Buddy Ebsen.

Movie and TV star Buddy Ebsen (The Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones) died in California July 6, 2003, at age 95. Although best known for his TV series, movies, and, in later years, his artwork, Ebsen started out his show business life as an eccentric hoofer, His father was a dancing teacher in Florida. and Ebsen moved to New York in 1928, and landed a dancing part on Broadway in Eddie Cantor's Whoopee. A tall, lanky man with an ability to twist and twirl his body like a rope and flail his arms as if possessed, he was part of a dance team with his sister Vilma. They played vaudeville, supper clubs, and Broadway until Vilma retired in 1935. A year later, Ebsen, by then a Hollywood contract player, danced with Shirley Temple in the movie Captain January. His show dancing days were almost over when he was picked to play the Tin Man in 1939's The Wizard of Oz where he would have been paired with another great Broadway hoofer, Ray Bolger. Unfortunately the 6' 3" Ebsen proved allergic to the metallic makeup he Would have had to wear, so he was replaced by Jack Haley. Then, after a World War II tenure with the U.S. Coast Guard, Hollywood and television awaited him. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, six children, and six grandchildren.