Max Baer
Known For
Acting
Born
1909-02-11 in Omaha - Nebraska - USA
Died
1959-11-21
Biography
Max Baer is arguably best known today for siring Max Baer Jr., the actor who played Jethro Bodine on the classic TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). However, old-timers, followers of the sweet science, and viewers of the film Cinderella Man (2005) all know that Max Sr. was boxing's heavyweight champion of the world for all of 364 days, from the time he knocked out Primo Carnera on June 14, 1934, to the day he lost his title to Jimmy Braddock on June 13, 1935. Cinephiles also will remember the colorful Max from his numerous bit roles in films, including Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's Africa Screams (1949) to his near-autobiographical turn in the Budd Schulberg boxing expose The Harder They Fall (1956) starring Humphrey Bogart. Ironically, it was his acting in the latter film that likely led to his misrepresentation in "Cinderella Man" as being something akin to a monster, when actually, according to his family and those who knew him, he was an amiable man. Some fight fans thought that it was his good nature, which they attributed to his clowning, that eventually did him in, as he would not bear down on his opponents in the latter part of his career. Max Jr. says that his father wanted to be an actor, an insight that explains the flashy persona he displayed in and outside the ring as he wisecracked and clowned his way through careers as a boxer and performer in movies and nightclubs. Blessed with what "The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book" terms the most powerful right hand in heavyweight history, Baer used that right to gain a fearsome reputation as a California prizefighter before moving to New York and taking on the top ranks of the heavyweight division.
Most Known For
The Abbott and Costello Show
as Killer King
Playhouse 90
as Mike
Bride for Sale
as Litka
The Harder They Fall
as Buddy Brannen
Africa Screams
as Grappler McCoy
Fisticuffs
as Himself
Utah Blaine
as Gus Ortmann
Riding High
as Bertie (uncredited)
Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Once Upon a Horse...
as Ben
Buckskin Frontier
as Tiny
The Navy Comes Through
as Coxswain G. Berringer
The McGuerins from Brooklyn
as Professor Samson
Requiem for a Heavyweight
as Mike
The Prizefighter and the Lady
as Steve Morgan
Ladies' Day
as Hippo Jones
Tender Hearted Tiger: Max Baer
Skipalong Rosenbloom
as Butcher Baer
Over She Goes
as Silas Morner
The Champs Step Out
as Max