With A Name Like Drucker, He Must Be Dead

Frank Cady, best remembered for his uncredited role in D.O.A., has died at the age of 96. Generally typecast as a Midwestern good guy small town shopkeep, clerk or druggist, Cady kept up a steady schedule of minor movie and TV roles, with the occasional departure, like as a seedy hood questioned in a cop’s murder in the noir classic He Walked By Night. He scored his big break as Hooterville’s general store owner, postmaster, editor and publisher of the Hooterville World-Guardian, constable, justice of the peace, superintendent of schools, and banker Sam Drucker, making more than 300 combined appearances in Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies. His good fortune evaporated in 1971 when, in an attempt to shed CBS’ image as the network for hicks and geezers, head of programming Fred Silverman canceled every program that had a tree in it. His other most notable was the town drunk in the episode of The Danny Thomas Show where Danny blows a stop sign and is pulled over by a small-town sheriff in what was the unofficial pilot for The Andy Griffith Show. He made two more appearances in Andy Taylor’s jail cell, but Hal Smith ended up getting the permanent gig as Mayberry’s resident drunk, Otis.



Cady is the second resident of Hooterville to die in the last 7 months, following Sid Melton (Alf Monroe). The few survivors include Eb (Tom Lester), Ralph Monroe (Mary Grace Canfield), Dr. Janet Craig (June Lockhart) and several of the Bradley sisters.