Green Acres: Alvy Moore as Hank Kimbal

Green Acres: Hank Kimbal was a gem

Jack Alvin "Alvy" Moore was born on December 5, 1921, and was an American actor who was most recognizable for his role as Hank Kimbal on Green Acres. The television series ran from 1965-1971 on CBS and was always at the top of the Neilson ratings. The show was canceled during the "Rural Purge" when similar programming like The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hilbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Hee Haw were taken off the air.

Henry Wadsworth "Hank" Kimbal began as a sensible character on Green Acres but as the first season progressed so did his absentmindedness. He became the scatterbrained county agricultural agent whose unusual manner of correcting himself could become exasperating. Kimbal would make a statement and qualify it, negate it, correct it, then negate the corrected statement. This would go on until he finally lost track of his entire line of thought.

This took place most often at the Douglas farm where Kimbal's stream of statements would be interrupted by a frustrated Oliver Wendell Douglas III (Eddie Albert). An example would be Kimball saying, "Good morning, Mr. Douglas! Well, it's not a good morning ... but it's not a bad morning either!" and the banter would continue until Douglas shut him down.

Green Acres: Hank Kimbal is an enigma

According to The Encyclopedia of Television Kimbal "personifies a kind of infinite regress, where every empirical statement branches into multiple statements that in turn preclude it, spiraling each new observation back and away from itself like an inductive Ecsherism".

Although Hank Kimbal was supposed to be an expert in his field of agriculture, he rarely gave advice that was helpful to Douglas. Moore appeared in 140 of the 170 episodes of Green Acres and had viewers in stitches in practically each one.

Alvy Moore had other roles

The iconic actor was a guest on a number of other television series including Pete and Gladys, The Dick Vandyke Show, Death Valley Days, My Little Margie, Perry Mason, Gomer Pyle, The Andy Griffith Show, and the Mickey Mouse Club. His many movie credits include The Wild Ones, The War of the World's, The Affairs of Dobey Gillis, There's No Business Like Showbusiness, The Glory Brigade, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Moore was also in 3 episodes of How the West was Won in 1978 and one of his last television appearances was on the sitcom Fraiser. Alvy and his wife Carolyn were married for 47 years until his death and had three children, Barry, Janet, and Alyson. Moore died at age 76 of heart failure on May 4, 1997, at the couple's Palm Desert, California home.

Hank Kimbal was one of a kind

Kimbal was a unique character and he has not been duplicated or replicated. He was friendly and eager to please but often could not remember why he showed up at the Douglas home or Drucker's store. There were times when Hank would forget his own name and also the name of Oliver Douglas.

He was funny and lovable and one of a kind and those who watched Green Acres loved him. Kimbal was among a number of Green Acres characters who had their own unusual mannerisms and together they made the hit series what it became and what it still means to fans decades later.

Alvy Moore umpired Little League games and was involved in charity golf tournaments. Unlike some actors who did not desire to be typecast by a role the man who portrayed Hank Kimbal used the license plate "GRNACRS" (Green Acres) until he passed away. Fans can catch episodes of the beloved series on MeTV at 9:30 PM You might also find the show on streaming services so check your local listing.