Edgar Buchanan

Born: March 20, 1903, Humansville, Missouri
Died: April 4, 1979 (age 76), Palm Desert, California

William Edgar Buchanan 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 Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s. 

As Uncle Joe, "who is moving kinda slow", he took over as proprietor of the Shady Rest Hotel following the death of Bea Benaderet, who had played Kate Bradley.

What do you know about Edgar Buchanan? Try this quick quiz.

1. Before becoming an actor, what was Buchanan's occupation?

• Dentist
• Oilman
• Sales Clerk

2. Buchanan married Mildred Marguerite Spence on April 14, 1928.

• Fact or Myth?

3. 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. What was the film?

• My Son Is Guilty
• Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die
• You Belong to Me

34 Arizona is a 1940 western film starring Jean Arthur, William Holden and Warren William. It was directed by Wesley Ruggles. What character did Buchanan play?

• Lazarus Ward
• Judge Bogardus
• Paul Harvey

5. In 1941, he is in a melodrama starring Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Beulah Bondi, and Edgar Buchanan. What is the film?

6. In 1953, Buchanan makes his first TV appearance as Captain Chris in the episode: The Sea Captain. What was the TV show?

• Make Room for Daddy
• Screen Directors Playhouse
• Crossroads

7. He appeared in all 222 episodes of Petticoat Junction, 17 episodes of Green Acres, and 3 episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies, always as the character Uncle Joe Carson.

• Fact or Myth?

8. Buchanan and another star from Petticoat Junction appeared together in the movie Benji. Who was the star?

• Arnold Ziffel (the pig)
• Higgins (the dog)
• Duke (the groundhog)

9. Buchanan died from a stroke complicated by pneumonia in Palm Desert, California.

• Fact or Myth?

10. Where is Edgar Buchanan buried?

• San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Los Angeles, California
• Laurel Land Memorial Park, Fort Worth, Texas
• Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California

Answers

1. Dentist
2. Fact
3. My Son Is Guilty
4. Judge Bogardus
5. Penny Serenade
6. Make Room for Daddy
7. Fact
8. Higgins (the dog)
9. Fact
10. Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California

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