All About ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ Star Buddy Ebsen’s 7 Children

Buddy Ebsen influenced his children in different ways, from fostering a love of horses to acting in Hollywood.

Ebsen is best known for his roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running CBS classic The Beverly Hillbillies and as the titular detective in Barnaby Jones. He got his start as a stage performer and dancer in New York City in the 1930s, where he met his first wife, Ruth Cambridge, per the Los Angeles Times. Ebsen and Cambridge married in 1933 and welcomed two daughters together — Elizabeth Ebsen and Alix Ebsen Abel — before divorcing.

Ebsen then enlisted in the Coast Guard during World War II, which is where he met fellow lieutenant Nancy Wolcott, and they married in 1945, per The New York Times. Ebsen and Wolcott welcomed five children together starting in 1947 — Susannah “Susie” Ebsen (who died in 2019), Catherine “Cathy” Ebsen (who died in 2025), Bonnie Ebsen Jackson, Kiersten “Kiki” Ebsen and Dustin Ebsen. Ebsen and Wolcott eventually divorced before Ebsenn married his third wife, Dorothy Knotts, in 1985.

Ebsen greatly influenced his kids’ interests and career paths. As a rancher and horseman, he raised his family on a ranch in Southern California, instilling in them a love for equine animals. He also inspired a few of his children to go into Hollywood. Despite his success, Ebsen aimed to keep them grounded — so much so that they thought it was normal for their father to be on TV.

“When we first started watching our father on television, we just thought that’s what dads did,” Kiki said on the Harvey Brownstone Interviews podcast in March 2022. “Because we were so young, we thought that’s just something that every father does — and that you can find your dad on television if he’s not at the house. We didn’t think it was special or different.”

Here’s everything to know about Buddy Ebsen’s seven children: Elizabeth, Alix, Susannah, Cathy, Bonnie, Kiki and Dustin.

He tried to keep them out of the spotlight

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, as Ebsen was becoming a household name for his roles in the The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones, he kept his family out of the public eye.

He raised his kids on Balboa Island, off of Newport Beach, Ca., and on a ranch in the Santa Monica mountains, and “tried to keep us out of the limelight,” Kiki said on the Harvey Brownstone Interviews podcast in March 2022.

She revealed that despite her father’s stardom, their childhood was not glamorous.

“We didn’t grow up at Hollywood parties. We didn’t grow up with stars all around. We didn’t grow up with other actors’ kids. For the most part, [it was] very normal,” Kiki recalled.

She added that Ebsen was “away a lot” filming his shows back-to-back for nearly two decades during their “whole upbringing.”

He inspired a love of horses in his daughters

Ebsen not only portrayed a rancher on TV, but also raised his children on a 36-acre ranch in real life — instilling in his daughters a love of horses.

Inspired by their father’s admiration for horses, three of Ebsen’s daughters built their careers around the equine animals. “My sisters Bonnie, Kiki and I, all three of us, were just crazy as all get-out about horses,” Cathy told The American Quarter Horse Journal (via GoHorseShow) in June 2013.

In the late-2000s, Kiki founded the equine therapy nonprofit and rescue horse sanctuary The Healing Equine Ranch, which operates on her father’s ranch in the Santa Monica mountains.

In 2006, Bonnie founded an equine-therapy ranch in Arizona, called T.H.E. Ranch (Teaching Humans with Equine). She was also a writer and editor at a national horse magazine, according to her website.

Cathy, who died on Oct. 7 2025, began breeding and showing horses after her and her sister Bonnie bought their first one in the 1960s, per her obituary. She had a long career as a show horsewoman and served as executive director of Rancho Del Sueno in California, focused on preserving the legacy of a Spanish horse breed and promoting equine therapy.

He influenced a few to follow in his Hollywood footsteps

Two of Ebsen’s children followed in his career footsteps in Hollywood, both in front of and behind the camera.

Like her father, Bonnie went into acting. She appeared in various shows and films starting in the mid-1970s, including six episodes of her father’s show Barnaby Jones and small parts in The Fall Guy, Days of Our Lives and Murder, She Wrote.

Later in her career, Bonnie focused on writing, becoming a magazine editor and author. She also founded an equine therapy ranch.

Ebsen’s only son, Dustin, also followed his father into Hollywood, but rather than acting, he became an editor and engineer behind the scenes.

“Immersed in the enchantment of the entertainment world from a young age,” Dustin entered show business “ignited by his lineage” as Ebsen’s son, according to his LinkedIn.

As a colorist and editor, Dustin has edited promotional videos for shows like The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and Cheers. In addition, he has served as an editor on Ancient Aliens and Survivor and other documentaries.

Kiki and Dustin created a tribute show to their father

Kiki, a singer and performer, and Dustin developed a tribute show to honor Ebsen.

Ebsen’s two youngest children created a one-woman stage show, starring Kiki, called To Dad With Love: A Tribute to Buddy Ebsen. It tells the story of their father’s life — inspired by a trunk of Ebsen’s things that Kiki found after he died on July 6, 2003, per the Santa Monica Mirror — featuring a backdrop of photos and videos from Ebsen’s life and career.

“Kiki shares personal behind-the-scenes stories that audiences have never heard before that cause people to laugh and to cry and, most of all, to remember the best ‘old days’ of entertainment,” Dustin told the Simi Valley Acorn in July 2017.

In 2023, Kiki also created a cabaret-style jazz concert called My Buddy, The Other Side of Oz in honor of her father.

He inspired Cathy to form two organizations, including a nonprofit

Ebsen and his daughter Cathy created a nonprofit to prevent wildfires in California, and Ebsen inspired her to start her own theatre company.

In 1982, after a brush fire in the Santa Monica mountains, the two and another friend formed the volunteer organization Arson Watch, aimed at preventing and reporting arson and wildfires across the region. The organization is still active today, supporting emergency services in wildfire responses as recently as January 2025, according to The Malibu Times.

In addition to their nonprofit, Cathy also founded a Christian theatre company in Southern California. According to her obituary, she was constantly inspired by her father — the memory of whom often reminded her to  “be on time” and “know your lines.”

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