Beverly Hillbillies: Max Baer Jr.'s Role In The '60s Classic Had A Rough Impact On His Career

Typecasting is something of a curse in Hollywood, with its effects especially apparent when looking at the careers of actors from previous generations. '50s child star Ken Osmond from "Leave It to Beaver," for example, struggled to escape the shadow of Eddie Haskell that he quit acting to become a police officer at one point. And if there's someone else who knows all about being pigeonholed by a particular role, it's '60s TV icon Max Baer Jr. As a main cast member on "The Beverly Hillbillies" his career suffered it in the long run.

For all nine seasons of "The Beverly Hillbillies" from 1962 to 1971, Baer starred as Jethro Bodine — a character whose defining characteristic is, to put it bluntly, being rather dumb. And while "Beverly Hillbillies" kept Baer employed on a full-time basis for nearly an entire decade it was the aftermath that proved to be difficult. According to Remind Magazine, the powers that be could only see him as the dim-witted Jethro, and all but refused to cast him as characters who were smart or competent. This dilemma became a bit of a double-edged sword, as Baer's efforts to break free of Jethro's shadow led him to turn down the 1981 "Beverly HIllbillies" reunion movie. 

Almost immediately after "The Beverly Hillbillies" ended in 1971, Max Baer Jr. appeared in the film "The Birdmen." It's at that point, though, that things seemingly started to slow down for the actor. So, with things evidently not working out how he might have hoped in front of the camera, Baer decided to establish himself behind the camera.

Baer co-wrote, produced and starred in the1974 film "Macon County Line." He subsequently made his directorial debut with the 1975 film "The Wild McCullochs," which he also wrote and starred in. Baer went on to direct two more films: "Ode to Billy Joe" and "Hometown U.S.A.," which released in 1976 and 1979, respectively. After the fact, he took a few more odd acting jobs before effectively retiring from show business. As of writing, his final acting credits were in a pair of episodes of "Murder, She Wrote," which aired in 1989 and 1991.

One of the lesser known facts about the "Beverly Hillbillies" cast is that Baer famously struggled to replicate his success after the show ended. Baer considers his time on the beloved '60s sitcom to be the lowest point in his career. "Emotionally, my lowest point didn't come when I was out of work. It came when I was doing 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' because I didn't like the show. But I thought I'd rather do that than do nothing," he said in an interview with The Copley News Service (via MeTV).