Jethro Bodine

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Jethro Bodine is a fictional character in the 1960s television sitcom, The Beverly Hillbillies and in the 1993 movie remake. In the more well-remembered television show, he was played by Max Baer, and in the subsequent movie, he was played by actor Diedrich Bader .

[edit] The gentle giant

Jethro is the son of Pearl Bodine (Bea Benaderet) and the nephew of her cousin, Jed "JD" Clampett. He also has a sister named Jethrene (also played by Baer in drag but voiced by Linda Kaye Henning). He is substantially strong but also extremely dumb in many ways, and is considered quite childlike.

His uncle Jed, a poor hillbilly, became a millionaire after striking oil while out hunting. Upon the advice of his "kin folk", he moved his family to Beverly Hills, California. Ironically, the doltish Jethro was also the only one at the time who could drive.

Of all the family, he is the one who truly likes Beverly Hills and clearly makes the most of his uncle getting rich. He wants badly to be a playboy and is always very girl crazy.

One of his well-known attributes is his very healthy appetite. He is often the first in line for "vittles"; and would eat huge bowls of food, to everyone's dismay.

Having no more than a sixth-grade education, he is also not very bright, and would invariably get himself into trouble no matter what happened. He also has a rivalry of sorts with his cousin, Elly May Clampett. Whenever he would say that men were superior to women, Elly, who was raised like a tomboy, would usually one-up her cousin, to his mortification, and prove that whatever he could do, she could do even better.

He is often threatened with punishment by Daisy "Granny" Moses, because of his slightly dumb way of doing things. He would alternately be a pride and a dismay to his uncle Jed, who would often mutter, "Someday, I have to have a long talk with that boy!"

Jethro is the target of a crush by Jane Hathaway, the assistant to the president of the Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills, Milburn Drysdale, but he hardly even notices her, usually looking for another girl he could love.

However, being in the city, he makes the most of it, and enjoys it—as much as one can with a sixth grade level education.