Max Baer

Acting

Biography

Max Baer is arguably best known today for siring Max Baer Jr., the actor who played Jethro Bodine on the classic TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). However, old-timers, followers of the sweet science, and viewers of the film Cinderella Man (2005) all know that Max Sr. was boxing's heavyweight champion of the world for all of 364 days, from the time he knocked out Primo Carnera on June 14, 1934, to the day he lost his title to Jimmy Braddock on June 13, 1935. Cinephiles also will remember the colorful Max from his numerous bit roles in films, including Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's Africa Screams (1949) to his near-autobiographical turn in the Budd Schulberg boxing expose The Harder They Fall (1956) starring Humphrey Bogart. Ironically, it was his acting in the latter film that likely led to his misrepresentation in "Cinderella Man" as being something akin to a monster, when actually, according to his family and those who knew him, he was an amiable man. Some fight fans thought that it was his good nature, which they attributed to his clowning, that eventually did him in, as he would not bear down on his opponents in the latter part of his career. Max Jr. says that his father wanted to be an actor, an insight that explains the flashy persona he displayed in and outside the ring as he wisecracked and clowned his way through careers as a boxer and performer in movies and nightclubs. Blessed with what "The Boxing Register: International Boxing Hall of Fame Official Record Book" terms the most powerful right hand in heavyweight history, Baer used that right to gain a fearsome reputation as a California prizefighter before moving to New York and taking on the top ranks of the heavyweight division.

Filmography Movies

Acting

MOVIE

The Harder They Fall

7.2(0.2K)

Jobless sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by corrupt fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his current protégé, an unknown Argentinian boxer named Toro Moreno. Although Moreno is a hulking giant, his chances for success are hampered by a powder-puff punch and a glass jaw. Exploiting Willis' reputation for integrity and standing in the boxing community, Benko arranges a series of fixed fights that propel the unsophisticated Moreno to #1 contender for the championship. The reigning champ, the sadistic Buddy Brannen, harbors resentment at the publicity Toro has been receiving and vows to viciously punish him in the ring. Eddie must now decide whether or not to tell the naive Toro the truth.

The Prizefighter and the Lady

5.5(0.0K)

An ex-sailor turned boxer finds romance and gets a shot at the heavyweight title.

Play Trailer

The Prizefighter and the Lady

Steve Morgan

MOVIE

The Navy Comes Through

6.0(0.0K)

A U.S. Navy crew aboard a merchant marine ship battle Nazis.

Play Trailer

The Navy Comes Through

Coxswain G. Berringer

MOVIE

Riding High

6.1(0.0K)

A horse trainer who has fallen on hard times looks to his horse, Broadway Bill, to finally win the big race.

Buckskin Frontier

7.0(0.0K)

A railroad man and the owner of a freight line battle for control of a crucial mountain pass.

The McGuerins from Brooklyn

6.7(0.0K)

Tim McGuerin and Eddie Corbett operates a big taxi-fleet company together and because of a misunderstanding Tim's wife Sadie thinks he is having an affair with his secretary, Ms. Lucy Gibbs. To annoy Tim, Sadie starts taking classes with a fitness instructor, Samson, and later going with him to his out-of-town health club. To sort out all the misunderstandings both Tim and Eddie go to the health club as well.

Play Trailer

The McGuerins from Brooklyn

Professor Samson

MOVIE

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

7.0(0.0K)

Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.

Play Trailer

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

MOVIE

Utah Blaine

6.6(0.0K)

Western about Calhoun helping to overcome land-grabbing outlaws.

Fisticuffs

7.5(0.0K)

This Pete Smith Specialty short showcases former heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer with various sparring partners in the ring. Slow motion is used to illustrate how Baer uses his skills.

Over She Goes

7.0(0.0K)

Three friends plan to marry their sweethearts, but when the former fiancée of one of them shows up threatening breach of promise because she's after his aristocratic title, they must think on their toes and resurrect his dead uncle, leading to comedic chaos.

Play Trailer

Over She Goes

Silas Morner