Trivia: A dancer from childhood, Buddy Ebsen headlined in vaudeville in an act with his sister Velma. In 1935, Ebsen was signed by MGM as a specialty performer in The Broadway Melody of 1936, wherein he was shown to good advantage in several solos. He worked in a number of subsequent musicals, including Shirley Temple's Captain January (1936), teaming with Shirley for the delightful number "At the Codfish Ball." MGM assigned Ebsen to the role of the Scarecrow in 1939's The Wizard of Oz, but Ray Bolger, who'd been cast as the Tin Man, talked Ebsen into switching roles. The move proved to be Ebsen's undoing; he found that he was allergic to the silver makeup required for the Tin Man, fell ill, and was forced to bow out of the film, to be replaced by Jack Haley (however, Ebsen's voice can still be heard in the reprises of "We're Off to See the Wizard").Ebsen then returned to the stage, taking time out to provide the dancing model for a electronically operated wooden marionette which later was used at Disneyland. In 1950 Ebsen returned to films as comical sidekick to Rex Allen, gradually working his way into good character parts in "A" pictures like Night People (1955). Walt Disney, who'd remembered Ebsen from the dancing marionette, offered the actor the lead in his 1954 three-part TV production of Davy Crockett, but at the last moment engaged Fess Parker as Davy and recast Buddy as Crockett's pal George Russel. Ebsen continued to pop up in films like 1961's Breakfast at Tiffany's (as Audrey Hepburn's abandoned hometown husband), and in TV westerns, where he often cast his image to the winds by playing cold-blooded murderers. Comfortably wealthy in 1962 thanks to his film work and wise business investments, Ebsen added to his riches by signing on to play Jed Clampett in the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, which ran for nine years to excellent ratings. A millionaire several times over, Ebsen planned to ease off after Hillbillies, but in 1972 he was back in TV in the title role of Barnaby Jones. Few observers gave this easygoing detective series much of a chance, but they weren't counting on Ebsen's built-in popularity; Barnaby Jones lasted until 1980. The actor now confined himself to special events appearances and occasional guest-star roles, though he did play the recurring part of Lee Horsley's uncle in the final season of the TV mystery show Matt Houston (1983-85). One of Buddy Ebsen's final roles was in the 1993 theatrical film version of The Beverly Hillbillies -- not as Jed Clampett but in a cameo as Barnaby Jones!

Trivia: For as long as she could remember, Irene Ryan was performing on some stage or other. From the 1920s onward, she and her husband Timothy Ryan formed the popular vaudeville duo Tim and Irene. They carried over their song, dance and snappy patter into a brief series of two-reel comedies and several radio programs. During her first burst of filmmaking activity in the 1940s, Ryan played comedy relief parts in a number of B pictures scripted by her husband. Her standard characterization at this time was the traditional wisecracking, man-hungry spinster. During and after her divorce, Ryan continued accepting roles of varying sizes in such pictures as Woman on the Beach (1948), My Dear Secretary (1948), Mighty Joe Young (1949), Bonzo Goes to College (1952) and Blackbeard the Pirate (1952). By the early 1960s, Ryan was (as she would later cheerfully admit) pretty much washed up in show business. All this changed when she was invited to audition for an upcoming sitcom about a family of mountaineers who suddenly come into a fortune. Ryan read one single line and was hired on the spot: she played Granny on The Beverly Hillbillies from 1962 through 1971, never missing an opportunity to express gratitude for her involvement in so popular a project. No sooner had Hillbillies folded than Irene Ryan was cast in a show-stopping role in the 1971 Broadway musical Pippin, scoring yet another personal success--which, sadly, turned out to be her last.

Trivia: Though she appeared in feature films before and after the much-loved '60s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, American actress Donna Douglas will always be remembered as the buxom, blue-eyed tomboy Elly May Clampett. She was born Doris Smith in Pride, LA, and grew up to be very much like Elly May in that she always had a special affinity for animals and nature. As a teen, Douglas was a cheerleader and won some beauty contests, notably the title of Miss New Orleans 1957. From there Douglas appeared as the Letters Girl on The Perry Como Show and later appeared on The Steve Allen Show as a Billboard Girl. She made her feature-film debut in Career Girl (1959) and followed it up with a co-starring role in the Rock Hudson/Doris Day screwball comedy Lover Come Back (1960). She was cast as Elly May in 1962 and remained with the series through its demise in 1971. Later, she returned for a Beverly Hillbillies made-for-TV reunion movie in 1981. In 1965, Douglas starred opposite Elvis Presley in Fred de Cordova's Frankie and Johnnie. It would be her last film that had nothing to do with Hillbillies. Whereas some actors deeply resent being so closely associated with a single role, Donna Douglas embraced Elly Mae and continued to make public appearances in costume. A devout Christian, Douglas was also a noted gospel singer. Douglas died in 2015, at age 81.

Trivia: Laurel Goodwin started working as a child model at the age of seven and decided in her teens to move into acting as a profession. She was born in Wichita, KS, but moved to San Francisco, CA, where she attended Lowell High School and San Francisco State University as a drama major. In the summer of her freshman year, her teacher advised her to do summer stock work in Shasta, CA, and in her spare time she ended up baby-sitting for the children of cinematographer Kurt Gunther; in return, he took some stills of her and passed them to the publicity department at Paramount, where he was working. She was invited to audition and became a contract player in 1962. Goodwin was noticed by producer Hal Wallis and cast in the Elvis Presley vehicle Girls! Girls! Girls! as the "nice girl" vying for the rock 'n' roll king's heart, in competition with female lead Stella Stevens. Goodwin received good notices for her debut and other film roles followed; in Papa's Delicate Condition she was Jackie Gleason's older daughter and in the A.C. Lyles-produced Stage To Thunder Rock she played alongside such veteran actors as Barry Sullivan, John Agar, and Lon Chaney Jr. Goodwin's third and last feature film was the Sam Peckinpah-authored, Arnold Laven-directed Western The Glory Guys, where she had the chance to make the acqaintance of a promising young actor in the cast named James Caan. By this time in the mid-'60s, however, film production was slowing to a relative trickle and there wasn't too much demand for actresses of Goodwin's type. Her subsequent career was confined to television, where she played a multitude of roles, ranging from ingenue parts to voluptuous hippie-chicks, in episodes of The Virginian, Mannix, Get Smart, and The Beverly Hillbillies, through the end of the 1960s. If she has any screen immortality beyond the Elvis Presley movie, however, it is from her work in "The Cage", the original pilot episode for Star Trek, starring Jeffrey Hunter and Susan Oliver, in which Goodwin played Yeoman Colt. Later recut into the two-part episode "The Menagerie" and then restored to circulation intact, "The Cage ended up one of the most renowned touchstones of 1960s science fiction. After losing the lead in Gidget because she was too tall, Goodwin gradually eased out of performing, apart from commercials. Since the 1970s, she has been married to film executive William Wood, and together the two have been involved in the making of several feature films, including Stroker Ace.

Trivia: British supporting actor Richard Caldicot found success on stage, screen, radio, and television. He debuted in theater in a 1929 production of Journey's End, but he did not become a star until 1947, when he appeared in a stage production of Edward My Son. He made his film debut in The Million Dollar Pound Note (1954). Other film credits include A Question of Adultery (1958), The Court Martial of Major Keller (1961), and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965). Caldicot's television resumé includes appearances on Oh, Brother, Fawlty Towers, and The Avengers.