Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free The Beverly Hillbillies trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 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 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which network did The Beverly Hillbillies air from 1962 to 1971?
CBS
Executives William Paley and Frank Stanton disliked it, but it made CBS the dominant network of the decade.
Q 02The Clampetts come from which mountain range?
The Ozarks
They strike oil on their swampy land and move to Beverly Hills.
Q 03Who created The Beverly Hillbillies, as well as Petticoat Junction and Green Acres?
Paul Henning
He grew up on a farm in Independence, Missouri, and had written for Burns and Allen.
Q 04How many episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies were made?
274
Jed, Granny and Elly May appear in every one; Jethro misses only the last two.
Q 05In the opening credits, Jed discovers oil while doing what?
Shooting at a rabbit
In the first episode itself the oil is actually found by a surveyor for the OK Oil Company.
Q 06Who played Jed Clampett?
Buddy Ebsen
Ebsen was only five years older than Irene Ryan, who played his mother-in-law.
Q 07Granny is Jed's what?
Wife's mother
In the pilot Drysdale calls her Jed's mother, an idea Paul Henning dropped because it would change the show's dynamic.
Q 08What is Granny's real name?
Daisy Moses
Her clan, the Moses family, feuded with the Bodkins, ancestors of Mr. Drysdale.
Q 09Granny calls herself an 'M.D.', meaning what?
Mountain doctor
She uses her 'white lightning' as anaesthesia for tooth-pulling and leeching.
Q 10Which actress played Elly May?
Donna Douglas
She had been Miss New Orleans in 1957 and starred opposite Elvis in Frankie and Johnny.
Q 11What is the name of the Clampett family's old bloodhound?
Duke
Elly May's love of animals fills the estate with 'critters'.
Q 12Granny usually gives Elly May's age as what, though she is clearly in her twenties?
14
An unmarried mountain woman of Elly May's real age would be considered an old maid.
Q 13Who played Jethro Bodine?
Max Baer Jr.
He is the son of heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer.
Q 14The family boasts about Jethro's education reaching which grade?
Q 21Mrs. Drysdale describes herself as a blue-blooded native of which city?
Boston
Margaret Drysdale spends the series trying and failing to drive the Clampetts out.
Q 22Which future star of Valley of the Dolls played bank secretary Janet Trego in 15 episodes?
Sharon Tate
Her character was often the target of Jethro's romantic overtures.
Q 23Which comedian played the recurring con man Shifty Shaffer, alias Honest John?
Phil Silvers
The Clampetts kept running into him over six episodes.
Who wrote the theme song 'The Ballad of Jed Clampett'?
Sixth
He spent three years in fourth grade and two in first, and prides himself on 'cipherin' and 'gazintas'.
Q 15Max Baer Jr. also played Jethro's twin sister, whose voice was dubbed by whom?
Linda Kaye Henning
Jethrine's voice came from the creator's daughter, who later starred as Betty Jo in Petticoat Junction.
Q 16Jethro's mother, Cousin Pearl, was played by which actress who went on to star in Petticoat Junction?
Bea Benaderet
Pearl is the one who pushes Jed to move to California and take Jethro along.
Q 17What is the name of the Clampetts' banker and next-door neighbour?
Milburn Drysdale
He is obsessed with keeping the Clampetts' fortune in his Commerce Bank of Beverly Hills.
Q 18By 1969, how much was the Clampett fortune said to be worth?
$96 million
That is roughly $630 million in 2024 money.
Q 19Miss Jane Hathaway, Drysdale's secretary, has a degree from which college?
Vassar
She speaks French, knows Latin, and has a crush on Jethro he never notices.
Q 20Who played Jane Hathaway?
Nancy Kulp
TV Guide ranked the character 38th on its 1999 list of the 50 greatest TV characters.
Paul Henning
Jerry Scoggins sang it over the credits, backed by Flatt and Scruggs.
Q 25Flatt and Scruggs' single of the theme song reached what position on the Billboard country chart?
No. 1
It was their only country chart-topper, and the first bluegrass record ever to top that chart.
Q 26Early episodes sometimes added extra verses of the theme song plugging which two sponsors?
Winston cigarettes and Kellogg's cereals
Woven-in sponsor bumpers were standard practice in the early 1960s.
Q 27Irene Ryan's 1966 novelty single was titled what?
Granny's Miniskirt
Ebsen, Ryan and Douglas all made solo records after the show took off.
Q 28How many seasons in a row was The Beverly Hillbillies the number-one show in America?
Two
It stayed in the top 20 for eight of its nine seasons.
Q 29Which season-two episode remains the most-watched half-hour sitcom episode in US history?
The Giant Jackrabbit
Granny mistakes an escaped kangaroo for a giant jackrabbit.
Q 30How many Primetime Emmy nominations did the series receive?
Seven
Irene Ryan and Nancy Kulp were among the nominees; critics at the time called it 'strained and unfunny'.