Ken Osmond, who played obsequious troublemaker Eddie Haskell on TV’s Leave It to Beaver has died, his manager confirms.
“He was an incredibly kind and wonderful father,” his son, Eric, said in a statement. “He had his family gathered around him when he passed. He was loved and will be very missed.” Osmond was 76.
The impact of his most famous performance can be measured by the fact that, for those of us of a certain age, if someone is described as an “Eddie Haskell”-type, we know exactly what is meant.
The Haskell character was a troublemaking friend of Wally Cleaver, Beaver’s older brother.
The actor revisited his most famous role frequently over the years in the many subsequent iterations of the show, most notably Still the Beaver, which ran from 1983-1989.
Osmond also guested on Happy Days, Lassie, Petticoat Junction and The Munsters.
Osmond went on to become an LAPD Cop and reportedly took five bullets in the line of duty. He reportedly grew a mustache to be less-recognizable on the job.
Leave It to Beaver was not a bit hit during its initial 1957-63 run. The series never made the year-end top 30 among primetime programs in the three-network era. It aired in six time slots on four different nights during its six seasons, moving from CBS to ABC after its first season.
In the show’s original 1957 pilot, which resurfaced three decades later, the Haskell-type character was named Frankie and was played by future SNL, The Simpsons and This Is Spinal Tap actor Harry Shearer.