OBITUARY/LOS ANGELES — Buddy Ebsen, the
loose-limbed Broadway dancer who achieved
Ebsen died early
Sunday at Torrance Memorial Medical
Center in Torrance , Calif.
Ebsen and his
sister, Vilma, danced through Broadway shows and MGM musicals of the 1930s. When
she retired, Ebsen continued on his own, dancing with Shirley Temple and
turning dramatic actor.
Except for an
allergy to aluminum paint, he would have been one of the Yellow Brick Road quartet in the classic
The Wizard of Oz. But after 10 days of filming, Ebsen, playing the Tin Man,
fell ill because of the aluminum makeup on his skin and was replaced by jack
Haley.
Television brought
Ebsen's amiable personality to the home screen, first as Fess Parker's sidekick
in Davy Crockett.
As Jed Clampett,
the easygoing head of a newly rich Ozark family plunked down in snooty Beverly Hills , Ebsen
became a North American favourite. While scorned by most critics, The Beverly
Hillbillies attracted as many as 60 million viewers on CBS from 1962 to 1971.
"As I recall,
the only good notice was in the Saturday Review," Ebsen once said.
"The critic said the show possessed social comment combined with a high
Nielsen, an almost impossible achievement in these days. I kind of liked
that."
The show was still
earning good ratings when it was cancelled by CBS because advertisers shunned a
series that attracted primarily a rural audience.
Ebsen returned to
series TV in 1973 as Barnaby Jones, a private investigator forced out of
retirement to solve the murder of his son Hal, who had taken over the business.
Barnaby Jones also
drew critical blasts. But Ebsen's folksy manner and a warm relationship with
his daughter-in-law, played by Lee Meriwether, made the series a success.
Ebsen, who was six
foot three, jerked sodas until he landed a chorus job in the 1928 Whoopee,
starring Eddie Cantor. The dancer sent for his sister Vilma and they, formed a
dancing team that played vaudeville, supper clubs and shows such as Flying
Colors and Ziegfeld Follies.
A screen test led
to an MGM contract for the dance team, and they were a hit in Broadway Melody
of 1936.
Buddy's style was
far removed from that of the reigning dance king of films, Fred A e. The
angular Ebsen moved with a smooth, sliding shuffle, his arms gyrating like a
wind-blown scarecrow. He made a charming partner with the tiny Shirley Temple
in Captain January.
His other films of
the 1930s included Banjo on My Knee, Four Girls in White, Girl of the Golden
West (Jeanette MacDonald-Nelson Eddy) and My Lucky Star (Sonja Henie). His
first dramatic role was in Yellow jack with Robert Montgomery. Ebsen's later
films included Attack, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Interns, Mail Order Bride,
The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band. In 1993, he made a cameo appearance
as Barnaby Jones in the film version of The Beverly Hillbillies.
--- ASSOCIATED PRESS
