A big-city hospital stay for Jed Clampett.
Beverly Hillbillies star Buddy Ebsen, who headed the Clampett clan on the 1962-1971 sitcom, is in "good" condition at Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, California, a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday.
The medical center could not reveal further information regarding the 95-year-old entertainer, including when, or why, he was admitted.
Larry Borovay, who manages Ebsen's art career, one of the side gigs the actor has pursued into his nineties, said he spoke with the long-time prime-timer about a week ago. Borovay said Ebsen sounded well, although it was his understanding that the last few weeks had not been Ebsen's best.
"He hasn't been feeling well--sharp as a fiddle, but he's getting a little frail," Borovay said Thursday.
Ebsen's wife, Dorothy, is very cautious about her husband's health and errs on the side of caution with hospitalizations, Borovay said.
Ebsen, a former Broadway hoofer, braved heart surgery in 1998, just months after his 90th birthday.
For most baby boomers, Ebsen is best known as Jed Clampett, the Appalachian hick who struck it rich in oil and moved his backwoods brethren to the 90210.
An immediate hit, the Hillbillies reigned as TV's number one show during the 1962-63 and 1963-64 seasons. So large was its audience that 16 of its telecasts are still found on Nielsen Media Research's list of the 100 highest-rated prime-time shows from 1961-2002.
A regular, ol' January 1964 episode is the biggest Hillbillie of them all--TV's 34th highest-rated telecast, per Nielsen, outpointing several Super Bowls, the mega-miniseries The Thorn Birds and the final episode of Seinfeld.
For other baby boomers, Ebsen is George Russel, Davy Crockett's sidekick in two Walt Disney-produced movies of the 1950s.
For those who came of age in the 1970s, Ebsen is Barnaby Jones, the titular P.I. of CBS' 1973-80 series who unloaded a lot of lead for a guy who looked like a kindly grandpa.
In a twist, Ebsen played Jones in the 1993 big-screen version of the Hillbillies, starring Jim Varney as Jed Clampett.
Ebsen, who in recent years has depicted the Clampett character in paintings, penned a novel (2001's Kelly's Quest), and recorded an album (Buddy's Originals), began his show-biz career in the 1920s as a Broadway dancer.
In the movies, he tap-danced alongside Judy Garland in Broadway Melody of 1938.
His biggest film role was the one that got away. Ebsen was cast as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, but was forced off the film after the silver makeup made him ill. Jack Haley ended up with the gig, and the chance to help lead Garland to Oz.
Get-well cards can be sent to Ebsen in care of Borovay by email (fnrinc@msn.com) or snail mail (Buddy Ebsen c/o Larry Borovay, 851 Ravens Point Court, Simi Valley, CA 93065).