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American Morning

Remembering Buddy Ebsen, 1908 to 2003

Aired July 07, 2003 - 09:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Veteran actor Buddy Ebsen has died. He was 95 years old, and he died on Sunday morning of an undisclosed illness. He was best known as Uncle Jed on the TV show "The Beverly Hillbillies."
But as Kyra Phillips reports, his rich career began long before that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Everybody loves a dancer. You can learn and here's the answer.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Christian Rudolph Ebsen, Jr. tapped into show business in 1928, first on the Broadway stage, later as an MGM contract player. His father was a dance teacher; his mother, a painter. But if it had been up to him:

BUDDY EBSEN, ACTOR: Well, actually, I wanted to be a doctor, and I studied pre-med for two years, but my mother was always pushing me toward show business.

PHILLIPS: His mother pushed him down a rocky road. By 1936, he was dancing alongside Shirley Temple in "Captain January." Then in 1939, there was the one that got away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I'd be friends with the sparrows and the boy that shoots the arrows if I only had a heart.

PHILLIPS: After 10 days as the Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz," he was replaced by Jack Haley. An allergy to the aluminum dust used for makeup nearly cost him his life.

EBSEN: I didn't want to leave the picture, but I was in the hospital. There was not a chance of not leaving it. So, it was, you know, I missed a great chance.

PHILLIPS: Later, a quarrel with MGM chief Lewis B. Mayer nearly cost him his career.

EBSEN: Mr. Mayer called me in the office and said, "Ebsen, we're enthusiastic about you, money is no object, but in order to give you the kind of parts that you deserve we have to own you." I said, 'Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Mayer, I'll tell you the kind of fool I am. Nobody can own me.'

PHILLIPS: No Hollywood offers came in for seven years, but then they trickled in, until he landed a role in the movie, "Davy Crockett." He would work steadily for the next three decades, notably as Audrey Hepburn's husband, Doc Golightly, in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

EBSEN: I'm a horse doctor, animal man. Do some farming, too, near Tulip, Texas.

Well, doggy!

PHILLIPS: A year after "Breakfast at Tiffany's," he became hillbilly-turned-millionaire Jed Clampett in a TV series that would run in syndication for the rest of his life. Buddy Ebsen had another long run with the detective series, "Barnaby Jones." But when it was canceled, he settled down and took up painting. His mother had passed on her love of art and quite possibly the philosophy that would see Ebsen through his later years.

EBSEN: A day in which you don't create something, it wasn't there in the morning, is a day lost.

It ain't every day you can win five free dance lessons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired July 7, 2003 - 09:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Veteran actor Buddy Ebsen has died. He was 95 years old, and he died on Sunday morning of an undisclosed illness. He was best known as Uncle Jed on the TV show "The Beverly Hillbillies."
But as Kyra Phillips reports, his rich career began long before that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Everybody loves a dancer. You can learn and here's the answer.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Christian Rudolph Ebsen, Jr. tapped into show business in 1928, first on the Broadway stage, later as an MGM contract player. His father was a dance teacher; his mother, a painter. But if it had been up to him:

BUDDY EBSEN, ACTOR: Well, actually, I wanted to be a doctor, and I studied pre-med for two years, but my mother was always pushing me toward show business.

PHILLIPS: His mother pushed him down a rocky road. By 1936, he was dancing alongside Shirley Temple in "Captain January." Then in 1939, there was the one that got away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): I'd be friends with the sparrows and the boy that shoots the arrows if I only had a heart.

PHILLIPS: After 10 days as the Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz," he was replaced by Jack Haley. An allergy to the aluminum dust used for makeup nearly cost him his life.

EBSEN: I didn't want to leave the picture, but I was in the hospital. There was not a chance of not leaving it. So, it was, you know, I missed a great chance.

PHILLIPS: Later, a quarrel with MGM chief Lewis B. Mayer nearly cost him his career.

EBSEN: Mr. Mayer called me in the office and said, "Ebsen, we're enthusiastic about you, money is no object, but in order to give you the kind of parts that you deserve we have to own you." I said, 'Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Mayer, I'll tell you the kind of fool I am. Nobody can own me.'

PHILLIPS: No Hollywood offers came in for seven years, but then they trickled in, until he landed a role in the movie, "Davy Crockett." He would work steadily for the next three decades, notably as Audrey Hepburn's husband, Doc Golightly, in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."

EBSEN: I'm a horse doctor, animal man. Do some farming, too, near Tulip, Texas.

Well, doggy!

PHILLIPS: A year after "Breakfast at Tiffany's," he became hillbilly-turned-millionaire Jed Clampett in a TV series that would run in syndication for the rest of his life. Buddy Ebsen had another long run with the detective series, "Barnaby Jones." But when it was canceled, he settled down and took up painting. His mother had passed on her love of art and quite possibly the philosophy that would see Ebsen through his later years.

EBSEN: A day in which you don't create something, it wasn't there in the morning, is a day lost.

It ain't every day you can win five free dance lessons.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.