Depart It To Beaver premiered on CBS in 1957 and confirmed the Cleaver household, an All-American household with two agency however loving dad and mom and two sons, Wally and the titular Beaver, who had been at all times stepping into hassle. CBS dropped the present after its first season, and ABC subsequently picked it up. The present is now extensively syndicated, and the Cleaver household is commonly hailed as one of the vital recognizable households on tv.
Immediately, the present’s solid members have taken completely different paths – some have remained energetic in Hollywood with illustrious careers in appearing and filmmaking. In distinction, others have left appearing altogether, and one has fallen on exhausting occasions.
Jerry Mathers as Theodore ‘Beaver’ Cleaver
Jerry Mathers starred as Theodore ‘Beaver’ Cleaver, the titular character who was usually stepping into hassle.
When the present ended, Mathers went on to a parochial highschool, the place he performed soccer, served a stint within the Air Nationwide Guard, after which majored in philosophy at Berkeley. He met Diana Piatt there, they usually had been married in 1974. Whereas he was in faculty, a rumor unfold all around the nation that he had been killed in Vietnam. “Individuals despatched letters of condolence and flowers to my household,” he advised ipromiseyoumedia in 1977.
In 1978, Mathers re-entered the leisure trade. That yr, he and Tony Dow starred in a manufacturing of the comedy play Boeing, Boeing, which ran for 10 weeks in Kansas Metropolis, Mo.
In 1983, Mathers reprised his position within the tv reunion movie Nonetheless the Beaver, which featured nearly all of the unique solid from Depart It to Beaver. The success of the tv film led to the event of a sequence titled the identical. In 1998, he launched his memoir And Jerry Mathers as The Beaver.
Mathers has been married 3 times. He met his first spouse, Diana Platt, in faculty. They married in 1974 and later divorced. Mathers met his second spouse, Rhonda Gehring, whereas touring within the manufacturing of So Lengthy, Stanley. They’ve three kids: Noah, Mercedes and Gretchen. Mathers and Gehring divorced in 1997. Mathers married his third spouse, Teresa Modnick, on January 30, 2011, they usually have been collectively since.
Barbara Billingsley as June Cleaver
Barbara Billingsley performed the pearl-wearing Mother on Depart It to Beaver. In a 1997 interview with TV Information, she mentioned, “[June] set a superb instance for what a spouse could possibly be. I had two boys at dwelling once I did the present. I feel the character turned sort of like me and vice versa. I’ve by no means identified the place one began and the place one stopped.”
After the present ended, Billingsley was typecast as a “mother” and had points discovering roles. She took 17 years away from the general public eye and travelled extensively. She spoofed her healthful picture by starring within the film Airplane! because the passenger who spoke jive. This position revived her profession and introduced her again into the highlight.
Returning to tv, she appeared on episodes of Mork & Mindy and The Love Boat. In 1983, she reprised her position as June Cleaver within the Depart It to Beaver tv film, Nonetheless the Beaver. Hugh Beaumont died in 1982, so she performed his widow. She additionally appeared in The New Depart It to Beaver from 1985 to 1989. In the course of the run of The New Depart It to Beaver, Billingsley turned the voice of Nanny on Muppet Infants from 1984 to 1991. Billingsley was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Excellent Performer in a Youngsters’s Collection in 1989 and 1990 for her efficiency in Muppet Infants.
After The New Depart It to Beaver ended its run in 1989, Billingsley appeared in visitor roles on Empty Nest and Murphy Brown. She reprised her position as June Cleaver in numerous tv exhibits, together with Elvira’s Film Macabre, Superb Tales, Child Growth, Hello Honey, I am Residence! and Roseanne.
Billingsley was married 3 times, and her first husband, restaurateur Glenn Billingsley, was a nephew of Sherman Billingsley, who owned New York’s famed Stork Membership. Her different husbands, each of whom predeceased her, had been director Roy Kelino and Dr. William Mortenson.
Glenn and Barbara Billingsley, who divorced in 1947, had two sons, Drew and Glenn, Jr., and 4 grandchildren. Billingsley died in 2010 on the age of 94.
Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver
Hugh Beaumont performed Ward Cleaver, the patriarch of the household and one of many best-recognized tv dads.
After Depart It to Beaver resulted in 1963, Beaumont appeared in neighborhood theater productions and performed visitor roles on tv sequence corresponding to Marcus Welby, Petticoat Junction and Wagon Prepare. In February 1966, he made one other look on Lassie.
He discovered success as a author, promoting a number of tv screenplays, radio scripts and quick tales to varied magazines. He left the leisure enterprise to launch a second profession as a Christmas tree farmer in Grand Rapids, Minn.
In 1941, Beaumont married actress Kathryn Adams, they usually had sons Hunter and Mark and a daughter, Kristy. Their marriage lasted 33 years till their divorce in 1974.
After a stroke left him partially paralyzed, he formally retired from appearing in 1972 and stayed near his Minnesota dwelling. In 1982, he went to Munich to go to his son, Eric, a psychology professor. He died of a coronary heart assault through the journey.
Tony Dow as Wally Cleaver
Tony Dow performed Wally Cleaver, Beaver’s older brother.
His record of appearing credit included roles in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Lassie, By no means Too Younger and Mr. Novak. Dow was additionally a famous director on sequence together with The New Depart It to Beaver, Honey; I Shrunk The Youngsters: The TV Present, Star Trek: Deep Area 9, Campaign and Babylon 5.
In January 2022, Dow spoke candidly with CBS This Morning about how childhood stardom had led him to really feel a scarcity of autonomy. “From the time I used to be 11 or 12, I used to be advised what to do. I used to be advised on the set. I used to be advised at dwelling,” he mentioned. “I did not have management of my life.”
He added that the position of Wally did outline him, although he did not essentially join the celebrity that adopted — or the anger and despair. “I used to be gonna must dwell with it for the remainder of my life,” he acknowledged. “It is unhappy to be well-known at 12 years previous or one thing, and then you definitely develop up and turn out to be an actual particular person, and nothing’s occurring for you.”
Within the later years of his life, Dow discovered that means once more in artwork. He spent the final 20 years as a sculptor with a ardour for turning artwork into one thing new — together with altering feelings on statues. Alongside Lauren Shulkind, whom he married in 1980, he put his art work on the forefront.
Dow died of most cancers in 2022 on the age of 77.
Ken Osmond as Eddie Haskell
Within the present, Ken Osmond performed Eddie Haskell — the smart-mouthed child who was finest buddies with Wally.
Osmond reprised his position within the 1983 reboot, The New Depart It to Beaver, and within the 1997 movie, Depart It to Beaver.
Osmond additionally appeared in a number of different tv sequence and movies, together with Lassie, Comfortable Days and Hello Honey, I am Residence.
He ultimately give up appearing to begin a helicopter service in L.A. When his chopper crashed in 1966, in the end placing him out of enterprise, Osmond joined the Los Angeles Police Division (LAPD).
“All I wished to do once I was a child was be a policeman or a cowboy,” mentioned Osmond, “and I by no means handed the check for cowboy.” Whereas on patrol in 1980, he was shot 3 times however was saved by his bulletproof vest and his belt buckle.
Osmond died in 2020 on the age of 76.
Robert “Rusty” Stevens as Larry Mondello
Larry Mondello was Beaver Cleaver’s buddy and classmate. Actor Robert Stevens left the present in 1960 when his household moved from California to Philadelphia, ending his time as Larry on Depart It to Beaver.
After Depart It to Beaver, Stevens continued to obtain occasional roles in TV exhibits by means of 1963, together with My Three Sons, Perry Mason and The Rifleman, earlier than he stopped appearing as a toddler.
He briefly returned to appearing when he reprised his position as Larry Mondello within the 1983 made-for-television reunion film Nonetheless the Beaver. Mathers tracked down Stevens after looking out for a few years, and Stevens joined the solid for Nonetheless the Beaver. On the time, he was working as a automotive insurance coverage salesman in New Jersey.
He additionally appeared in three episodes of the follow-up sequence The New Depart It to Beaver, which aired by means of 1989.
Stanley Fafara as Whitey Whitney
Stanley Fafara performed Whitey Whitney, one other one in every of Beaver’s buddies.
After the present’s cancellation in 1963, he attended North Hollywood Excessive College. He turned pleasant with the band Paul Revere & the Raiders and lived with them briefly. He developed an alcohol behavior and commenced to make use of medicine.
Fafara went to dwell along with his sister however continued to drink and use narcotics. He returned to Los Angeles in 1972, the place he was married briefly. There, he supported himself by dealing medicine.
Within the Eighties, he was arrested for breaking into pharmacies seven occasions. Fafara was sentenced to a yr in jail after being arrested and convicted of an eighth housebreaking. After his launch from jail, Fafara tried a number of jobs however ultimately returned to dealing medicine. Fafara later developed a heroin habit and was out and in of rehabilitation facilities for a few years. He turned sober in 1995.
Fafara died in 2003 on the age of 54th birthday, in Portland, Ore., of issues from hernia surgical procedure he had undergone the earlier month.
Luke Tiger Fafara as Tooey Brown
An older brother to Stanley Fafara, Luke Tiger Fafara was additionally a part of the Depart It to Beaver solid, enjoying Tooey Brown, a buddy of Wally Cleaver’s.
Fafara left Depart It to Beaver in 1960 and stopped appearing professionally in 1961. Fafara returned to appearing in 1983 with an look because the grownup Tooey Brown within the tv reunion movie Nonetheless the Beaver. He reprised the position within the follow-up sitcom The New Depart It to Beaver from 1983 to 1987.
Farfara has a son, Bradley James “Dez” Fafara, who’s a vocalist within the steel bands DevilDriver and Coal Chamber.
Stephen Talbot as Gilbert Bates
Stephen Talbot performed Beaver’s buddy, Gilbert, in additional than 50 episodes of the present Depart It to Beaver.
After being a profitable baby actor within the Nineteen Fifties, Talbot give up appearing on the age of 14.
In 1970, he graduated from Wesleyan College in Connecticut, the place he studied English and movie. He was additionally very energetic in anti-Vietnam Conflict protests and made movies in regards to the anti-war motion, together with March on Washington, DC III and Yr of the Tiger, which he filmed in Vietnam.
Talbot turned to reporting and documentary filmmaking. He started as an on-air reporter for KQED, the general public tv station in San Francisco. His success with two first documentaries set the tone for his profession: Damaged Arrow and The Case of Dashiell Hammett. Each movies gained the George Foster Peabody Awards.
In a 1997 article in Salon, Talbot defined why he turned down the chance to return for the Depart It to Beaver reunion sequence. “I am attempting to determine myself as a documentary filmmaker and an investigative reporter,” he defined to the producers. “I can not return to being Gilbert.”
Talbot started producing documentaries for the PBS sequence Frontline in 1992 along with his movie on the Bush-Clinton presidential race, The Finest Marketing campaign Cash Can Purchase, which gained a DuPont / Columbia College Award. This marked the start of his lengthy affiliation with Frontline, the place he wrote and produced 10 documentaries for the sequence. All through his practically 40-year profession in public tv, Talbot has continued to make historical past documentaries and biographies.
Talbot married Pippa Gordon, a medical social employee, in 1978, they usually had two youngsters collectively: Dashiell and Caitlin.
Veronica Cartwright as Violet Rutherford
The British-born actress had repeat roles on Depart It to Beaver as Beaver’s classmates Violet Rutherford and, later, Peggy MacIntosh.
After Depart It to Beaver, Cartwright had an energetic movie and tv profession. Cartwright appeared within the movies The Youngsters’s Hour and The Birds, the place she was solid alongside her tv father from Depart It to Beaver, Richard Deacon; nevertheless, the 2 do not seem on display screen collectively. She gained a regional Emmy Award for the tv film Inform Me Not in Mournful Numbers. She achieved grownup success with movie roles in Inserts, Goin’ South and Invasion of the Physique Snatchers.
Cartwright’s breakout function was Alien the place she was initially solid as Ellen Ripley, however director Ridley Scott as a substitute solid her as Lambert earlier than taking pictures. The notorious chestburster scene within the movie featured a real response from Cartwright, who was not knowledgeable that blood could be concerned. She gained the Saturn Award for Finest Supporting Actress for her efficiency.
Her subsequent movie roles embrace The Proper Stuff, Flight of the Navigator, The Witches of Eastwick, Cash Talks and Scary Film 2. She was nominated for the Saturn Award for Finest Supporting Actress for The Witches of Eastwick.
Cartwright has frequent visitor roles on numerous tv exhibits. Cartwright has obtained three Emmy Award nominations, one for her work in ER in 1997, and two for her work on The X-Recordsdata in 1998 and 1999.
Cartwright’s many theatre credit embrace Electra, Talley’s Folly, The Bat and The Grasp Builder. Her performances in The Arms of Its Enemy, The Triplet Assortment, and Homesteaders earned her Drama-Logue Awards for Finest Actress.
Cartwright married actor Richard Gates in 1968 and was with him till 1972. She then married Stanley Goldstein, a founding father of the CVS Well being company, in 1976 and was with him till 1980. Her third marriage to tv director Richard Compton in 1982 lasted till Compton died in 2007.
Jeri Weil as Judy Hensler
Jeri Weil performed Judy Hensler, who’s credited with being one in every of Beaver’s nemeses for regularly tattling and teasing him.
Weil starred in 31 episodes of the present, exiting as a result of she disagreed with the showrunners’ makes an attempt to cover her growing physique.
In March 2025, Weil advised Remind Journal that she give up appearing as a result of she “had such a nasty style in my mouth from these experiences.”
“I simply stopped and wished nothing to do with it. I learn as soon as the place it mentioned they fired me, however that wasn’t true. They did not fireplace me. I do not know the place I learn that, however they did not let me go. I allow them to go. That is the true story.”
Weil left appearing to pursue a profession in actual property. She reprised her position as Judy Hensler in a single visitor look on a 1987 episode of the revival sequence The New Depart It to Beaver.
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