# Buddy Ebsen - RIP **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755 "2003-07-07T12:48:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/1 "2003-07-07T12:48:01Z")
[Farewell, Jed.](http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/07/07/obit.ebsen.ap/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/2 "2003-07-07T12:54:17Z")
Geez - Celebrities are dropping like flies! But I think a jinx in a work here… [Remind me not to tell **Eve** when I’m sick.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=193532) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/3 "2003-07-07T13:19:08Z")
Welp, I guess the current “three” are **Kate Hepburn** , and **Buddies Hackett** and **Ebsen** (apologies to whomever it was who gets annoyed at the “threes” references). ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/4 "2003-07-07T13:22:01Z")
But… what about Hume Cronyn and Gregory Peck? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/5 "2003-07-07T13:23:33Z")
Hume and Greg were part of the First Three: them and David Brinkley (there was also a lesser-known actor who died at the same time, whose name escapes me right now). ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/6 "2003-07-07T13:52:47Z")
According to E!, N!xau, the man who played Bushman Xi in _The Gods Must Be Crazy_ films died last Tuesday. He was found dead after he had gone to gather firewood and didn’t return. Don’t know if he would qualify as famous enough for the “rule of three”, but it seemed to be worth mentioning. I know E! is not exactly the BBC, but they seem to be about the only ones to mention it. Google only turned up a few other mentions of his death, one of them on a website for a South African independent news agency. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/7 "2003-07-07T14:05:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Welp, I guess the current “three” are Kate Hepburn, and Buddies Hackett and Ebsen What about Barry White? He died between Hackett and Ebsen. And don’t call me Welp. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/8 "2003-07-07T14:27:24Z")
As far as I can recall, since May we’ve lost Gregory Peck, Barry White, Kate Hepburn, Dame Rachel Kempson, Buddies Hackett and Ebsen, Herbie Mann, Hume Cronyn, playwright George Axelrod, Dave Rowberry of The Animals, Robert Stack, and N!xau. David Brinkley, Thurmon and Maddox weren’t “show biz people,” so I don’t think they count in this tally. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/9 "2003-07-07T15:10:19Z")
Wooo-doggie. Sorry to hijack the thread, but the thought of Buddy Ebsen and Audrey Hepburn getting it on ala’ “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is a real cringe-inducer. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/10 "2003-07-07T17:13:28Z")
You’re right, **plnnr**. Thanks a lot. 😉 JEEEEDD!!! ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/11 "2003-07-07T17:30:13Z")
It seems like that [stupid brick](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3555471#post3555471) I threw had more unintended consequences than I bargained for… (seriously, massive waves of celebrity deaths always seem to happen in concert with these personal, umm…events.) Oh well. You live, you learn. ---
**Author:** ![Alex-NC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a587f6/32.png) [@Alex-NC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex-NC)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/12 "2003-07-07T18:10:32Z")
Buddy Ebsen hosted The University of Florida homecoming pep rally known as “Gator Growl” when I was a student there in '68 or '69. Did his Jed Clampett schtick. I know he considered himself a Gator his whole life. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/13 "2003-07-07T18:48:16Z")
Was Buddy Ebsen the last living dance partner of Shirley Temple? (Captain January) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/14 "2003-07-07T19:19:00Z")
Looks like it . . . Bill Robinson, Geo. Murphy, Charlotte Greenwood, Jack Oakie, Alice Faye, Jack Haley, James Dunn. You think she killed 'em all? ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/15 "2003-07-07T20:00:55Z")
RIP, Buddy. Actor William Marshall (Blacula, etc.) also recently died. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/16 "2003-07-07T20:08:17Z")
Eve - were you just waiting for the opportunity to use that title for a post? I loved it. But then, I actually like puns. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/17 "2003-07-07T20:10:33Z")
Eh, I always knew the little brat was trouble. Anyway, while we’re adding to the list of celebrities who’ve died since the spring, didn’t June Carter Cash go just last month? This sucks. I always liked Ebsen’s characters, and from all accounts he was a hell of a good guy. ---
**Author:** ![Reuben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/54ee81/32.png) [@Reuben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reuben)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/18 "2003-07-07T20:29:53Z")
Well, author and screen-writer George Macdonald Fraser rated Ebsen highly. Coming from him that probably means you couldn’t actually meet a nicer chap. Here’s an anecdote from one of Fraser’s autobiographical books which amused me : > [@](#): > > We [Fraser & Ebsen] didn’t meet again for several years, when we had lunch in Century City. Jim Hill, Burt Lancaster’s partner, joined us, and afterwards told me about Buddy’s famous non-appearance in _The Wizard Of Oz_. I knew the authorized version, that he had been cast as the Tin Man, but had suffered an allergic reaction to the silver paint make-up, and was replaced by Jack Haley. > Not so, said Jim. What had really happened was that Buddy had _refused_ to be painted silver, even defying the great Louis B. Meyer himself. The result was that for eight years Buddy did no film work; after the war he and his sister, with whom he had appeared in vaudeville, resumed their stage partnership, touring the country. Once, in a New England winter, their car got bogged down in a snowdrift, and Buddy laboured in a blizzard to dig them out, heaving heroically and finally breaking off in a state of near-exhaustion to stagger round and address his sister through the car window: > “Boy, I sure told Louis B. Mayer, didn’t I?” > That’s Jim Hill’s version, and if it’s not true, it ought to be. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/19 "2003-07-07T20:38:59Z")
The official story of why he was dropped by MGM is that he was offered a $100K per year contract BUT had no control over which pictures he was assigned to; since he’d seen talented people doing unmitigated crap that destroyed their careers, he refused. I think the Tin Man story is probably more accurate. Does anybody else remember THE KALIKAKS, a show that I remember as being weird and funny (though I was a kid) that starred his daughter Bonnie? I thought Buddy’s cameo as Barnaby Jones in the totally unnecessary BEVERLY HILLBILLIES movie was inspired and its one and only saving grace. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2003, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755/20 "2003-07-08T00:07:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Looks like it . . . Bill Robinson, Geo. Murphy, Charlotte Greenwood, Jack Oakie, Alice Faye, Jack Haley, James Dunn. > > You think she killed 'em all? \*\* She’s like Elizabeth Bathtory. _shiver_ 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddy-ebsen-rip/186755.md?page=2)