Bea Benederet said that Smiley Burnette was irreplaceable

"He won't be replaced."

Bea Benederet said that Smiley Burnette was irreplaceable
Everett Collection

In a series like Petticoat Junction, that sort of love and dedication felt between characters didn't end on screen. It was a friendship that permeated the entire cast and crew of the series, making the show better for it.

To show you an example of just how dedicated the cast of Petticoat Junction was to the series, Bea Benaderet spoke to the Daily News about her costar and friend, Smiley Burnette. While Burnette had a long career on camera and a reputation as a rural star, he appeared as a regular character on Petticoat Junction. There, he played railway engineer Charley Pratt. Burnette appeared in over one hundred episodes of the series before he became ill and unfortunately passed away. 

After his death, Benaderet spoke fondly of her old friend and described his commitment and enthusiasm to the series, which never tired.

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"He worked until ten days before he went into the hospital," Benaderet said. "He won't be replaced."

Burnette's love for the show wasn't an anomaly; Edgar Buchanan, otherwise known as Uncle Jo, said in an interview with The Daily Herald that he considered Petticoat Junction a home away from home, as it reminded him of his time with his family as a younger man.

"For me, especially, Petticoat Junction is home," he said. "On the show, I work with four pretty gals. And in real life, I had four sisters always peckin' at me."

In an interview with The Post-Crescent, Bea Benaderet, who always vehemently claimed that she wasn't the sole protagonist of Petticoat Junction, maintained that the cast's cooperation with each other was one of the high points of the series.

"What I love about it is that we all work as a team," she said.

A show like Petticoat Junction was a place for viewers to feel at ease, even for just a brief moment in time, and we're mighty grateful that it seems that the cast felt that very same way.