Petticoat Junction: What Happened To The Cast When The Series Ended?

The arrival of the CBS sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies" in 1962 changed the television landscape. When the show rocketed to No. 1 in the ratings, the network took notice. Realizing there was a vast viewing audience for shows about country bumpkins, series creator Paul Henning was tasked with coming up with another show with similar sensibilities, which led to the debut of "Petticoat Junction" in 1963 (a third show, "Green Acres," premiered in 1965, with all three sharing the same television universe so that characters from one show frequently popped into the others). 

Set in the fictional rural town of Hooterville, "Petticoat Junction" followed the goings-on at the Shady Rest Hotel, run by widow Kate Bradley (Bea Benadaret), her bumbling Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan), and her three comely daughters, Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo. Adding to the hijinks were an assortment of eccentric locals, including shopkeeper Sam Drucker (Frank Cady, who also simultaneously played the same character as a regular on "Green Acres"), and the engineer and conductor of the town's train, the Hooterville Cannonball (played by, respectively, Smiley Burnette and Rufe Davis).

As hoped, "Petticoat Junction" became a top 10 hit, running for seven successful seasons. Then, in 1970, the Hooterville Cannonball came screeching to a halt when CBS canceled the show, along with "Green Acres," "Beverly Hillbillies," "Hee Haw," and "Mayberry R.F.D.," in what came to be known as "the rural purge" as CBS ditched its hokey hits in an attempt to lure a younger and more urban audience. Yet the show has lived on via reruns, leading fans of "Petticoat Junction" to wonder what happened to the cast when the series ended.

Bea Benadaret was a regular on Season 1 of "The Beverly Hillbillies," playing Pearl Bodine, mother of thick-skulled Jethro (Max Baer Jr.). For those wondering whatever happened to the cast of "The Beverly Hillbillies," in the case of Benadaret, she exited the show in order to take the starring role in "Petticoat Junction." Meanwhile, trivia lovers may also remember her other claim to fame, providing the voice of Betty Rubble on "The Flintstones." 

In 1967, Benadaret was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent treatment. That included surgery to remove one of her lungs, which left her significantly weakened. To accommodate her illness, the show's writers devised scenes in which she could remain seated or behind the hotel's front desk, placing the character in fewer scenes and creating storylines in which she was out of town for various reasons during those periods she was unable to work.

The consummate trouper, Benadaret continued to perform and returned for Season 6. She was able to film a few episodes before acting became impossible due to her rapidly advancing cancer. She died in October 1968 at the age of 62, with her final episode airing after her death.

During all seasons of "Petticoat Junction," Edgar Buchanan could be found loafing around the Shady Rest as Uncle Joe, who never met a get-rich-quick scheme he didn't like (or one that ever worked). After the series' cancellation, Buchanan remained a familiar face on TV screens, guest-starring on an array of series, including "The Mod Squad," "The Virginian," and "The Name of the Game."

In 1971, he was cast in "Cade's County," a single-season series about a small-town sheriff starring Glenn Ford, a former movie idol whose torrid tryst with Rita Hayworth ranks as one of old Hollywood's most scandalous affairs. After that show's cancellation, Buchanan continued working, appearing in the TV series "Love, American Style" and "The Partridge Family," which starred Shirley Jones as one of those '70s sitcom moms we wondered whatever happened to. Buchanan's final role was in the 1974 film "Benji," a beloved family hit about an adorable dog. He died a few years later, passing away in 1979 at the age of 76.

Despite racking up more than 170 screen credits during a lengthy career that extended back to the 1930s, Uncle Joe became his best-known role. Speaking with the Kansas City Star (via MeTV), he offered his opinion on why viewers continued to return to Hooterville each week. "These people on 'Petticoat Junction' are real people, like people you have known in your own hometown, provided you aren't a city-bred feller," he said. "If you haven't known them, someone in your family probably has. Sometimes you may have to put your tongue in your cheek when we do a situation, but it's not exaggerated too much."

Linda Henning and co-star Edgar Buchanan hold the distinction of being the only two members of the cast to have appeared in all 222 episodes of "Petticoat Junction." Prior to being cast as the youngest Bradley sibling, Betty Jo, she appeared in several episodes of "The Beverly Hillbillies," albeit not on camera but as the voice of Jethro's twin sister, Jethrine (who, like her brother, was portrayed by Max Baer Jr.). There was a very good reason for that: both shows were created by her father, Paul Henning, who can arguably be described as one of the nepo baby parents who were forgotten by Hollywood. 

That said, she made it clear that she's not among the celebs whose take on being nepo babies had us cringing, revealing that she wasn't just given the part but had to go through the same audition process as everyone else. In fact, the only reason she got an audition at all had been at the insistence of Bea Benadaret, whom she'd impressed with her voice work on "Hillbillies." "When I got the part, I couldn't believe it," Linda said in an interview with The Daily Report (via MeTV). "Then my father called me aside and said I'd better make him proud of me, and I've never worked so hard in my life."

After the show was canceled, she took the TV guest star route, appearing in various series in the decades that followed. During the course of those years, she'd been very vocal about her hopes of mounting a "Petticoat Junction" reunion or revival series. "Every other show has had a reunion," she told The Los Angeles News, via MeTV. "So why not our show, too? We just have to convince someone somewhere." While that never happened, she's appeared at fan conventions, including the 2025 edition of the Hollywood Show.

Frank Cady has the rare distinction of being among those mentioned when wondering whatever happened to the cast of "Green Acres," given that he was a series regular in that show while also part of the cast of "Petticoat Junction." In the role of Sam Drucker, proprietor of Sam Drucker's General Store in the heart of downtown Hooterville, Cady was featured in 168 episodes of "Petticoat Junction," 142 episodes of "Green Acres," and 10 episodes of "The Beverly Hillbillies."

After the series' cancellation, he guest-starred on a few TV shows, including "Hawaii Five-0," "Eight Is Enough," and the short-lived "M*A*S*H" spinoff "AfterMASH," in 1984. "I did a few things after that, but not much," Cady said of his post-"Petticoat Junction" years in an interview, via Frank's Wacky World News. "I moved out of town."

He relocated from Hollywood to Oregon to be closer to his daughter and spent the ensuing decades in happy retirement. There, he engaged in such pursuits as golf, hiking (a pastime that took him as far afield as the Swiss Alps), and writing for the local newspaper. He took just one final acting role, reprising Sam Drucker in the 1990 made-for-TV reunion movie "Return to Green Acres." He was 96 years old when he died in 2012.

For the first two seasons of "Petticoat Junction," the role of Bobbie Jo Bradley was played by Pat Woodell, who exited the show in order to focus on a music career. In the third season, she was replaced by Lori Saunders, who played the character for the remainder of the series' run. 

After the sitcom was canceled, Saunders appeared in a cavalcade of films and TV series, ranging from "Love, American Style" to "The Young and the Restless." She was also in the 1973 movie "Frasier, the Sensuous Lion," based on the true story of an elderly lion that impressively fathered 33 cubs at the age of 19 (about 75 in lion years). After that, she was cast as a series regular in "Dusty's Trail," a western-themed sitcom in which "Gilligan's Island" star Bob Denver played a stagecoach driver who becomes desperately lost on the way to California. 

"Dusty's Trail" was far from a hit, canceled after just one season. Saunders stepped away from acting not long after that. As she wrote on her website, "I love working with various charities, creating art-sculpture and oil paintings. I have been married 40 years to my wonderfully supportive and fun-loving husband, Bernard ... We are blessed to live in beautiful Montecito, California."

Prior to being cast as Hooterville Cannonball conductor/town firefighter Floyd Smoot, Rufe Davis appeared in dozens of movies, mainly westerns, typically playing second banana to the likes of the cowboy stars. Most notably, he played the same character, Lullaby Joslin, in more than a dozen films in the "Three Mesquiteers" series. He got his start in vaudeville, and in the early 1930s starred in his own radio show, "Rufe Davis and his Radio Rubes." During a showbiz career that lasted nearly 50 years, he demonstrated a talent that "Petticoat Junction" utilized frequently, a skill at mimicking the sounds of everything from a police siren to a clucking chicken to his signature impression, a locomotive.

By the time that "Petticoat Junction" was canceled in 1970, Davis was all but retired; he only appeared in two episodes during the final season. After it was over, he decided to pack it in and retire. Sadly, that retirement did not last long; Davis passed away in 1974, at the age of 66.

After Jeannine Riley left "The Beverly Hillbillies" at the end of the second season, Gunilla Hutton took over the role of Billie Jo Bradley. However, her tenure at "Petticoat Junction" lasted just one season. When Hutton parted ways with the show, she was replaced by Meredith MacRae, who played Billie Jo until the series' end and became the actor to play the role for the longest period of time. 

The daughter of actors Gordon MacRae ("Oklahoma!") and Sheila MacRae (who'd been a regular on "The Jackie Gleason Show"), she was not among the nepo babies who decided to live surprisingly normal lives away from the spotlight. Instead, she opted to join the family business by becoming an actor herself. In fact, the conclusion of "Petticoat Junction" launched MacRae into a wildly successful acting career that continued well into the 1990s, spanning both film and television. This included guest spots in such classic TV series as "Fantasy Island," "The Fall Guy," "The Rockford Files," "Magnum P.I." and others. She was also a fixture on celebrity-featuring game shows, appearing in "Hollywood Squares," "Match Game," and the like. In the latter half of the 1980s, she switched gears from acting to hosting the Los Angeles morning show, "Mid-Morning L.A."

Sadly, MacRae's career was cut short when she was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1999. The tumor was surgically removed, and despite a positive prognosis at the time, she died the following year. She was just 56 years old. 

Handsome Steve Elliott was first introduced in the fourth season of "Petticoat Junction," played by Mike Minor. Minor remained on the show as a series regular for the remainder of its run, ultimately appearing in 112 episodes (one of which, in the second season, as a different character, Dan Plout).

His post-"Petticoat Junction" résumé is full of TV guest spots, on shows ranging from "CHiPs" to "L.A. Law," but his real bread and butter was in daytime drama. During the 1980s, he was seen on "All My Children" as cosmetics mogul Steve Kingsley, who had a torrid affair with Susan Lucci's Erica Kane. That wasn't his only experience on a soap, having previously done a stint on "Another World" as Dr. Royal Dunning.

Minor died in 2016. He was 75 years old.

Like co-star Rufe Davis, actor Smiley Burnette came to "Petticoat Junction" with a lengthy list of screen credits under his belt. He came to Hollywood as part of singing cowboy Gene Autry's touring show, eventually going on to appear in dozens of Hollywood westerns, typically as Autry's wacky sidekick, Frog Millhouse. He later became the go-to second banana for various big-screen cowboys — usually playing a guy named Smiley. When he was cast in "Petticoat Junction" in 1963, it had been a decade since he'd last acted onscreen.

He was also a talented self-taught chef, learning the kitchen arts when on the road and forced to cook for himself. His recipes appeared in numerous cookbooks, including his own, "Smiley Burnette's Cookbook." Meanwhile, Burnette was also a gifted songwriter, creating numerous comedy novelty songs. In 1971, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Sadly, that induction was posthumous. He passed away from leukemia in 1967, while "Petticoat Junction" was still in the midst of its run. He was 55 years old.

The first of three actors to portray Billie Jo Bradley in "Petticoat Junction," Jeannine Riley played the role throughout the series' first two seasons. When she left the show to pursue other opportunities, she wound up in another show beloved by the same audience, "Hee Haw." When "Hee Haw" was canceled as part of the infamous "rural purge," she quickly bumped up against a familiar fate for many actors who've starred in successful TV shows: typecasting. "I'm not knocking those shows," Riley said in an interview with The Indianapolis Star (via MeTV). "After all, they paid the rent. But it's tough to get out of that rut."

She continued acting, and between 1969 and 1971 appeared in three different roles in the comedy anthology series "Love, American Style." In 1973, she joined fellow Bradley sister Lori Saunders on "Dusty's Trail," which lasted just one season. She retired from acting in the early 1990s, shifting gears to open her own clothing boutique, the Gunny Sack. She also pursued her passion for meditation and became a transcendental meditation instructor. In 2021, at the age of 80, she published a self-help book, "The Bolder Woman."

Prior to joining "Petticoat Junction" partway through Season 6, June Lockhart had already earned a reputation as a beloved TV mom. She'd cemented that status by playing the mom in several seasons of "Lassie," then in a few more as an astronaut mom in "Lost in Space."

Lockhart's entry into the world of Hooterville occurred under some very sad circumstances. When star Bea Benadaret became too ill to work and died shortly after filming her final episodes at the start of Season 6, producers faced a stark choice: either cancel the show or retool it and bring another actor aboard. They chose the latter by creating Lockhart's character, Dr. Janet Craig, who becomes Hooterville's new doctor for the remainder of the series, taking a room at the Shady Rest Hotel.

Lockhart's career continued full-speed ahead after "Petticoat Junction" fell victim to the "rural purge." She guest-starred in numerous TV shows (even starring in one of her own, the short-lived "These Are the Days"), and played the recurring role of Mariah Ramirez in more than 40 episodes of the soap opera "General Hospital." When she died at the age of 100 in 2025, she had amassed in excess of 170 screen credits in both film and television.