was one of the highest-rated series of all time, and became a feature film about three decades later. After the major success of Hillbillies, CBS gave Henning another half-hour time slot on its schedule. In 1963, Petticoat Junction debuted on CBS and was a great success as well. This series had a starring role for Henning's daughter, Linda Kaye Henning, simply billed as Linda Kaye. In 1965, this was followed by Green Acres, of which Henning was only the casting director and executive producer. All three programs were popular, achieving major ratings success during most of their runs. However, after several years, CBS began to move away from the so-called "ruralcoms" despite their still decent ratings, and move in a more "adult", "sophisticated" direction with series such as All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Thus, in 1971, The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres were canceled as a result of the "rural purge", joining Petticoat Junction (which ended the year before) in syndicated reruns. Personal life and death He married Ruth Barth in 1939 and the couple had three children: Linda Kaye Henning, on whom Paul partially based the character of Elly May Clampett; Carol Alice Henning; and Paul Anthony Henning. Ruth Henning often told her husband about how her female cousins and she often visited her grandparents at the tiny hotel they owned near the Rock Island railroad station located in Eldon, Missouri. This later became the concept for Petticoat Junction. Later in life, Henning and his wife Ruth donated land to a conservation area near Branson, Missouri. The Paul and Ruth Henning Conservation Area is 1,534 acres of oak and hickory forest, steep hills, and glades with four designated trails created by the Missouri Department of Conservation, and one longer trail created largely by the members of Boy Scout Troop 2001. The site is monitored by the Missouri Department of Conservation. The area features hiking and bird watching. Many details about Henning's personal life and career were recounted by Ruth in a 1994 manuscript that was discovered in archives and subsequently published in 2017. Ruth Barth Henning died, aged 88, from a heart attack on January 15, 2002, at their home in Los Angeles. Henning retired to Toluca Lake, California, and died in a Burbank hospital on March 25, 2005, aged 93. He was interred in the Tuscumbia Cemetery in Tuscumbia, Missouri. References External links