“You look lovely today, Mrs. Cleaver”

Anyone who remembers Eddie Haskell associates him with that or similar phrases.  One week ago today, last Monday May 18th, Ken Osmond, the actor who portrayed Eddie for 6 seasons on Leave It to Beaver, passed away at age 76 from COPD complications.

A couple things that are NOT TRUE about Ken Osmond:

• He is NOT Alice Cooper.  That urban legend from the 70’s started when Alice Cooper said he was a “real Eddie Haskell” as a kid.
• He is NOT adult film star (back when there were adult film stars) John Holmes.  Another urban legend from the 70’s.

Things that ARE TRUE about Ken Osmond:

• His portrayal of Eddie Haskell turned what was supposed to be a one shot character into a regular on the show.
• After being typecast as Eddie Haskell, he found it difficult to find steady work as an actor, so he joined the Los Angeles Police Department.
• After retiring from the LAPD, he played Eddie again on the 1983 series The New Leave It to Beaver.  If I remember right, he ran a construction company while Wally was a lawyer.

As a kid, I used to watch Beaver every day when I came home from school.  Of course, I had no idea I was watching syndicated reruns.  A few decades later, I tried to get my kids into watching it, but that wasn’t happening.  I guess some things are timeless and some aren’t.  But a sad farewell and RIP to Ken Osmond.