Edward Albert Heimberger (April 22, 1906 – May 26, 2005), known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.
Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing Edwards in the Brother Rat films, traveling salesman Ali Hakim in the musical Oklahoma!, and the corrupt prison warden in 1974's The Longest Yard. He starred as Oliver Wendell Douglas in the 1960s television situation comedy Green Acres and as Frank MacBride in the 1970s crime drama Switch. He also had a recurring role as Carlton Travis on Falcon Crest, opposite Jane Wyman.
Edward Albert Heimberger was born in Rock Island, Illinois, the oldest of the five children of Frank Daniel Heimberger (1874–1970), a realtor, and his wife Julia (née Jones). His year of birth is often given as 1908, but this is incorrect. His parents were unmarried when Albert was born and his mother altered his birth certificate after her marriage.
Green Acres is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a rural country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was broadcast on CBS September 15, 1965 – April 27, 1971.
Receiving solid ratings during its six-year-run, Green Acres was cancelled in 1971, due to the famous "rural purge" decision by CBS. The sitcom has grown in popularity during decades of syndication and DVD and VHS releases. In 1997, the two-part episode "A Star Named Arnold is Born" was ranked #59 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.
With the success of The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, CBS offered producer Paul Henning another half-hour on the schedule — with no pilot required (which was very unusual). Lacking the time, he encouraged colleague Jay Sommers to create the series. Sommers used his 1950 radio series, Granby's Green Acres, as the basis for the new series. The 13-episode radio series had starred Gale Gordon and Bea Benaderet (who also sometimes appeared in the TV version) as a big-city family who move to the country.
Éva Gábor (11 February 1919 – 4 July 1995) was a Hungarian-born American socialite and actress. She was widely known for her role on the 1965 to 1971 television sitcom, Green Acres as Lisa Douglas, the wife of Eddie Albert's character, Oliver Wendell Douglas. She portrayed Duchess in the 1970 Disney film The Aristocats, and Miss Bianca in Disney's The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. Gábor had success as an actress in film, Broadway and television; she was also successful in business, marketing wigs, clothing, and beauty products. Her elder sisters, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Magda Gabor, were also American actresses and socialites.
Born in Budapest of Jewish descent, Gábor was the third and last daughter of Vilmos Gábor (1884–1962), a soldier, and Jolie Gábor (1894–1997), a jeweler. She was the first Gábor sister to emigrate to the United States. She moved with her first husband, a Swedish osteopath, Eric V. Drimmer in 1939, shortly after they married in London. Her first movie role was in the United States, a bit part in Forced Landing at Paramount Pictures. She acted in movies and on the stage throughout the 1950s.
Maxwell Emmett "Pat" Buttram (June 19, 1915 – January 8, 1994) was an American actor, known for playing the sidekick of Gene Autry and for playing the character of Mr. Haney in the TV series Green Acres. He had a distinctive voice which, in his own words, "... never quite made it through puberty". It has been described as sounding like a handful of gravel thrown in a Mix-Master".[citation needed]
Buttram was born in Addison, Alabama, to Wilson McDaniel Buttram, a Methodist minister, and his wife Mary Emmett Maxwell. He had an older brother named Augustus McDaniel Buttram, as well as five other elder siblings. When "Pat" Buttram was a year old, his father was transferred to Nauvoo, Alabama. Buttram graduated from Mortimer Jordan High School, which was then located in Morris, Alabama, then entered Birmingham–Southern College to study for the ministry. He performed in college plays and on a local radio station, before he became a regular on the "WLS National Barn Dance" in Chicago.
Buttram went to Hollywood in the 1940s and became a "sidekick" to Roy Rogers. However, since Rogers already had two regulars, Buttram was soon dropped. He was then picked by Gene Autry, recently returned from his World War II service in the Army Air Force, to work with him. Buttram would co-star with Gene Autry in more than 40 films, and in over 100 episodes of Autry's television show.
Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.
...The chores.
...The stores.
...Fresh air.
...Times Square
You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.
Green Acres is the place to be
Farm livin' is the life for me
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside
New York is where I'd rather stay
I get allergic smelling hay
I just adore a penthouse view
Darling I love you but give me Park Avenue
The chores, the stores
Fresh air, Times Square
You are my wife
Good bye city life