The Beverly Hillbillies Trivia
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100 free The Beverly Hillbillies trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
49 free The Beverly Hillbillies trivia questions with answers. The Beverly Hillbillies was the number-one show in America for its first two seasons and still owns the record for the most-watched half-hour sitcom episode, all while critics called it painful to sit through. This quiz covers the Clampetts and the people around them: how Jed found oil, Granny's real name and her mountain doctoring, Elly May's critters and her supposed age, Jethro's cipherin', Mr. Drysdale's bank and Miss Jane's Vassar degree. It then goes behind the camera: Paul Henning's theme song and its bluegrass chart record, the sponsor verses, Buddy Ebsen's Wizard of Oz illness, Irene Ryan on Broadway, Donna Douglas in The Twilight Zone, Nancy Kulp's run for Congress, Sharon Tate at the bank, the rural purge that killed the show, the 1981 reunion movie, the 1993 film with Jim Varney and the 55 episodes that slipped into the public domain. Easy questions suit anyone who caught the reruns; harder ones reward true fans of Bugtussle. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the series, its cast and its theme song, and the source line appears under each question after you answer.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which network did The Beverly Hillbillies air from 1962 to 1971?
CBS
CBS followed the hit with a pair of rural sister comedies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, and the three shows went on to swap characters in crossover visits.
Q 02The Clampetts come from which mountain range?
The Ozarks
The Ozarks were the show's seed: its creator first met hill folk as a Boy Scout camping in Missouri and built the Clampetts from those memories.
Q 03Which Petticoat Junction town do the Clampetts visit for the holidays in several crossover episodes?
Hooterville
Hooterville first welcomed the Clampetts in 1968, and the visits gave Granny a new interest: its storekeeper, Sam Drucker, became her would-be beau.
Q 04Which piece of mansion furniture do the Clampetts mistake for a formal dining table?
The billiard table
The billiard table hosts the family's meals in what they call the 'fancy eatin' room', with the pool cues pressed into service as 'pot passers'.
Q 05In The Beverly Hillbillies' opening credits, Jed discovers oil while doing what?
Shooting at a rabbit
Shooting at a rabbit is how the credits tell it: the stray shot brings crude bubbling up, and an oil company is soon paying him $25 million for the right to drill.
Q 06In a 1984 radio ad, what did Jed's actor call Miss Jane's actress as she ran for Congress?
Too liberal
Too liberal, he said, in an ad for her Republican opponent: 'I love you dearly but you're too liberal for me.' She lost, and said he should have stayed out of it.
Q 07Granny is Jed's what?
Wife's mother
Wife's mother: Granny's daughter Rose Ellen was Jed's late wife. The casting hid a joke of its own, as the actress was only about five years older than her screen son-in-law.
Q 08What is Granny's real name?
Daisy Moses
Daisy Moses is Granny's given name. Another actress in the cast tested for the part, though the show's creator thought her too buxom for the wiry little woman he had pictured.
Q 09Granny calls herself an 'M.D.', meaning what?
Mountain doctor
Mountain doctor is her own reading of the letters, and she practises accordingly, with potions brewed at home and a jug of 'rheumatiz medicine' for whatever ails the family.
Q 10Which actress played Elly May throughout the TV series The Beverly Hillbillies?
Donna Douglas
Donna Douglas barely had to act the part: she grew up poor 'way out in the country' in Louisiana and said she really was a country girl.
Q 11What is the name of the Clampett family's old bloodhound?
Duke
Duke embarrassed the banker's wife: the puppies she expected from her pedigree poodle, Claude, turned out to take after Jed's lazy bloodhound instead.
Q 12What does Elly May call the animals she collects at the mansion?
Her critters
Her critters are what make city life bearable for Elly May, and the mansion fills with them, from cats and dogs to skunks and goats.
Q 13Who played Jethro Bodine throughout The Beverly Hillbillies' run on television?
Max Baer Jr.
Max Baer Jr. was no Jethro off screen: he held a business degree from Santa Clara University, and later made hit films of his own as a producer and director.
Q 21Mrs. Drysdale describes herself as a blue-blooded native of which city?
Boston
Boston breeding is Mrs. Drysdale's proudest boast, yet her 'proper Bostonian' father turns up stranded and penniless in Las Vegas, a card sharp down on his luck.
Q 22Which future star of Valley of the Dolls played bank secretary Janet Trego?
Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate played her under a black wig: the producer who held her contract wanted her to gain experience on camera without being recognised before her film career began.
Q 23Which comedian played the recurring con man Shifty Shaffer, alias Honest John?
Phil Silvers
Phil Silvers, TV's Sergeant Bilko, played another silver-tongued swindler here: Honest John 'sells' Jed Central Park, then comes back to offer him the Capitol.
Q 14The family boasts about Jethro's education reaching which grade?
Sixth
He spent three years in fourth grade and two in first, and prides himself on 'cipherin' and 'gazintas'.
Q 15The actor who played Jethro also appeared in a dress and wig as which of Jethro's relatives?
His sister
His sister Jethrine was the same actor in a dress and wig, with an actress dubbing her voice, and the gag had legs: a running first-season storyline followed her romance with a suitor, Jasper Depew.
Q 16Jethro's mother, Cousin Pearl, was played by which actress who went on to star in Petticoat Junction?
Bea Benaderet
Bea Benaderet had hoped to play Granny; instead she played Cousin Pearl, and a year later the show's creator built Petticoat Junction around her.
Q 17Which exclamation is Jed Clampett's catchphrase?
Well, doggies!
Well, doggies! was Jed's answer to nearly everything, and it outlived the show: the actor went on signing his autographs with it.
Q 18What do the Clampetts call the swimming pool behind their mansion?
The cement pond
The cement pond, pronounced 'cee-ment', outlived the show itself: it is among the Clampett coinages that passed into America's pop-culture lexicon.
Q 19Miss Jane Hathaway, Drysdale's secretary, has a degree from which college?
Vassar
Vassar polish makes Miss Jane the real brains of the bank: the 'highly efficient' assistant usually has to rescue her boss from his own schemes.
Q 20Who played Jane Hathaway?
Nancy Kulp
Nancy Kulp had been a studio publicist until a director talked her into acting; she went on to earn an Emmy nomination as the prim Miss Jane.
Q 24Which TV writer both created The Beverly Hillbillies and wrote its theme song himself?
Paul Henning
Paul Henning wrote the words and music of 'The Ballad of Jed Clampett' himself, though even one standard TV reference book credits it to the musicians who recorded it.
Q 25Which bluegrass duo took The Beverly Hillbillies' theme song to the top of the country chart?
Flatt and Scruggs
Flatt and Scruggs had the hit in early 1963 and then joined the fun on screen, turning up year after year as themselves, old friends of the Clampetts.
Q 26Early Beverly Hillbillies episodes added extra verses of the theme song to plug which two sponsors?
Winston cigarettes and Kellogg's cereals
Winston cigarettes and Kellogg's cereals paid the bills, so the ballad was re-recorded with new words for each, and the cast pitched both products in character.
Q 27Which Western film legend made a surprise cameo as himself in a 1967 Beverly Hillbillies episode?
John Wayne
John Wayne walked on for a moment in 'The Indians Are Coming' and waved away a fee: asked what he wanted for the cameo, he said a fifth of bourbon would square it.
Q 28After two seasons as America's most-watched show, The Beverly Hillbillies lost the top spot to which Western?
Bonanza
Bonanza took over in 1964-65 and stayed on top for three seasons, while the Hillbillies slid to 12th place that year.
Q 29In the highest-rated Beverly Hillbillies episode, which animal does Granny mistake for a giant jackrabbit?
A kangaroo
A kangaroo, shipped to the banker next door as a practical joke, wanders into the Clampetts' yard; the January 1964 broadcast drew the biggest rating the series ever had.
Q 30Which rival sitcom beat The Beverly Hillbillies to the 1963 Emmy for best comedy programme?
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Dick Van Dyke Show won, and the pattern held: for all its huge ratings, the Hillbillies collected seven Emmy nominations over the years and not one win.