Raymond Bailey

Raymond Thomas Bailey (May 6, 1904 – April 15, 1980) was an American actor whose career spanned Broadway, film, and television. Born in San Francisco, California, to William and Alice (née O'Brien) Bailey, he is perhaps most widely recognized for his portrayal of the miserly banker Milburn Drysdale in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies.

Bailey's path to a professional acting career was neither direct nor swift. As a teenager he traveled to Hollywood hoping to break into films, but found work instead as a day laborer at a silent-film studio, a position he lost after slipping into a mob scene while it was being filmed. He also held jobs as a stockbroker and a banker before relocating to New York City, where stage roles proved equally elusive. He subsequently spent time as a merchant seaman, sailing to China, Japan, the Philippines, and the Mediterranean. During a period docked in Hawaii, he worked on a pineapple plantation, performed at a community theatre, and sang on a local radio program.

In 1938 Bailey returned to Hollywood and began securing bit parts in films, including the role of Mr. West in the 1940 action-adventure serial The Green Hornet. Following the United States' entry into World War II, he served again in the Merchant Marine. After the war he resumed his film career and gradually took on larger character roles. His credits from this period include a board member in the 1954 comedy-romance Sabrina, starring Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden; Mr. Benson in the 1955 drama Picnic; a doctor in Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 thriller Vertigo, starring James Stewart and Kim Novak; a Colonel in the 1958 comedy No Time for Sergeants with Andy Griffith; the warden of San Quentin in the 1958 crime drama I Want to Live!, starring Susan Hayward; Philip Dressler in The Lineup (1958); lawyer Brancato in the 1959 crime drama Al Capone, starring Rod Steiger; a plantation owner in the 1957 Band of Angels, starring Clark Gable, Sidney Poitier, and Yvonne De Carlo; and Major General Alexander Vandegrift in the 1960 World War II drama The Gallant Hours. He also appeared in the horror film Tarantula! (1955) and had a small role in Irwin Allen's Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962).

Bailey's Broadway career ran from 1944 to 1954, encompassing four productions. He appeared as Howard Haines in the play Last Stop in 1944, played an unnamed role in The Bat in 1953, portrayed A. J. Alexander in Sing Till Tomorrow in 1953, and took the role of Captain Randolph Southard in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, which ran from 1954 to 1955 and starred Henry Fonda.

On television, Bailey accumulated an extensive list of character roles throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. He appeared in multiple episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, Whirlybirds, and Bonanza, and made guest appearances on shows including Tales of Tomorrow, Frontier, My Friend Flicka, The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Playhouse 90, The Rifleman, The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables, Have Gun – Will Travel, and 77 Sunset Strip, among many others. He made two appearances on Perry Mason, playing banker Mr. Hilliard in "The Case of the Caretaker's Cat" and Dr. Bell in "The Case of the Injured Innocent." During the 1960–1961 season he held a regular role on My Sister Eileen and guest-starred on the ABC sitcom Harrigan and Son. In the 1962–1963 season he appeared as Dean McGruder on CBS's The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

Bailey's most prominent television role came with The Beverly Hillbillies, in which he played Milburn Drysdale, the banker who managed the oil fortune of country gentleman Jed Clampett, portrayed by Buddy Ebsen. Nancy Kulp co-starred as Drysdale's secretary, Miss Jane Hathaway. The character was defined by his obsessive determination to retain the Clampetts' account, going so far as to persuade them to purchase the mansion adjacent to his own in Beverly Hills. As Bailey was filming the final episodes of the series, he began experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. After the show's cancellation in 1971, he made only two additional film appearances — the Disney productions Herbie Rides Again (1974) and The Strongest Man in the World (1975) — before retiring in 1975.

In his final years Bailey lived between a condominium and a houseboat in Laguna Niguel, California, largely as a recluse, though he maintained contact with former co-star Nancy Kulp, whom he had nicknamed "Slim." He died of a heart attack on April 15, 1980, in Irvine, California, at the age of 75. His remains were cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.