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Leave It to Beaver

1957

An inquisitive and often naïve boy, Theodore 'The Beaver' Cleaver, has adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood. The show also starred Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont as Beaver's parents, June and Ward Cleaver, and Tony Dow as Beaver's brother Wally. The show has attained an iconic status in the US, with the Cleavers exemplifying the idealized suburban family of the mid-20th century.

Frank Bank

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Frank Bank as Lumpy Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver Born Frank Bank, April 12, 1942 Los Angeles, California, USA Died April 13, 2013 (aged 71) Rancho Mirage, California, USA Occupation Actor (1950–1989) and bond broker (after 1973) Known for Portraying Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford in Leave It to Beaver, first on CBS and then on Frank Bank (April 12, 1942 – April 13, 2013) was an American actor, particularly known for his role as Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford on the 1957–1963 situation comedy television series Leave It to Beaver. Beginning in 1973, Bank became a bond broker in his native Los Angeles, California. His autobiography, Call Me Lumpy: My Leave It To Beaver Days and Other Wild Hollywood Life, was published in 1997. Bank died April 13, 2013, in Rancho Mirage, California, one day after his 71st birthday, from undisclosed causes,clr.

Jerry Mathers

Cast · Known for Leave It to Beaver

Jerry Mathers is an American television, film, and stage actor. Mathers is best known for playing the title role on Leave It to Beaver.

Richard Deacon

Cast · Known for The Donna Reed Show, Leave It to Beaver

Richard Lewis Deacon (May 14, 1922 – August 8, 1984) was an American actor, best known for playing supporting roles in television shows on The Dick Van Dyke Show (as milksop producer Mel Cooley) and Leave It to Beaver (as Lumpy's self-aggrandizing father Fred Rutherford). He also had minor roles in films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).

Kim Hamilton

Kim Hamilton was born Dorothy Mae Aiken in Los Angeles. Spending time there and at her other home on the upper West Side of Manhatten during her 81 years. She wanted to become a model but was rejected because of her height and color. Took acting classes and got an agent. First acting job was on Amos and Andy as Andy's girlfriend on several episodes. Appeared on more than 60 TV shows and movies including To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck. Married Robert Hamilton in 1951 at 18, had two children Robert and Tanya and divorced in 1961. Married from 1962-1965 to Giesel. Was with Actor Colonel Klink 23 years, from 1974 - 1997 before they officially married, until his death in 2000. Broke color barriers on many shows including the only Black speaking part on Leave it to Beaver playing a maid at Beaver's friend Eddie Haskell's house. She debuted the Helen Willis role as Tom's wife, Lionels mother, on All in the Family which became The Jeffersons. Roxie Roker then took over that role. Kim had 4 grandchildren by her daughter Tanya. Her son Robert pre-deceased her. She died in 2013, at age 81 of undisclosed causes in Los Angeles.

Stephen Talbot

Stephen Henderson Talbot is a TV documentary producer, actor, writer and reporter. Talbot directed and produced "The Movement and the 'Madman' " for the PBS series American Experience in 2023. He is a longtime contributor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and worked for over 16 years for the series Frontline. Before becoming a journalist and documentary producer, Talbot was a television child actor in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He is best known for his role in the TV sitcom Leave It to Beaver, in which he played Gilbert Bates, friend of Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (Jerry Mathers). Talbot's more than 40 documentaries include the Frontline films "The Best Campaign Money Can Buy", "Rush Limbaugh's America", "The Long March of Newt Gingrich", "Justice for Sale", and "News War: What's Happening to the News". Talbot has also written and produced PBS biographies of writers Dashiell Hammett, Beryl Markham, Ken Kesey, Carlos Fuentes, Maxine Hong Kingston and John Dos Passos. He was co-creator and executive producer of the PBS music specials, Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders.

Sue Randall

Cast · Known for Leave It to Beaver

Sue Randall (born Marion Burnside Randall; October 8, 1935 – October 26, 1984) was an American television actress. Her best-known role was the kindly Miss Alice Landers, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver's elementary-school teacher in the CBS and ABC sitcom Leave It to Beaver. She also had a supporting role as Ruthie Saylor in the 1957 film Desk Set. She retired in 1967.

Alan Hewitt

Among the movies Hewitt appeared in are A Private's Affair, That Touch of Mink, Days of Wine and Roses, How to Murder Your Wife, Sweet Charity, and The Barefoot Executive. He never became a major star, but he did have a lengthy career which included smaller parts in several well-known programs, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Maverick, 77 Sunset Strip, Daktari, Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show, Dr. Kildare, Lost in Space, Bewitched, I Dream Of Jeannie, The Lucy Show, F Troop, The Wild Wild West, Ironside, The Bob Newhart Show and The Phil Silvers Show. He made four guest appearances on Perry Mason, three of which he portrayed the murderer: in 1961 he played Bruce Sheridan in "The Case of the Wintry Wife" and Dr. Marcus Tate in "The Case of the Brazen Bequest," and in 1965 he played the role of Curt Ordway in "The Case of the Fatal Fetish". The only one where he was not the murderer was in 1959’s “The Case of the Golden Fraud”. Possibly his most prominent roles were Detective Brennan in My Favorite Martian and the district attorney in How to Murder Your Wife.

Hugh Beaumont

Cast · Known for Leave It to Beaver

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Eugene Hugh Beaumont (February 16, 1909 – May 14, 1982) was an American actor and television director. He was also licensed to preach by the Methodist church. Beaumont is best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver on the 1957-1963 television series Leave It to Beaver. He had earlier played the role of the private detective Michael Shayne in a series of films in the 1940s.

Harold Pruett

Harold P. Pruett (April 13, 1969 – February 21, 2002) was an American film and television actor. He appeared in over 30 films and TV series in the 1970s to the 1990s. During the 1970s and 1980s, Pruett guest starred on numerous television series including Wonder Woman, The New Leave It to Beaver, It's Your Move, Eye to Eye, The Best Times, Hotel and Night Court. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he danced in several music videos including two for the pop singer Martika, "More Than You Know" (1989) and "Coloured Kisses" (1992). In 1990, Pruett had his first co-starring television role on the NBC musical teen drama Hull High. Due to low ratings, the series was canceled in October 1990 after nine episodes. Later that year, he was cast as Steve Randle in the television adaptation of the 1967 S. E. Hinton novel The Outsiders, shown on Fox. That series was also canceled after one season because of low ratings.[3] From 1992 to 1993, he had a recurring role as Brad Penny on the teen sitcom Parker Lewis. In 1995, he co-starred on another short lived Fox series, Medicine Ball. His last television appearance was in a recurring role on the Fox teen drama series Party of Five, in 1996. Pruett's final film appearance was in the independent drama The Right Way (1998), starring Geoff Pierson.

Christopher McDonald

Cast · Known for The Last Rodeo, Hacks

Christopher McDonald (born February 15, 1955) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in Happy Gilmore and 61. Other notable starring roles for McDonald in film include "T-Birds" member Goose McKenzie in Grease 2 (1982), Darryl Dickinson opposite his former fiancée Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise (1991), Ward Cleaver in the film adaptation Leave It to Beaver (1997), and Tappy Tibbons in Requiem for a Dream (2000). Along with numerous independent and small-budget film roles, he played supporting characters in box-office hits Grumpy Old Men (1993), Flubber (1997), Rumor Has It (2005), The House Bunny (2008) and About Last Night (2014). On television, McDonald was a series regular on network TV shows Walter & Emily (1991–1992, NBC), Good Advice (1993–1994, CBS), Family Law (1999–2002, CBS), Cracking Up (2004-2006, FOX) and Harry's Law, (2011–2012, NBC). In 2022, McDonald was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as casino CEO Marty Ghilain on the HBO Max show Hacks.

Kathleen O'Malley

Mary Kathleen O'Malley (March 31, 1924 – February 25, 2019) was an American film and television actress, who was the daughter of vaudevillian and actor Pat O'Malley. Her screen debut came during the silent film era as a thirteen month old baby in 1926, when she appeared alongside her father and her sister Sheila in the western My Old Dutch. O'Malley went on to appear in several films and television shows during a seven decade career, including Cover Girl, Lady on a Train, Two Tickets to Broadway, Gunsmoke, Maverick, Rawhide, Leave it to Beaver and General Hospital. O'Malley also appeared in the second season of Barnaby Jones; episode titled, "Blind Terror" (09/16/1973). Her last acting credit came in 1998 when she appeared in the short-lived American crime drama Buddy Faro. O'Malley died of Alzheimer's disease on February 25, 2019, at age 94. CLR From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diane Brewster

Cast · Known for Leave It to Beaver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Diane Brewster (March 11, 1931 – November 12, 1991) was an American actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in television series of the 1950s and 1960s: confidence trickster Samantha Crawford in the western Maverick; pretty young second-grade teacher Miss Canfield in Leave It to Beaver; and doomed wife Helen Kimble in The Fugitive.

Barbara Billingsley

Cast · Known for Leave It to Beaver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Barbara Billingsley (December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010) was an American film, television, voice, and stage actress. She gained prominence in the 1950s movie The Careless Years, acting opposite Natalie Trundy, followed by her best known role, that of iconic 1950s mother figure June Cleaver on the television series Leave It to Beaver (1957 – 63) and its sequel The New Leave It to Beaver (1983 – 89).

Tony Dow

Cast · Director · Known for Leave It to Beaver, Coach

Tony Lee Dow (April 13, 1945 – July 27, 2022) was an American television actor, film producer, director, and sculptor. He was best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963. Dow played Wally Cleaver, the older son of June (played by Barbara Billingsley) and Ward (played by Hugh Beaumont) Cleaver, and the older brother of Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (played by Jerry Mathers). From 1983 to 1989, Dow reprised his role as Wally in a television movie and in The New Leave It to Beaver. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tony Dow, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Andy Cadiff

Director · Known for Home Improvement, Hot in Cleveland

Andy Cadiff is an American television director and producer. He has directed episodes for number of notable television series including, Home Improvement, Spin City, My Wife and Kids, Growing Pains, According to Jim, The War at Home, Quintuplets and number of other series. He also directed the feature films Leave It to Beaver (1997) and Chasing Liberty (2004) starring Mandy Moore. He married actress Susan Diol on December 6, 2003 and is helping raise Juliet Jones-Diol Cassidy, Diol's child from her previous marriage to Shaun Cassidy. Description above from the Wikipedia article Andy Cadiff, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Norman Tokar

Director · Known for Leave It to Beaver, The Donna Reed Show

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Norman Tokar (November 25, 1919 in Newark, New Jersey - April 6, 1979 in Hollywood) was a prolific director (and occasionally writer and producer) of serial television and feature films, who directed many of the early episodes of Leave it to Beaver, and found his greatest success directing over a dozen films for Walt Disney Productions, spanning the 1950s to the 1970s. Description above from the Wikipedia article Norman Tokar, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Ken Osmond

Cast · Known for Leave It to Beaver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Kenneth Charles Osmond (June 7, 1943 – May 18, 2020) was an American actor and policeman. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of four, Osmond is best known for his iconic role as Eddie Haskell on the 1950s television situation comedy Leave It to Beaver, and for having reprised it on the 1980s revival series The New Leave It to Beaver. Typecast by the role, he found it hard to get other acting work and became a Los Angeles policeman. After retiring from police work, he resumed his acting career.

Jimmy Hawkins

Cast · Known for The Donna Reed Show

James F. Hawkins is an American former actor, producer and writer. He is best-known for his TV roles in shows like Annie Oakley, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Leave It to Beaver, Petticoat Junction, and The Donna Reed Show; and as Tommy Bailey, son of George Bailey in the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life.

Cameron Finley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Joseph Cameron Finley (born August 30, 1987) is an American former child actor. Finley was born in Garland, Texas, the son of Lexa Iann (née Aulgur), a spiritual healer, and Charles David "Chuck" Finley, a software developer. He has two siblings, Taz and Stopher. When he was three, he was taken by his parents to an acting seminar near his home. He started his career when he was featured in several commercials, for things such as Shout, Taco Bell, and Brinks Security. Finley appeared in the films A Perfect World, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Hope Floats, and Leave It to Beaver (as the title character). He continued acting until the age of 12. Cameron chose to quit acting so he could go to school full time and "be a normal kid". He currently attends UC San Diego. His last performance was a co-starring role in the TV movie One True Love with David Hasselhoff. Description above from the Wikipedia article Cameron Finley, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

John Alvin

John Alvin, born John Alvin Hoffstadt was an American film, stage and television actor. Alvin was signed with Warner Brothers Studios for an exclusive four-year contract during the World War II era, although he was "borrowed" by 20th Century Fox to appear in 1944's Oscar-nominated The Fighting Sullivans. He appeared in more than 25 Warner Brothers films during this time, including Northern Pursuit (which starred Errol Flynn), The Beast with Five Fingers, The Very Thought of You, and Objective, Burma!. His pictures after the contract period included Irma la Douce, Inside Daisy Clover, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, and Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie. However, it was his role in the 1943 film Destination Tokyo, in which he co-starred with John Garfield and Cary Grant, that left the largest impression on Alvin. Years later, in a 2006 interview, Alvin credited Grant with having a major impact on his career path: "I learned more about show business from him than from anyone. He was very attentive and helpful." Alvin later enjoyed a separate television career, which spanned from the 1950s to the 1980s. His television credits included various roles on Leave It to Beaver, All in the Family, Lou Grant, Dragnet, General Hospital, Murder, She Wrote, Starsky and Hutch, The Incredible Hulk and I Spy. Alvin's also appeared in numerous television commercials advertising for such products as Mattel, H&R Block, McDonald's, Porsche and Audi. Alvin's theater repertoire included Send Me No Flowers, The Student Prince, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial and The Cradle Will Rock. He also appeared in a production of Rain, which was directed by Charlie Chaplin. He largely retired from acting in the 1990s; his final film appearance was in 1994's Milk Money. During his retirement, Alvin often showed his movies for audiences at the Conejo Valley Senior Concerns, an organization for senior citizens based in Thousand Oaks, California.

Bretaigne Windust

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ernest Bretaigne Windust (January 20, 1906 – March 19, 1960) was a US-based French-born theater, film, and television director. Career Planning to become an actor, Windust co-founded with Charles Leatherbee the University Players in 1928 on Cape Cod in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The company lasted five years and included later luminaries Joshua Logan, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Mildred Natwick, Eleanor Phelps, Barbara O'Neil, Myron McCormick, Kent Smith, and Aleta Freel. Windust directed more often than he acted. Though he began his association with the Theatre Guild in Manhattan as an assistant stage manager in 1929, he maintained his position as a director of the University Players in the off-season when they performed on Cape Cod through the summer of 1932. Indeed, he quit the Theatre Guild briefly during the winter season of 1931-32 to direct the University Players through its 18-week winter season in Baltimore. Windust's first major Broadway hit was Life With Father, the Russel Crouse/Howard Lindsay play based on the memoirs of Clarence Day, Jr., a distant relative on Windust's mother's side. (At 3,224 performances, it held the record for the longest-running Broadway production for many years.) In quick succession, he followed with Arsenic and Old Lace and Strip for Action, giving him three hits running on Broadway at the same time. In 1947, Windust relocated to Hollywood, where he worked as the dialogue director on Stallion Road starring Ronald Reagan. His film directing career included two 1948 Bette Davis vehicles, the melodramatic Winter Meeting and the screwball comedy June Bride. The latter part of his career was spent working in the television division of Universal, directing episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Wagon Train, Leave It to Beaver, and Bachelor Father, in addition to the Thanksgiving 1957 special The Pied Piper of Hamelin, later released as a feature film.

George Fisher

George Fisher – American actor and stuntman, born 3 June 1937. Active from the late 1960s through 2023, he has appeared in over 60 films and TV series, often in action and thriller roles. His most notable film roles include KGB Major in Red Dawn (1984), a role in They Live (1988), Firestarter (1984), Patrolman in Universal Soldier (1992), Misha in The Glimmer Man (1996), a Cop in Set It Off (1996), McGarey in Smokin' Aces (2006), Ivan in Be Cool (2005), a role in Philomena (2013), and Creepy Old Guy in The Blackening (2023). On television he appeared in Knight Rider (1982), The A-Team (1983), Magnum, P.I. (1980), Starsky & Hutch (1975), Walker: Texas Ranger (1993), Pacific Blue (1998), and Leave It to Beaver (1997).

Norman Abbott

Director · Known for Leave It to Beaver

Norman Abbott (July 11, 1922 – July 9, 2016) was an American vaudevillian, actor, producer and television director. Abbott was born in New York City, where his uncle, comedian Bud Abbott, and his mother raised him. His early experience in entertainment was as a vaudeville performer, including summers working the 'borscht circuit" in resorts in the Catskill Mountains of New York. In the early 1940s, he and Pat Costello (brother of Lou Costello) worked as stand-ins for the better-known act during filming of Who Done It? (1942).[3] During World War II, Abbott served as a member of the original United States Navy SEALs team. After the war, Abbott became a dialog director on the Abbott and Costello films and was mentored by the team's director, Charles T. Barton. Abbott later directed episodes of The Jack Benny Program, Leave It to Beaver, Get Smart, The Munsters, Welcome Back, Kotter, Dennis the Menace, and Sanford and Son. Abbott's obituary in The Hollywood Reporter described him as "the brainchild behind the Broadway sensation Sugar Babies, the comeback vehicle for Mickey Rooney in the late 1970s". He conceived the idea of a Broadway musical based on burlesque after inheriting his uncle's "treasure trove of burlesque material, including written gags, props, music and posters".[4] Despite his having originated the concept, Abbott was fired as director of the show after two weeks of rehearsing.