Beverly Hillbillies

Factual Questions
1

TV Trivia time… what are the kinships among the various members of the Beverly Hillbillies cast? I can positiviely identify two:

  1. Elly May Clampett’s father is Jed Clampett;
  2. Jethro Bodine’s mother is recurring guest-character Pearl Bodine.

After that, it’s all speculation. If Jed is Jethro’s uncle, then one of Jethro’s parents is a sibling to either Jed or Jed’s dearly departed wife… but it’s never made clear which. Anyone have any further info? And where does Granny fit into the picture?

(Yes, I know it’s a meaningless trivia question. But I still wonder.)

2

From [url="http://www.pcperspectives.com/hillbillies/index.html"The Beverly Hillbillies web site:

3

Well, dog my cats.

That quote was this locali-ty.

4

Hmmm - the more I think about this, the more confused I get. If Jed’s wife and Pearl were sisters, then that would make Granny Pearl’s ma, so that can’t be right. Also, I seem to recall Jed usually referring to the Bea Benaderet character as “Cousin Pearl.”

I had a nifty theory going that Pearl was Jed’s cousin who married his wife’s brother - but then I ran into the problem that Jed’s wife’s maiden name would have to be Bodine, yet his wife’s mother’s last name was Moses.

Whoo-doggies, this is harder than cipherin’!

5

Granny is Jed’s mom. Pearl is Jed’s sister. Elly Mae and Jethro are thus cousins. It is actually common for families to refer to relatives as the children would. Even to the point of doing it without the children around.

Or it could just be a subtle joke about rural inbreeding.

6

Actually in the beginning B&W episodes Jed explains this.

He states even though they call him Uncle “Strictly Speaking” they aren’t.

Jed and Pearl are indeed cousins. That makes Jethro his first cousin once removed. This makes Elly and Jethro 2nd cousins.

Granny is Jed’s Mother-in-law.

Granny stated she is across the river. She is from Tenessee. She is a Moses. Jethro is a Bodine and Jed and Elly are Clampetts.

7

When making your family tree, don’t forget the character of “Granny’s Granny” from the reunion special (the actress who had played Granny had died).

8

The actress that placed Pearl’s daughter Jethrine. So lovely that one could hardly baer looking at her for a max amount of time.