<center>
</center>
LOS ANGELES (July 7) - Buddy Ebsen, the loose-limbed dancer turned Hollywood actor who achieved stardom and riches in the television series ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' and ''Barnaby Jones,'' has died, a hospital official said Monday. He was 95.
Ebsen died Sunday morning at Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, said Pam Hope, an administrative nursing supervisor. He had been admitted to the hospital, near his home in Palos Verdes Estates, last month for treatment of an undisclosed illness.
Ebsen and his sister Vilma danced through Broadway shows and MGM musicals of the 1930s. When she retired, Ebsen continued on his own, dancing with Shirley Temple and turning dramatic actor.
Except for an allergy to aluminum paint, he would have been one of the Yellow Brick Road quartet in the classic ''The Wizard of Oz.'' After 10 days of filming, Ebsen, playing the Tin Man, fell ill because of the aluminum makeup on his skin and was replaced by Jack Haley.
Television brought Ebsen's amiable personality to the home screen, first as Fess Parker's sidekick in ''Davy Crockett.''
As Jed Clampett, the easygoing head of a newly rich Ozark family plunked down in snooty Beverly Hills, Ebsen became a national favorite. While scorned by most critics, ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' attracted as many as 60 million viewers on CBS between 1962 and 1971.
LOS ANGELES (July 7) - Buddy Ebsen, the loose-limbed dancer turned Hollywood actor who achieved stardom and riches in the television series ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' and ''Barnaby Jones,'' has died, a hospital official said Monday. He was 95.
Ebsen died Sunday morning at Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, said Pam Hope, an administrative nursing supervisor. He had been admitted to the hospital, near his home in Palos Verdes Estates, last month for treatment of an undisclosed illness.
Ebsen and his sister Vilma danced through Broadway shows and MGM musicals of the 1930s. When she retired, Ebsen continued on his own, dancing with Shirley Temple and turning dramatic actor.
Except for an allergy to aluminum paint, he would have been one of the Yellow Brick Road quartet in the classic ''The Wizard of Oz.'' After 10 days of filming, Ebsen, playing the Tin Man, fell ill because of the aluminum makeup on his skin and was replaced by Jack Haley.
Television brought Ebsen's amiable personality to the home screen, first as Fess Parker's sidekick in ''Davy Crockett.''
As Jed Clampett, the easygoing head of a newly rich Ozark family plunked down in snooty Beverly Hills, Ebsen became a national favorite. While scorned by most critics, ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' attracted as many as 60 million viewers on CBS between 1962 and 1971.
