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Buddy Ebsen said that he could never be a private investigator like Barnaby Jones
Ebsen was one heck of an actor but wasn't interested in pursuing his character's line of work.
As an actor, Buddy Ebsen has had the privilege of living many lifetimes throughout his career. Most famously, he lived as the fabulously wealthy Jed Clampett of The Beverly Hillbillies, and the always insightful Barnaby Jones.
But just because he's played these sorts of men doesn't mean that he could walk a day in their shoes. During an interview with the Waterloo Region Record, Ebsen revealed that he had no interest in pursuing a career in crime investigation like his character, Barnaby Jones.
"I couldn't stand the frustrations of working with a legal system that has been compromised by a total abdication of responsibility by the politicians," he said. "Crime pays today. I couldn't work with that."
Ebsen's issues aside, it's probably for the best that he continued acting. Not only was he darn good at it, but it was something that he genuinely enjoyed doing.
"I plan to keep going until it stops being fun," he said. "People kind of resent you if you're still working at my age. They think you should quit and be bored to death like them. From a practical standpoint, I can't understand this."
Ebsen felt that he was in the prime of his life once he entered a later age, speeding up when many were slowing down. Ebsen felt that there was an untapped source of wisdom in older generations, as society elected to shun those who were of a certain age.
"We have locked up and segregated in old folks' homes the solutions to all our problems," he said. "Nobody will listen to old people, but they have the answers because they've been through the problems. This is a fracture in our society. Instead of paying attention to our elders, as the primitive tribes always have, we are giving way to pressure from the young people who are concerned only with finding a place for themselves."
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