Zoneboy
10-08-2009, 06:23 PM
Life has turned out just swell for Eddie Haskell, the disingenuous troublemaker on "Leave it to Beaver," who could turn on the charm when adults were around.
"My, you look lovely today, Mrs. Cleaver" or "Good morning, Mr. Cleaver," Eddie would say. Then Eddie would grab the Beav and older brother Wally, and get them in all sorts of trouble.
"Eddie wasn't a bad kid, he never stole anything. He was mischievious - isn't everybody," Ken Osmond says Wednesday morning, unlocking the front door to American Legion Post 520 in Sun Valley, where he is a member.
Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell in the TV show that ran from 1957-63, is 66 now and retired - sort of.
He spends his mornings opening the post for business, then stocks the shelves and keeps the membership books.
"It's something structured for me. I love this place and the guys in it. It's a social club that does a lot of good work for other vets down on their luck or sick and lonely ones over at Sepulveda VA," he says.
Osmond was in the Army at the time of the Bay of Pigs fiasco and got out just before Vietnam.
"After the service I worked in mostly menial, crap jobs," he says. "Tried a helicopter service for a few years, but it never made any bucks. I never worked harder for less."
In 1970, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department and spent 18 years on the force, most of them as a motorcycle cop.
"After that, I did a lot of personal appearances, autograph shows, opened new supermarkets, whatever they needed," he says. "But I like being retired."
He's been married to the same woman for 40 years - Sandy - and has two children.
"They're great kids, never get in any trouble like Eddie did," he laughs.
He still gets recognized once in a while in L.A., more so when he travels because "Leave it to Beaver" has been on the air for 52 straight years.
He was 14 when he became Eddie Haskell and 20 when the show ended.
"I had a typical stage mother as a child. She had me dancing on stage before I was old enough to even have a memory of it," he says. "So when I started to do the TV show, it was just a way of life for me, just something to do. It wasn't enjoyable or distasteful. It was just there."
Osmond still stays in touch with the cast, mainly with Lumpy - Frank Bank - who is also a member of his American Legion post.
"I don't see Tony (Dow) too often, but I still see Barbara (Billingsley) and Jerry (Mathers) once in a while," Osmond says. "She's just such a beautiful woman, inside and out. It's a shame she had to put up with Eddie Haskell all those years."
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13507733#
"My, you look lovely today, Mrs. Cleaver" or "Good morning, Mr. Cleaver," Eddie would say. Then Eddie would grab the Beav and older brother Wally, and get them in all sorts of trouble.
"Eddie wasn't a bad kid, he never stole anything. He was mischievious - isn't everybody," Ken Osmond says Wednesday morning, unlocking the front door to American Legion Post 520 in Sun Valley, where he is a member.
Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell in the TV show that ran from 1957-63, is 66 now and retired - sort of.
He spends his mornings opening the post for business, then stocks the shelves and keeps the membership books.
"It's something structured for me. I love this place and the guys in it. It's a social club that does a lot of good work for other vets down on their luck or sick and lonely ones over at Sepulveda VA," he says.
Osmond was in the Army at the time of the Bay of Pigs fiasco and got out just before Vietnam.
"After the service I worked in mostly menial, crap jobs," he says. "Tried a helicopter service for a few years, but it never made any bucks. I never worked harder for less."
In 1970, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department and spent 18 years on the force, most of them as a motorcycle cop.
"After that, I did a lot of personal appearances, autograph shows, opened new supermarkets, whatever they needed," he says. "But I like being retired."
He's been married to the same woman for 40 years - Sandy - and has two children.
"They're great kids, never get in any trouble like Eddie did," he laughs.
He still gets recognized once in a while in L.A., more so when he travels because "Leave it to Beaver" has been on the air for 52 straight years.
He was 14 when he became Eddie Haskell and 20 when the show ended.
"I had a typical stage mother as a child. She had me dancing on stage before I was old enough to even have a memory of it," he says. "So when I started to do the TV show, it was just a way of life for me, just something to do. It wasn't enjoyable or distasteful. It was just there."
Osmond still stays in touch with the cast, mainly with Lumpy - Frank Bank - who is also a member of his American Legion post.
"I don't see Tony (Dow) too often, but I still see Barbara (Billingsley) and Jerry (Mathers) once in a while," Osmond says. "She's just such a beautiful woman, inside and out. It's a shame she had to put up with Eddie Haskell all those years."
http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13507733#