William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction,[1] Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s.
Edgar Buchanan | |
|---|---|
 Buchanan circa 1971 | |
| Born | William Edgar Buchanan II March 20, 1903 Humansville, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | April 4, 1979 (aged 76) Palm Desert, California, U.S. |
| Education | North Pacific College (DDS) |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1939–1974 |
| Spouse |
Mildred Marguerite Spence
(m. 1928–1979) |
| Children | 1 |
Biography
editEarly life
editEdgar Buchanan was born to Rose (Kee) Buchanan and William Edgar Buchanan Sr., DDS in Humansville, Missouri.[2] He moved with his family to Oregon when he was seven.[3][4] His father had a dental practice in Eugene, Oregon, and encouraged his son to follow suit. Buchanan Senior didn't approve of his son's acting ambitions and pushed him to pursue dentistry instead.[5] According to authors Arden and Joan Christen, Edgar's father believed "to choose a career in the theater was to settle for a life of mediocrity and uncertainty".[5] Nevertheless, Edgar took courses in theater at the University of Oregon as a pre-med student, and was part of a Portland acting troupe in graduate school. He was also involved in the founding of the Portland Civic Theatre.[5]
In 1928, Edgar earned his DDS degree from North Pacific College School of Dentistry in Portland, Oregon, which later became Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry.[6] During his time there, he met his future wife, Mildred "Millie" Spence (1907–1987). They married in 1928 - the same year they both graduated with dental degrees. The couple adopted a son and named him William Edgar “Buck” Buchanan III.[7]
Big changes came in 1939 when the family of three relocated their dental practice from Eugene, Oregon to Altadena, California. There, Edgar joined the Pasadena Playhouse as an actor.[8] Studio scouts spotted him performing at the playhouse and signed him into a seven-year deal in Hollywood. That same year, he appeared in his first film at age 36, and he left dentistry for good. Meanwhile, his wife, Dr. Millie Buchanan, DDS, took over the dental practice while also supporting her husband's new career as his talent manager.
Edgar was a member of Theta Chi fraternity[9] and a Freemason.[10]
Career
editBuchanan appeared in more than 100 films,[11] including Texas (1941), in which he played a dentist and appeared with William Holden and Glenn Ford and later in Penny Serenade (1941) with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die (1942), The Talk of the Town (1942) with Ronald Colman, Cary Grant and Jean Arthur, The Man from Colorado (1948), Cheaper by the Dozen (1950), Shane (1953), 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).[12]
Among the many television series in which he was cast as a guest star were Cimarron City, The Californians, and The Rifleman. Edgar appeared in six episodes of The Rifleman, playing Grandpa Fogerty in "The Long Goodbye" (episode 119) and Doc Burrage in the other five: "The Pet" (episode 15), "The Second Witness" (episode 23), "The Trade" (episode 24), "The Deadly Wait" (episode 26), and "The Angry Man" (episode 31).[13] In addition to several other widely varying roles on the series (running the gamut from sympathetic parts to vicious villains), he portrayed Jed Christianson in the episode "Duel at Sundown" on Maverick with James Garner and Clint Eastwood. He was on Leave It to Beaver (as both "Uncle Billy" and "Captain Jack"), The Twilight Zone, Riverboat (as Wingate Pardee in the 1960 episode, "Duel on the River"), Gunsmoke (in 1962 as the title character “Old Dan” - S7E18), Route 66, Bringing Up Buddy, Bus Stop, and The Lloyd Bridges Show.[12]
Buchanan's roles as a regular cast member in television programs included Red Connors in the syndicated Western Hopalong Cassidy,[14] and J.J. Jackson in the CBS crime drama Cade's County.[15]
Buchanan appeared as Uncle Joe Carson in all 222 episodes of Petticoat Junction, the only actor from the show to do so, as well as in 17 episodes of Green Acres,[15]: 416 and three episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies. On Petticoat Junction, he took over as proprietor of the Shady Rest Hotel following the 1968 death of show star Bea Benaderet, who had played Kate Bradley; Buchanan had starred as second lead since the series' inception. In the 1966 episode "The All-Night Party" and in the 1969 episode "Kathy Jo's First Birthday Party", he appeared with his real-life son, Buck (who had a cameo as a party goer and an ice cream vendor, respectively). Another star from Petticoat Junction and he appeared together in the 1974 movie Benji; the other "star" was Higgins the dog, which portrayed the title character.
Buchanan appeared in multiple episodes of "Tales of Wells Fargo," starring Dale Robertson. He had the recurring role of a rascally ex-outlaw named Doc Dawson.[16]
In 1967, Dot Records released "Phantom 309" (Dot #17047), a narration by Buchanan. The 45-rpm single was backed with "Cotton Picker".[17]
Death
editBuchanan died from a stroke complicated by pneumonia in Palm Desert, California in 1979.[17] He was interred in the Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.[18]
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | My Son Is Guilty | Dan, Bartender | |
| 1940 | Too Many Husbands | Detective Adolph McDermott | |
| Three Cheers for the Irish | Party Guest | Uncredited | |
| Tear Gas Squad | Cousin Andy, a Policeman | ||
| Escape to Glory | Charles Atterbee | ||
| The Sea Hawk | Ben Rollins | Uncredited | |
| When the Daltons Rode | Narrator / Old-timer | Uncredited | |
| Arizona | Judge Bogardus | ||
| 1941 | Penny Serenade | Applejack Carney | |
| Her First Beau | Elmer Tuttle | ||
| The Richest Man in Town | Pete Martin | ||
| Texas | Buford "Doc" Thorpe | ||
| You Belong to Me | Billings, Groundskeeper | ||
| 1942 | Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die | Curly Bill Brocious | |
| The Talk of the Town | Sam Yates | ||
| 1943 | City Without Men | Michael T. Mallory | |
| The Desperadoes | Uncle Willie McLeod | ||
| Good Luck, Mr. Yates | Jonesey Jones | ||
| Destroyer | Kansas Jackson | ||
| 1944 | Buffalo Bill | Sergeant Chips McGraw | |
| Bride by Mistake | Jonathan Connors | ||
| The Impatient Years | Judge | ||
| Strange Affair | Lieutenant Washburn | ||
| 1946 | The Fighting Guardsman | Pepe, bandit-valet | |
| Abilene Town | Sheriff 'Bravo' Trimble | ||
| The Bandit of Sherwood Forest | Friar Tuck | ||
| Perilous Holiday | George Richards | ||
| The Walls Came Tumbling Down | Reverend George Bradford | ||
| Renegades | Kirk Dembrow | ||
| If I'm Lucky | Darius J. Magonnagle | ||
| 1947 | The Sea of Grass | Jeff | |
| Framed | Jeff Cunningham | ||
| 1948 | The Swordsman | Angus MacArden | |
| The Wreck of the Hesperus | George Lockhart | ||
| The Black Arrow | Lawless | ||
| Adventures in Silverado | Dr. Henderson, aka The Monk | ||
| Best Man Wins | Jim Smiley | ||
| Coroner Creek | Sheriff O'Hea | ||
| The Untamed Breed | John Rambeau | ||
| The Man from Colorado | Doc Merroan | ||
| 1949 | The Walking Hills | Old Willy | |
| Red Canyon | Jonah Johnson | ||
| Lust for Gold | Wiser | ||
| Any Number Can Play | Ed | ||
| 1950 | Cheaper by the Dozen | Dr. Burton | |
| Cargo to Capetown | Sam Bennett | ||
| The Big Hangover | Uncle Fred Mahoney | ||
| Devil's Doorway | Zeke Carmody | ||
| 1951 | The Great Missouri Raid | Dr. Samuels | |
| Rawhide | Sam Todd | ||
| Cave of Outlaws | Dobbs | ||
| Silver City | Dutch Surrency | ||
| 1952 | The Big Trees | Walter 'Yukon' Burns | |
| Flaming Feather | Sergeant O'Rourke | ||
| Wild Stallion | John Wintergreen | ||
| Toughest Man in Arizona | Jim Hadlock | ||
| She Couldn't Say No | Ed Meeker | ||
| 1953 | The War of the Worlds | Square Dance Musician | Uncredited |
| It Happens Every Thursday | Jake | ||
| Shane | Fred Lewis | ||
| 1954 | Make Haste to Live | Sheriff Lafe | |
| Human Desire | Alec Simmons | ||
| Dawn at Socorro | Sheriff Cauthen | ||
| Destry | The Honorable Hiram J. Sellers, Mayor | ||
| 1955 | Rage at Dawn | Judge | |
| The Silver Star | Will "Bill" Dowdy | ||
| The Lonesome Trail | Dan Wells | ||
| Wichita | Doc Black | ||
| 1956 | Come Next Spring | Mr. Canary | |
| 1957 | Spoilers of the Forest | Tom Duncan | |
| 1958 | Day of the Bad Man | Sam Wyckoff | |
| The Sheepman | Milt Masters | ||
| 1959 | King of the Wild Stallions | Idaho | |
| It Started with a Kiss | Congressman Richard Tappe | ||
| Edge of Eternity | Sheriff Edwards | ||
| Hound-Dog Man | Doc Cole | ||
| Stump Run | Buck Gaskin | ||
| 1960 | Four Fast Guns | Dipper | |
| Cimarron | Judge Neal Hefner | ||
| Chartroose Caboose | Woody Watts | ||
| 1961 | Tammy Tell Me True | Judge Carver | |
| Devil's Partner | Don Lucas | ||
| The Comancheros | Judge Thaddeus Jackson Breen | ||
| 1962 | Ride the High Country | Judge Tolliver | |
| 1963 | Donovan's Reef | Boston Attorney Francis X. O'Brien | |
| A Ticklish Affair | Captain Martin | ||
| McLintock! | Bunny Dull | ||
| Move Over, Darling | Judge Bryson | ||
| 1965 | The Rounders | Vince Moore | |
| The Man from Button Willow | Sorry | Voice | |
| 1966 | Gunpoint | Bull | |
| 1967 | Welcome to Hard Times | Brown | |
| 1969 | Angel in My Pocket | Axel Gresham | |
| 1974 | Benji | Bill | (final film role) |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Make Room for Daddy | Captain Chris | Season 1 Episode 8: "The Sea Captain" |
| 1952–1954 | Hopalong Cassidy | Red Connors | 40 episodes |
| 1954 | Crown Theatre with Gloria Swanson | Uncle Harry | Episode: "Uncle Harry" |
| 1953, 1955 | Cavalcade of America | Horace Greeley Doc Mathew |
4 episodes |
| 1955 | Ford Theatre | Papa Mumby | Season 3 Episode 38: "The Mumbysa" |
| Screen Directors Playhouse | Sub Royal | Season 1 Episode 8: "The Bush Roper" | |
| 1955-1956 | Judge Roy Bean | Judge Roy Bean | 39 episodes |
| 1956 | Strange Stories | Episode: "Con Game" | |
| Crossroads | Bart Alden | Season 2 Episode 10: "The Lamp of Father Cataldo" | |
| 1957 | The Christophers | John Augustus | Episode: "Sentence Deferred" |
| Climax! | Spencer / Constable |
Season 3 Episode 25: "Avalanche at Devil's Pass" Season 3 Episode 42: "Deadly Climate" | |
| 1958 | The Adventures of Jim Bowie | Ringtail Jack | Season 2 Episode 23: "Deaf Smith" |
| The Restless Gun | Ethan Greenfield Sheriff Jeb Barnes |
Season 1 Episode 30: "Aunt Emma" Season 1 Episode 35: "The Gold Star" | |
| Studio One | Dan Ferris | Season 10 Episode 43: "Birthday Present" | |
| The Gale Storm Show | Jasper Stokes | Season 3 Episode 4: "Hayride Ahoy" | |
| 26 Men | Season 2 Episode 4: "Cross and Doublecross" | ||
| Cimarron City | Shanty | Season 1 Episode 7: "Kid on a Calico Horse" | |
| 1955–1959 | General Electric Theater | Buckskin / Colonel Starbottle / Preacher Bailey Parson Meachum / Doctor / Timothy Dwight |
7 episodes |
| 1958-1959 | The Californians | Dutch / Major |
Season 1 Episode 33: "The Golden Bride" (1958) Season 2 Episode 30: "One Ton of Peppercorns" (1959) |
| 1959 | Lawman | Jess Miller | Season 1 Episode 15: "The Captives" |
| Trackdown | Tully Saxon | Season 2 Episode 30: "The Trick" | |
| Wanted Dead or Alive | Pop Michaels / Chester Blake |
Season 1 Episode 28: "Railroaded" Season 1 Episode 36: "Amos Carter" | |
| Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Pops | Season 5 Episode 4: "Coyote Moon" | |
| The Deputy | Isbel | Season 1 Episode 14: "Man of Peace" | |
| Whirlybirds | Burton | Season 3 Episode 13: "The Perfect Crime" | |
| 1957, 1960 | Wagon Train | Thaddeus Briscoe / Ben Mattox |
Season 1 Episode 8: "The John Darro Story" (1957) Season 4 Episode 10: "The Jane Hawkins Story" (1959) |
| 1960 | Bronco | 'Pop' Ben Owens | Season 2 Episode 19: "Winter Kill" |
| Bat Masterson | Cactus Charlie | Season 3 Episode 1: "Debt of Honor" | |
| Assignment: Underwater | Charlie Noble | Season 1 Episode 7: "Charlie Noble's Pearl" | |
| Stagecoach West | Lum Jensen | Season 1 Episode 7: "Red Sand" | |
| Riverboat | Wingate Pardee | Season 2 Episode 11: "Duel on the River" | |
| 1957–1961 | Tales of Wells Fargo | Bob Dawson / Doc Dawson |
6 episodes |
| 1958–1961 | Maverick | Daddy Forge / Jed Christianson / Colonel Hamilton / Sheriff Hadley / Red Daniels |
5 episodes |
| 1959-1961 | The Rifleman | Doc J. Burrage / Grandpa Fogarty |
6 episodes |
| 1960-1961 | Bonanza | Hallelujah Hicks John Henry Hill |
Season 2 Episode 11: "The Trail Gang" (1960) Season 2 Episode 34: "Sam Hill" (1961) |
| 1961 | Klondike | Sam Perkins | Season 1 Episode 13: "The Golden Burro" |
| National Velvet | Grandpa Harwell | Season 1 Episode 24: "Grandpa" Season 1 Episode 30: "Grandpa Returns" | |
| The Barbara Stanwyck Show | Judge Franklin | Season 1 Episode 36: "A Man's Game" | |
| The Tall Man | Archie Keogh | Season 2 Episode 7: "The Judas Palm" | |
| The New Bob Cummings Show | Episode: "The Oxtail Incident" | ||
| Bus Stop | Judge Neal | Season 1 Episode 9: "The Man from Bootstrap" | |
| The Andy Griffith Show | Henry Wheeler | Season 2 Episode 9: "Aunt Bee's Brief Encounter" | |
| 1958, 1962 | Perry Mason | Andy Templet / Judge Edward Daley |
Season 2 Episode 11: "The Case of the Perjured Parrot" (1958) Season 6 Episode 10: "The Case of the Lurid Letter" (1962) |
| 1960–1962 | Laramie | Calico / Doc / Tully Casper / Cletus McBain |
4 episodes |
| Outlaws | Nulty / Neely |
Season 1 Episode 7: "Starfall: Part 1" (1960) Season 2 Episode 24: "All in a Day's Work" (1962) | |
| Route 66 | Jack McConkle / Magistrate Abe Chumley |
Season 1 Episode 10: "The Beryllium Eater" (1960) Season 3 Episode 2: "Journey to Nineveh" (1962) | |
| 1962 | The Twilight Zone | Doc Bolton | Season 3 Episode 23: "The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank" |
| Thriller | Doc O'Connor | Season 2 Episode 24: 'Til Death Do Us Part | |
| Alcoa Premiere | Crab Holman | Season 2 Episode 1: "Flashing Spikes" | |
| Stoney Burke | Vernon Dawes | Season 1 Episode 2: "Fight Night" | |
| Have Gun – Will Travel | Noah Cardiff | Season 6 Episode 12: "Man in an Hourglass" | |
| The Wide Country | Uncle Walter 'Walt' Guthrie | Season 1 Episode 12: "Good Old Uncle Walt" | |
| Dennis the Menace | Mr. Meekin | Season 4 Episode 13: "Dennis and the Hermit" | |
| 1957–1963 | Leave It to Beaver | Captain Jack / William 'Uncle Billy' Cleaver |
3 episodes |
| 1962-1963 | The Lloyd Bridges Show | Doc Lawton / Andrew Jackson Tyree |
Season 1 Episode 6: "Just Married" (1962) Season 1 Episode 28: "The Tyrees of Capitol Hill" (1963) |
| Gunsmoke | Dan Witter / Dan York |
Season 7 Episode 18: "Old Dan" (1962) Season 8 Episode 34: "Old York" (1963) | |
| Dr. Kildare | Steve Devitt / Judge Manning |
Season 1 Episode 16: "The Administrator" (1962) Season 2 Episode 32: "To Each His Own Prison" (1963) | |
| 1965 | Luke and the Tenderfoot | Luke Herkimer | |
| 1968 | Something for a Lonely Man | Old Man Wolenski | TV movie |
| The Beverly Hillbillies | Uncle Joe Carson | Season 7 (3 episodes) | |
| 1965–1969 | Green Acres | Uncle Joe Carson | 16 episodes (There were many crossovers from Petticoat Junction cast members in the series) |
| 1969 | The Over-the-Hill Gang | Jason Fitch | TV movie |
| 1963–1970 | Petticoat Junction | Joseph P. "Uncle Joe" Carson | 222 episodes |
| 1970 | The Name of the Game | Felson | Season 3 Episode 8: "Little Bear Died Running" |
| The Mod Squad | Hargis | Season 3 Episode 8: "Welcome to the Human Race, Levi Frazee!" | |
| The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again | Jason Fitch | TV movie | |
| 1971 | "The Men From Shiloh" (rebranded name of The Virginian) | Teddy Birdwell | Season 9 Episode 17: "The Legacy of Spencer Flats" |
| Yuma | Mules McNeil | TV movie | |
| 1971–1972 | Cade's County | J.J. Jackson | 24 episodes |
| 1972 | The Partridge Family | Judge McElwreath | Season 3 Episode 2: "M is for Many Things" |
| 1973 | Love, American Style | Judge Brockmerton | Season 4 Episode 14 (Segment: Love and the Family Hour) |
References
edit- ^ "Edgar Buchanan". prod.tcm.com. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
- ^ "Rites pending for actor Edgar Buchanan, 76". Chicago Tribune. United Press International. April 5, 1979. p. 51. Archived from the original on March 17, 2023. Retrieved March 16, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Buck Comes Home". The Eugene Guard. May 18, 1959. p. 11. Retrieved July 28, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Edgar Buchanan, Actor, Matineeclassics.com; retrieved March 10, 2013. Archived December 19, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Piasecki, Sara (2010-07-12). "Edgar Buchanan: the frontier dentist who played one on TV". Historical Notes from OHSU. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
- ^ "Edgar Buchanan: dentist and popular character actor in movies and television". Journal of the History of Dentistry. 49 (2). National Library of Medicine: 57–61. July 2001. PMID 11484314. Retrieved September 29, 2024.
- ^ Archives, L. A. Times (2005-08-19). "'Buck' Buchanan, 59; Host of L.A. Radio Rock 'n' Roll Show". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
- ^ Monush, Barry (2003). Screen World Presents the Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the silent era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-5578-3551-2. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ^ The Rattle of Theta Chi. Theta Chi Fraternity Inc. 1942. p. 13. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ^ Karg, Barb; Sutherland, Rick (May 18, 2010). Secret America: The Hidden Symbols, Codes and Mysteries of the United States. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4405-0723-6.
- ^ "EdgarBuchanan". The Clan Buchanan. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
- ^ a b "Edgar Buchanan | Actor, Soundtrack". IMDb. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
- ^ "Secrets Of TV's The Rifleman: More Than Just Guns And Good Times". Trend-chaser.com. November 14, 2016. p. 66. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
- ^ Erickson, Hal (1989). Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-8995-0410-0.
- ^ a b Terrace, Vincent (January 10, 2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). McFarland. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
- ^ Bellamy, Earl (1957-10-28), The Auction, Tales of Wells Fargo, Dale Robertson, Edgar Buchanan, Margaret Stewart, retrieved 2024-08-29
- ^ a b Leszczak, Bob (2015). From Small Screen to Vinyl: A Guide to Television Stars Who Made Records, 1950-2000. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-1-4422-4274-6. Retrieved 29 July 2017.
- ^ Ellenburger, Alan R. (May 1, 2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5019-0.
Further reading
edit- Maltin, Leonard (2015) [First published 1969]. "Edgar Buchanan". The Real Stars : Profiles and Interviews of Hollywood's Unsung Featured Players (softcover) (Sixth / eBook ed.). Great Britain: CreateSpace Independent. pp. 13–37. ISBN 978-1-5116-4485-3.
External links
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