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Edgar Buchanan (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s. As Uncle Joe, he took over as proprietor of the Shady Rest Hotel following the death of Bea Benaderet, who had played Kate Bradley.
William Edgar Buchanan moved with his family to Humansville, Missouri when he was young. Like his father before him, he was a successful dentist. He and his wife Mildred were married in 1928. In 1939, they moved from Eugene, Oregon, to Altadena, California. He joined the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor. He appeared in his first film in 1939, at the age of thirty-six, after which he turned his dentistry practice over to his wife. He was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity and a Freemason.
Buchanan appeared in more than 100 movies, including Penny Serenade (1941) with Cary Grant, Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die (1942), The Talk of the Town (1942) with Ronald Colman and Jean Arthur, The Man from Colorado (1948), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), She Couldn't Say No (1954), Ride the High Country (1962) with Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea, McLintock! (1963) with John Wayne, Move Over, Darling (1963) with Doris Day and James Garner, and Benji (1974). Television series in which he appeared included Hopalong Cassidy, Judge Roy Bean (in which he played the lead, Texas Justice of the Peace Judge Roy Bean), the "Duel at Sundown" episode of Maverick with James Garner and Clint Eastwood, Leave It To Beaver (as both "Uncle Billy" and "Captain Jack"), The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, Route 66, Bringing Up Buddy, The Californians, Bus Stop, The Lloyd Bridges Show, Cade's County and The Rifleman. He appeared in all 222 episodes of Petticoat Junction, as well as in 17 episodes of Green Acres, and three episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, always as the character Uncle Joe Carson. From 1960-1962, he appeared four times as Cletus McBain on the NBC western series Laramie, with John Smith and Robert Fuller.
Buchanan and another star from Petticoat Junction appeared together in the movie Benji -The other "star" being Higgins, the unnamed "dog" from the sitcom, who portrayed the title role in the film. Higgins had been found in an animal shelter and trained by Frank Inn, who also trained Arnold Ziffel (the pig) and all the other animals used on The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres sitcoms.
Buchanan died from a stroke complicated by pneumonia in Palm Desert, California, and was interred in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
I watch and listen to movies today and am shocked by the way actors deliver their lines. Everybody mumbles now and I don't understand why.
Maureen O'Hara
Edgar Buchanan met his wife at dentistry school in Toronto, where she also studied to become a dentist.
Edgar Buchanan
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William Edgar Buchanan
20 March 1903, Humansville, Missouri
4 April 1979, Palm Desert, California
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Was one of only three co-stars of "Petticoat Junction" (1963) who remained with the series for its entire seven-year run, the others being Linda Henning and Frank Cady.
Was originally a dentist with his own practice. At age 38, he turned the practice over to his wife and began his acting career.
He appeared in a total of 13 different productions with Glenn Ford.
Member of Theta Chi Fraternity (Alpha Sigma Chapter, University of Oregon)
He provided dentistry skills on the set numerous times. One such occasion, he pulled the tooth of his stand-in of 25 years, Jack Henderson.
