June Cleaver (Beaver’s Mom) Has Died – w/Fav TV Sitcom Poll

Barbara Billingsley, whose portrayal of June Cleaver on the sitcom “Leave It to Beaver” helped define the suburban TV mother of the 1950s and who lampooned her wholesome image in the movie “Airplane!” as a prim older lady who is fluent in “jive,” died Oct. 16 at her home in Santa Monica, Calif.  She was 94.

Mrs. Billingsley was a fashion model and supporting player on film and television before she won her best-known role, gowned in her signature skirts, high heels and pearls as the Cleaver family matriarch on “Leave It to Beaver.”

June Cleaver was presented as the flawless housewife, lovingly going through the motions of running a home: stuffing celery with peanut butter, vacuuming in high heels, greeting her husband when he came home at night and tucking in her two adorable sons.

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They were the Modern Family of their time, back when cars sported tailfins, Americans raced the Russians to the moon and everybody liked Ike.

They were the Cleavers, delivering a bit of sanitized Americana every week on the TV sitcom Leave It to Beaver: stalwart dad Ward, hormonal older brother Wally, trouble-prone kid brother Theodore (better known as “the Beaver,” for his oversized front teeth), and the always perfectly coiffed, calm and collected mother, June, played by actress Barbara Billingsley.

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In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Billingsley defined the classic suburban sitcom mother.  A full-time mom invariably attired in a dress, pearls, and heels, June Cleaver was at once an accurate snapshot of a certain kind of American mother, a role model, and a fantasy of the sort of maternal figure millions of people enjoyed watching for Beaver’s six seasons.

Billingsley played June without a trace of irony and a firm confidence.  While June knew her place and deferred to her husband, Ward, in most matters of child-rearing, Billingsley’s portrayal allowed you to understand that June knew how to guide both her husband and her sons to do the correct thing through suggestion and by example.  

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Here’s a CNN Report from earlier today in which Don Lemon interviews Tony Dow, who recounts his experiences working with Billingsley on the show

Leave It To Beaver, a series both praised for its family-bolstering innocence and panned for its homogenized sappiness, served as a bridge between the waning radio comedy and the blossoming of the television “sitcom.”

Despite its six-year-run as a prime-time network offering, Beaver never made the coveted top-twenty-five list. Nevertheless, its down-to-earth writing, low-key acting and uncontrived storylines served as a memorable and well-crafted icon for the positive if unremarkable joys of middle class family life in general and suburban kid-dom in particular. If Beaver’s ignoring of significant social issues was a common flaw of the programs of its time, its unpretentious advocacy of personal responsibility and self-respect was an uncommon virtue. Admittedly, as critic Robert Lewis Shayon observed, Ward and June Cleaver were “Mr. and Mrs. Average-American living in their typical Good Housekeeping home.”  But what happened in and around that home was a consistent and continuous celebration of all those minor but precious family victories that could be won even when the children themselves were required to be the decision-makers.

(Pictured above: Ward Cleaver (played by Hugh Beaumont), Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow), June Cleaver (Barabara Billingsley), and Beaver Cleaver (Jerry Mathers))

I am deeply saddened by the loss of my dear friend and lifetime mentor Barbara Billingsley.  She will live in the hearts of her fans as a wonderful actress and be remembered by her friends as a gracious lady.  Barbara was a patient advisor and teacher.  She helped me along this challenging journey through life by showing me the importance of manners and respect for others.  She will be deeply missed by all of her family, friends, fans and most especially by me.