'Grey's' Isn't Going Anywhere
'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
Happy 50th anniversary, Beaver!
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the classic sitcom Leave it to Beaver, and while many of the show's original stars have left us (Hugh Beaumont, Stanley Fafara, Sue Randall, Richard Deacon), much of the main cast is still going strong, and five of them - Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, Barbara Billingsley, Ken Osmond, and Frank Bank - appeared on Good Morning, America this morning to celebrate the day.
They've all kept busy over the years. Mathers appeared on stage in Hairspray this year and has appeared in several TV shows and wrote a book. Dow has directed many TV shows and movies over the years and is also an artist. Billingsley is an incredibly active 92 and even recreated her famous Airplane jive talk on GMA. Osmond became a cop - and was shot three times in the line of duty - and is now retired, and Bank (Lumpy Rutherford) is a financial expert who handles Mathers and Dow.
Too bad the interview wasn't a little longer, but GMA just had to switch gears and talk about Dancing with the Stars.
Interesting trivia: The Simpsons' Harry Shearer played the first Eddie Haskell-ish wiseass kid in the first pilot (available on the first season DVD), and Stephen Talbot, who played Beaver's friend Richard, is now a documentary filmmaker (Frontline and others) and is the brother of Salon mag founder David Talbot.
Maybe we can celebrate the day by having dinner with the family tonight or perhaps popping a classic TV dinner in the oven. Or maybe getting stuck in a giant bowl of soup.
6 Comments