “terror” in terms of her expectations for script fidelity and timing, though he also credits her with teaching him that the mechanics of laughter were serious business.
He was fiercely protective of his castmates even when he was annoyed with them. He and Ebsen sailed together and were genuinely close.
He visited Ebsen in the hospital shortly before Ebsen’s death in 2003 with Donna Douglas beside him.
CBS cancelled the show in 1971 as part of the rural purge that also ended Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. Baer declined to reprise Jethro in the 1981 TV movie Return of the Beverly Hillbillies.
The character was recast. He has said at various points that he was born Max Baer Jr. but would die Jethro Bodine, which captures both the resignation and the acceptance in equal measure.
The Film That Made $30 Million on a $225,000 Budget
After the show ended, Baer faced a specific problem. He was Jethro.
Young casting directors who didn’t recognize him from the show’s run would ask what he had done. When he said The Beverly Hillbillies, the conversation was functionally over.
He described himself at one point as being about as much in demand as cancer. He had a business degree and money from nine years of one of the most successful shows in television history.
He decided to make his own films.
In 1974 he wrote and produced Macon County Line, a gritty drama set in the 1950s South in which he played a vengeful deputy sheriff. He played it as straight as he could, in direct opposition to everything Jethro had been.
The film was made for approximately $225,000. To market it, Baer and his director used a “true story” gimmick on the marketing materials — a claim he later admitted was entirely fabricated. It grossed over $30 million.
The ratio of return on investment was, at the time, one of the best in film history.
He followed with The Wild McCullochs in 1975 and Ode to Billy Joe in 1976, named after the Bobbie Gentry song, which grossed $27 million against a $1.1 million budget.
He was an early pioneer of titling films after popular songs. His final directing credit was the 1979 comedy Hometown U.S.A. His last acting role was a 1991 Murder, She Wrote episode. The behind-the-camera years produced genuine commercial success.
They did not produce an escape from the gravitational pull of Jethro.
Thirty Years of Casino That Never Got Built
In 1991, Baer obtained sublicensing rights from CBS for a Beverly Hillbillies-themed casino, hotel, and entertainment complex.
The vision was elaborate: a 40,000-square-foot gaming area, a restaurant called Jethro’s All-You-Ken-Et Buffet, a Shotgun Wedding Chapel, and the centerpiece — a 200-foot flaming oil derrick visible for miles. He had slot machines in ten Nevada casinos by 1999.
Plans moved through Nevada for two decades. Reno fell through. A former Walmart building in Carson City, purchased for $4.3 million, was blocked by restrictive covenants from the adjacent mall and JC Penney. He sold it for $8.5 million and tried again.
Douglas County land purchased in 2007 for $1.2 million was derailed by the 2008 economic collapse and a county denial of the 200-foot derrick.
In 2014 he sued CBS, alleging they had entered into a secret settlement with a Des Moines restaurant chain called Jethro’s BBQ in 2008, allowing them to continue using the name in exchange for minor menu changes.
Baer argued this had clouded his licensing rights and made it impossible to attract investors. A judge dismissed the breach of contract portion of the lawsuit in 2017. The Douglas County land was eventually foreclosed. The casino exists only on paper.
He has described the effort with a philosophical equanimity that suggests he genuinely believes the attempt mattered as much as the outcome would have.
“The trip is as important as the destination,” he has said. It is the most Jethro-like thing about him: the absolute conviction that the next scheme will work, sustained for thirty years against all available evidence.
Personal Life and the Night in Lake Tahoe
Baer married singer and actress Joanne Kathleen Hill in 1966. They divorced in 1971, the same year the show was cancelled. He never remarried and has no children.
He has said he did not believe he could have been the father his father was to him, and that this belief kept him from trying.
In January 2008, his girlfriend Chere Rhodes, a 30-year-old former Penthouse model with whom he had been living at his Lake Tahoe home, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Her note cited relationship problems. Baer was 70.
Authorities cleared him of any involvement. He has spoken about the event in interviews with the directness of someone who processed a genuinely traumatic experience rather than deflecting from it.
He has lived quietly near Lake Tahoe since.
The Last One Standing
Irene Ryan died in 1973. Buddy Ebsen died in 2003. Raymond Bailey, who played Mr. Drysdale, died in 1980.
Donna Douglas, who played Elly May, died in 2015.
Max Baer Jr. is 88 years old as of 2025 and is the last surviving member of the original Beverly Hillbillies cast.
He lives near Lake Tahoe and in Las Vegas. His net worth is estimated at approximately $50 million, built through the film work and real estate investments made during the decades when he was officially unemployable as an actor.
He still wears his father’s watch and St. Christopher medal. He has said he has no regrets about Jethro.
He has also said he was born Max Baer Jr. and will die Jethro Bodine.
Both things can be true at the same time, and at 88 he seems to have made his peace with that.
Who played Jethro on The Beverly Hillbillies?
Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies was played by Max Baer Jr., born December 4, 1937, in Oakland, California. He appeared in 273 of the show’s 274 episodes across nine seasons from 1962 to 1971. He is the son of Max Baer Sr., the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion from 1934 to 1935.
How did Max Baer Jr. get the role of Jethro?
Max Baer Jr. tagged along when his roommate went to audition for The Beverly Hillbillies and ended up testing himself. During the audition process, Irene Ryan bought him martinis at lunch. He returned to the set slightly disoriented and walked into a doorframe, delivering a slurred Scuse maay that perfectly captured the character. He had never used a hillbilly accent before but learned one before filming began.
What did Max Baer Jr. do after The Beverly Hillbillies?
After the show ended in 1971, Max Baer Jr. pivoted to producing and directing. He produced Macon County Line in 1974 for approximately $225,000 and it grossed over $30 million, one of the best returns on investment in film history at the time. He followed with The Wild McCullochs and Ode to Billy Joe. He spent three decades attempting to build a Beverly Hillbillies-themed casino in Nevada that never materialized due to zoning disputes, legal battles, and the 2008 economic collapse.
Is Max Baer Jr. still alive?
Yes. As of 2025-2026, Max Baer Jr. is alive and 88 years old, living near Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He is the last surviving member of the original Beverly Hillbillies cast, a status he has held since the death of Donna Douglas in 2015.
Why did Max Baer Jr. stop acting?
Max Baer Jr. effectively stopped pursuing major acting roles after The Beverly Hillbillies ended in 1971 due to severe typecasting. After playing the dim-witted Jethro for nine years, he found it impossible to be considered for serious roles. He pivoted to producing and directing instead, achieving significant commercial success with films like Macon County Line and Ode to Billy Joe.
