The Beverly Hillbillies: Encyclopedia II - The Beverly Hillbillies - Characters

The Beverly Hillbillies - Characters

Although having little formal education, Jed had good common sense, Granny had insights into human nature, and Elly May was a strong capable girl. However Jethro, was incredibly ignorant and self centered. Granny styled herself an "M.D." - "mountain doctor" - claiming to have a complete knowledge of herbs, potions and tonics. Elly May had a deep rapport with all animals and adopted a great diversity of them, including raccoons and a chimpanzee, as her "critters." Another running joke was her poor culinary skills; the results were not only inedible but, when the clan discreetly fed her meals to the backyard plants as so not to hurt her feelings, the plants died.

Elly May was as stunningly beautiful as she was naïve, and was squired about by eager young Hollywood actors with stage names like "Dash Riprock" and "Bolt Upright." (Obvious puns on the actors Rock Hudson and Rip Torn.) Jethro called himself "Beef Jerky," imagining himself a playboy and sophisticated man-about-town. He was particularly proud of his education: he spent 12 years at school - before passing the sixth grade. After that, he decided to go to college. He managed to enroll late in the semester at a local secretarial school due to his financial backing, and earned his diploma by the end of the day because he didn't understand what was going on in class and was too disruptive.

The family called their swimming pool "the cement pond." They were fascinated by it, but never seemed to grasp its intended use. Another running joke was that they never discovered the source of the sound that took place a few times prior to someone showing up at the front door (the doorbell).

The Drysdales were also pretty foolish. Although Mrs. Drysdale's had obvious disdain for their neighbors, Mr. Drysdale was willing to do anything to keep them next door so as to not lose control of their millions in his bank. Episodes in 1962 and 1966 featured his ne'er-do-well stepson, Sonny (played by Louis Nye), a Mama's Boy whose "career" was going to college. Sonny was at one point a potential husband for Elly May. When he jilted her, there was nearly a feud. All the while, Mrs. Drysdale led outlandish campaigns to rid her city of the uncouth hillbillies.

Jed's Bloodhound Duke, played by the canine actor "Stretch" [1], was also a constant thorn in Mrs. Drysdale's side. In addition to his baying and digging, he made her French Poodle Claude a cuckold, by fathering the puppies of his intended mate.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Characters", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki