From behind-the-scenes tensions to not one but two lawsuits, here are 20 facts about this classic ’60s sitcom that may surprise you.

The Beverly Hillbillies is a rags-to-riches tale of a ramshackle family who become multi-millionaires after striking oil on their land, and it dominated the ratings for the best part of a decade back in the ’60s. Here are 20 things you may not know, however, about this classic sitcom.

Buddy Ebsen — Image: David McNew/Newsmakers/Getty Images

20. Buddy and Nancy didn’t hit it off in real life

It’s fair to say that Buddy Ebsen (Jed Clampett) and Nancy Kulp (Miss Jane Hathaway) didn’t exactly hit it off. In fact, the two stars continually fought over politics during the show’s filming. And Ebsen even actively campaigned against Democrat Kulp when she unsuccessfully ran for Congress in the state of Pennsylvania.

The Beverly Hillbillies — Image: via DVD Talk

19. CBS forgot to renew the copyrights of the first two seasons

Ever wondered why the show’s first couple of seasons are regularly run on various low-budget TV channels? Well, that’s because although network CBS bought the series’ rights following its cancelation in 1971, it failed to renew the copyrights for its first 55 episodes. And this then allowed them to enter the public domain.

18. The show’s creator found the 1981 TV movie cringeworthy

Ten years after its cancelation, the surviving members of the Clampett family reunited for a 1981 TV movie. But it lacked several key actors and had a different setting, and ultimately the unfamiliar set-up failed to connect with viewers. In fact, even the show’s creator later admitted that he was embarrassed by the whole affair.

Buddy Ebsen — Image: David McNew/Getty Images

17. Ebsen demanded his part be redrafted

Buddy Ebsen may have been happy enough to portray Jed Clampett as unschooled and largely illiterate, but he drew the line at the character being portrayed as a complete moron. In fact, the actor initially refused to take the part unless the writers gave Jed a little respect.

Max Baer Jr. — Image: via Pinterest/Tim Shady

16. Max Baer Jr. played his twin sister

The half-witted Jethro Bodine wasn’t the only character that Max Baer Jr. played on the show. The last living star of the original cast also went full drag to portray Jethro’s twin sister Jethrine for 11 episodes of the first season.

Linda Kaye Henning — Image: via TV When I Was Born

15. But Henning’s daughter provided the voice

However, the voice of Jethrine Bodine belonged to someone else entirely: that of Linda Kaye Henning. She was the daughter of the show’s creator, Paul Henning, and she also appeared in nearly every single episode of her father’s second hit sitcom, Petticoat Junction.

The skyline of downtown Manhattan — Image: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

14. The show was originally set in New York

As the name implies, the characters in The Beverly Hillbillies up sticks to a swanky mansion in the state of California after coming into money. However, producers initially intended for the family to move to New York, before financial constraints forced them to look elsewhere.

13. Louis Nye was only eight years younger than his on-screen mother

As is often the case in Hollywood when it comes to casting parents and children, the actress who played Mrs. Drysdale wouldn’t have been old enough to be Sonny’s mother in real life. In fact, Harriet E. MacGibbon was just eight years older than her on-screen son, played by Louis Nye.

Bea Benaderet — Image: via Keyword Suggestions

12. Bea Benaderet was the first choice to play Granny

Bea Benaderet appeared throughout the first season as Jethro’s middle-aged mother Pearl Bodine. But she was, in fact, first lined up to play the character of Granny. After realizing that her look wasn’t appropriate for the character, however, she recommended Irene Ryan for the part instead.

11. CBS axed the show even though it was still popular

Although ratings had fallen from its early ’60s heyday, The Beverly Hillbillies was still pulling in respectable numbers when it was abruptly canceled in 1971. The show was given the axe alongside Henning’s other hit, Petticoat Junction, and several other rural-themed comedies. And the reason? The advertisers wanted to target a more cultured, metropolitan kind of viewer.

The Beverly Hillbillies estate — Image: Alan Light

10. The owner of the show’s villa died before the first episode aired

Producers arranged to pay Arnold Kirkeby $500 a day to shoot the show at his Bel Air villa for the first season. Unfortunately, though, Kirkeby never got to see his impressive home on screen – he perished in a plane crash less than a year before the show premiered.

The Kirkeby mansion — Image: via Find a Grave

9. Kirkeby’s widow broke contract with the studio

Widow Mrs. Kirkeby later made things difficult when she reportedly broke the contract her husband had made with the show’s production company by revealing the mansion’s address. Fans subsequently began to swarm the residence in the hope of seeing their favorite character, and Filmways Productions actually had to stop filming outside scenes at the home.

Donna Douglas — Image: via YouTube/It’s A Blast From The Past

8. Elly May was robbed of a wedding

The advance publicity for The Beverly Hillbillies’ final season suggested that Elly May would end up hitched to the man that Granny believed was part-frog, Mark Templeton. However, their romance was suddenly axed after just nine episodes and, with the show canceled shortly after, the character missed out on a fairytale ending.

John Wayne — Image: STAFF/AFP/Getty Images

7. John Wayne received bourbon, not money, for his appearance

It seems as though John Wayne made his guest appearance on the fifth season of The Beverly Hillbillies for love, not money. The Western movie legend reportedly only asked for a fifth of bourbon as payment for his brief cameo in the now politically incorrect episode, “The Indians Are Coming.”

6. Max Baer Jr. sued CBS

CBS was sued by one of its former stars when Max Baer Jr. accused them of using his Hillbilly character’s name without his knowledge and for financial gain. The star alleged that the network failed to tell him about their affiliation with the Jethro’s restaurant chain, and that the two parties worked out a clandestine compromise instead.

The Elly May Barbie doll — Image: via Paul Siegel

5. Donna Douglas sued Mattel

And Baer Jr. wasn’t the only cast member to file a lawsuit against a company in relation to their Beverly Hillbillies character. Donna Douglas sued Mattel after they produced an Elly May Clampett Barbie doll and used one of the actress’ photographs on the box without her consent.

The Beverly Hillbillies — Image: via DVD Talk

4. Critics weren’t fans

“Strained and unfunny,” published The New York Times. “Painful to sit through,” wrote Variety. “The lowest form of humor,” declared Time. And so although The Beverly Hillbillies may have been a runaway ratings hit, critics hated it. These were just some of the scathing criticisms the show regularly faced from the national press during its nine-season run.

The Beverly Hillbillies — Image: via DVD Talk

3. It originally had a completely different title

Viewers of the pilot, “The Clampetts Strike Oil,” would have sat down to watch a show called The Hillbillies of Beverly Hills. Thankfully, however, producers soon decided on something a little less tongue-twisty, and by the second episode it had been revised to the now familiar The Beverly Hillbillies.

2. It also had a different theme song

“The Ballad of Jed Clampett” was so popular that when it was released as a single it spent three weeks at the top of the Billboard country chart, as well as reaching No.44 on the Hot 100. However, a song named “Banjo Signal” was used as the theme tune for the pilot episode.

Manassas National Battlefield Park — Image: STAFF/AFP/Getty Images

1. The show was inspired by the Civil War

The Beverly Hillbillies had an unlikely source of inspiration: various Civil War locations. Yes, Henning had a brainwave on a trip through the rural South in the late ’50s. It was then that he began to wonder how someone from the area in the Civil War era would cope with life in a more modern, urban setting. And so The Beverley Hillbillies was born.