The genius that created Green Acres passed away yesterday! :crying: My love and prayers go out to his family and friends.

P.S. If you would like, you could go pay your respects to him at findagrave.com.

Paul Henning was great, and I'm sad about his death, but he did NOT create Green Acres. The creator was Jay Sommers, who also wrote almost every single episode with Dick Chevillat. Henning helped with some of the casting, and it was his idea to have crossovers with Petticoat Junction, but he did not run the show or write for it.

And to show what a good guy Henning was, he always insisted on giving Sommers the credit for the show's success. When Variety gave the show a good review but credited Henning with creating it (and didn't mention Sommers or Chevillat), Henning took out an ad in Variety which said:

Thanks for the nice review of Green Acres, but the credit should go to Jay Sommers who created, writes and produces it.

I was so looking forward to his 97th birthday!

:crying: :crying: :crying:

I remember seeing Green Acres on TVLand last summer a few times and decided, out of curiosity, to check out the actors' and writers' bios on imdb.com, and what stuck out was the fact that Paul Henning was born in 1908, with a death date not listed. "Wow, he's still alive at 96!" I thought. In the wee hours of yesterday morning while listening to WSM 650 they were discussing his death, even playing the theme songs to The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction--that's where I learned of his passing.

I so thought he had a chance to hit the century mark!

:( :( :(

You brought us 2 classic shows, and practically co created "Green Acres", which IMO is slightly better than the other 2. You are sorely missed.


-Pat