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Biography
Max Baer Jr. starring as Jethro Bodine
Max Baer, Jr. (born December 4, 1937) is an American actor, screen writer, producer and director.
He was born Maximilian Adalbert Baer, Jr. in Oakland, California, the son of legendary boxing champion Max Baer and Mary Ellen Sullivan. His brother and sister are James Baer (born 1941) and Maude Baer (born 1943). His first acting role was in "Goldylocks and the three Bears" at the Blackpool Pavilion in England in 1949.
Baer grew up in Sacramento. He attended Santa Clara University, where he received a bachelor's degree in business administration with a minor in philosophy and domestic science.
His acting career began in 1960 at Warner Bros., where he appeared on TV programs that included Maverick, Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye, Cheyenne and 77 Sunset Strip.
In 1962, Baer was cast in the role of doltish Jethro Bodine on the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, which he played with comedic mastery. The hit comedy also starred Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, and Donna Douglas. During the nine year run of the show, he appeared also on Vacation Playhouse and Love, American Style, and in the Western movie A Time for Killing.
He has had one wife, Joanna Hill (married 1970-divorced 1971).
After The Beverly Hillbillies went off the air in 1971, he made several more guest appearances on TV, but found himself typecast. His major contribution to the entertainment industry was in the field of feature motion pictures.
Baer wrote and produced the drama Macon County Line (1974), in which he also played Deputy Reed Morgan. It was the highest-grossing movie per dollar invested of all time (a record that would later be smashed by The Blair Witch Project). Made for US$110,000, it garnered almost US$25,000,000 at the box-office. He wrote, produced, and directed the drama The Wild McCullochs (1975), in which he also played Culver Robinson. Baer then conceived the idea of using the title of a popular song to make a movie and acquired the rights to a 1967 Bobbie Gentry hit. Baer produced the drama Ode to Billy Joe (1976), which turned a big profit. Made for US$1.1 million, it grossed US$27,000,000 at the box-office, plus earnings in excess of US$2.65 million in the foreign market, US$4.75 million from television, and US$2.5 million from video.
Since the success of Ode to Billy Joe, the first movie based on a popular song, the motion picture industry has capitalized on the trend, producing over 100 song title movies. Baer later decided to pursue the rights to the 1984 song "Like a Virgin" by Madonna. When ABC tried to prevent him from making the movie, he sued and won a judgment of over US$2,000,000.
He directed the comedy Hometown USA (1979), then retired to his home at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, making occasional guest appearances on TV.
In 1985, Baer began studying the gambling industry. He also noticed that tourists would pay US$5.00 to US$6.00 admission to tour the "Ponderosa Ranch," which was the site of location filming on some episodes of TV's Bonanza. Once inside, all there was to see was a working ranch, but people enjoyed it mostly because of the Bonanza connection. Baer decided if tourists would pay to see a ranch because of a well-known series, then surely they would gladly pay "nothing" to see something dealing with the series The Beverly Hillbillies, whose TV audience was much larger than that of Bonanza.
While a lot of people think of him as "Jethro Bodine" from The Beverly Hillbillies, he came to terms with that. He began to see it as a good marketing opportunity toward the gambling and hotel industry and began acquiring the contracts necessary to obtain the rights for marketing his latest idea.
In late 2003, Baer began developing an empty Wal-Mart building and its property at the south end of Carson City into a Beverly Hillbillies-themed hotel and casino called Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Mansion & Casino, which has yet to open.
Max Baer, Jr. is Left-handed.
