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The Beverly Hillbillies is a TV sitcom about a hillbilly family living in Southern California of the 1960s.
The patriarch strikes oil while hunting on his land near a fictionalized hamlet called Bugtussle in the Ozark Mountains. He then listens to the advice of friends, neighbors and extended family members, and moves with his family to Beverly Hills, California, with the resultant wealth.
A Filmways production, the series aired on CBS from September 26, 1962 to September 7, 1971.
Despite its being panned by critics, The Beverly Hillbillies shot to the top of the Nielsen Ratings shortly after its premiere and stayed there for several seasons. It was high in the ratings throughout most of its run.
The series starred Buddy Ebsen as the widowed patriarch, Jedidiah "Jed" Clampett; Irene Ryan as his mother-in-law, Granny (Daisy Moses); Donna Douglas as his daughter, Elly May; Max Baer, Jr. as his nephew, Jethro Bodine, (sometimes playing Jethro's twin sister, Jethrene, on early shows); Raymond Bailey as Jed's greedy banker, Milburn Drysdale; Harriet E. MacGibbon as Drysdale's snobbish wife, Margaret; veteran canine actor "Stretch" as Jed's Bloodhound Duke; and Nancy Kulp as Drysdale's secretary, Miss Jane Hathaway, who pined for the clueless Jethro.
In the beginning, Jed's cousin, Pearl (Jethro's mother, played by Bea Benaderet), also appeared.
The theme song, "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," (listen) was written by producer and writer Paul Henning and originally performed by Bluegrass artists Flatt and Scruggs. It was #44 on the music charts in 1962. Flatt and Scruggs made several guest appearances as themselves, and as potential suitors for Pearl.
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