What happened to Jethro Bodine from the 'Beverly Hillbillies'? Here's how he looks now

The character was so popular that the actor who played the role struggled to break from the stereotype for years.

Jethro Bodine was one of the most popular characters from The Beverly Hillbillies. The actor who played the iconic role, Max Baer Jr., was so much associated with the character that he struggled to break the typecast role after the show ended.

According to Direct Expose, Baer slowly faded away from the Hollywood spotlight once the famous show came to its end in 1971. He increasingly found difficult to land acting jobs and was forced to end his career in an unexpected way.

After his acting stints reduced to just a few guest roles in some of the productions, Baer eventually made a switch to filmmaking in 1974. His first project was a low budget movie titled Macon County Line that released the same year.

To get by, the actor also began to pursue real estate market and invest in properties such as malls, condos, and others. Although his ventures earned him a good profit, he always put filmmaking and writing screenplays as his priorities.

He pursued some acting in his own productions but was still unable to break from his Jethro Bodine typecast. So he purchased the rights to the show to rather turn his association into an asset.

He started opening businesses that were related to hillbilly themes. He also created casino games and slot machines inspired by Beverly Hillbillies so as to make financial returns out of his inescapable association with Jethro Bodine.

Baer's efforts proved to be immensely successful with the TV-show inspired slot machines making it into several casinos in America.

The star is now 80 years of age. Once a famous actor, he is today a successful businessman who is seeking to build a Beverly Hillbillies empire with Jethro's Beverly Hills Mansion and Casinos as well as other hillbilly-themed properties.