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Ken Osmond, best known for his role at the troublemaker Eddie Haskell on the television comedy “Leave It to Beaver,” died on Monday morning. He was 76.

Sources tell Variety Osmond passed away at his Los Angeles home surrounded by family members.

The cause of death is unknown.

Osmond, a native of Glendale, Ca., began his career as a child actor with his first speaking part at age 9 in the film “So Big,” starring Jane Wyman and Sterling Hayden, followed by “Good Morning Miss Dove,” and “Everything But the Truth. He also guest-starred on television series, including “Lassie,” “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” “Wagon Train,” “Fury,” and “The Loretta Young Show.”

In 1957, Osmond auditioned for the the Eddie Haskell role, which was originally intended to be a guest appearance, but those involved with the show were so impressed with Osmond’s portrayal that the character became a key component of the series throughout its six-season run of 234 episodes.

Osmond portrayed Haskell as sycophantic to grownups while making fun of them behind their backs. He was a high-school friend of Wally Cleaver, older brother of Theodore “The Beaver” Cleaver, and constantly trying to get his friends in activities that would get them into trouble. During the final years of the show, Osmond was in the U.S. Army Reserve.

from https://bit.ly/2ThLLJq

That is very sad news! After his Leave It To Beaver career is over, he could not find any jobs due to his Osmond sterotype so he decided to become a policeman which is cool! Rest in peace Osmond! Now Jerry and Tony is the only cast members left I think

I give up. :(

:rip: Ken

Much love, bad boy

Very sad news indeed. Ken Osmond's portrayal of Eddie Haskell is one of the legendary characters in TV history, he was perfect in the role. :rip:

:( :( :( Sad news...he was so excellent on Leave It To Beaver... :( :( :(

Very sad!:( This is the first I've heard of his passing ! I :eek:

RIP Eddie / Ken !!

:(

Sorry to hear this about Ken. One of the truly great characters ever on TV and he did an amazing job. Eddie Haskell will live for a very long time.

Rest in peace to a great actor and a good man. He had two successful careers--actor and policeman. He will be missed.

Very sad to hear :(

RIP Ken Osmond

I'm in total shock. RIP.

Ken should have been in the starring cast, he added so much to the show.

I will add, I hope MeTV puts together his classic episodes. Preferably in primetime, but at least in the regular slot for the rest of this week.

What an iconic character he played.

:rip:

Very sorry to hear this. May he RIP. :(

So sad to hear of his passing away. May he rest in peace.

Rest in peace, Ken.

This news came as a shock to me.

I like to think that every loss we experience sharpens our sense of gratitude. We still have Jerry, Tony, Rusty, Jeri, as well as all the memories and legacy of this fantastic show of which Ken Osmond was such an unforgettable part.

My sister just told me and I was shocked. Anytime someone mentioned Leave it to Beaver in past years they would say “You mean Eddie Haskell?”

Ken was a talented actor playing an unforgettable and complex character. I’ll never forget him.

His advise to Beaver (many times) was some of the best ...

and usually on many levels the writers gave him some real deal words, be it about adults, politics, business, government, ... he covered a lot over the years !

His portrayal of Eddie was great. He gave me many laughs. Love him on there.

R.I.P., Ken

So sorry to hear this. He may have played a jerk on LITB, but in real life...he was...a really nice guy. R.I.P. Ken

LAPD mourns Ken Osmond (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ken-osmond-late-actor-officer-mourned-by-lapd-1295055)

The actor known for playing Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver, who died today at age 76, was an LAPD motorcycle cop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CugiwI-HmS8&t=183s) who was shot multiple times in the line of duty in 1980. He retired 1988 after 18 years on the force. "After his successful run on one of the most popular shows of all time, he chose to protect and to serve the residents of Los Angeles, and I’m proud to have been able to call him a law enforcement partner," LAPD Chief Michel Moore told The Hollywood Reporter. "He will be missed.” Meanwhile, Beaver co-star Jerry Mathers paid tribute to Osmond on Twitter. "I will greatly miss my lifelong friend Ken Osmond who I have known for over 63 years," Mathers tweeted. "I have always said that he was the best actor on our show (https://twitter.com/TheJerryMathers/status/1262510929834434560) because in real life his personality was so opposite of the character that he so brilliantly portrayed. RIP dear friend."

It was bad enough when Lumpy bit the dust, now Eddie?!! When such icons die off the real terror is knowing that we too will soon be joining them. Time to admit, we're all getting old way too fast.

Ken was the most outstanding of the juvenile actors on LITB. My sister and I decided to watch an episode last night to honor Ken's memory, and we settled on "Wally's Test." Ken's acting on the show was always fluid and mature. He brought shade and depth to the character, too, suggesting that Eddie had the potential to change his ways.

Ken might have been typecast after his role as Eddie but given the chance I think he could have played a multitude of roles. He was a fine actor just like Hugh Beaumont. I read Eddie was supposed to make a one time appearance in The New Neighbors but decided Ken had a great natural ability. Wally said in Ward’s Golf Clubs “ A guy like Eddie Haskell comes around once every hundred years.” How true is that.

Great quote I'd forgotten.

Connelly and Mosher probably gave Ken an idea of the character they wanted, but you can see how he developed it, grew the role, gave the character nuances--and the writers complied, and the show recognized the talent it had. We've always sung his praises here, deservedly so!

.

That's a good compilation of some of Eddie's standout moments.

Not many people can claim to have created a character that became part of pop culture legend as Ken Osmond did. The Eddie Haskell character has become almost proverbial.

Eddie Haskell was the original TV antihero: His brilliant, subversive jerkiness resonates today (https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/the-brilliant-subversive-jerkiness-of-eddie-haskell/2020/05/18/e37bf0c0-994b-11ea-89fd-28fb313d1886_story.html)

Ken Osmond's memorable Leave It to Beaver character "was a sneaky little rat, a two-faced suck-up and a tinpot bully. A punk who stirred up trouble," says Paul Farhi, adding: "We loved him for it." Osmond, who died Monday at age 76, ingeniously portrayed a character who "was as much a metaphor as a supporting character on a gentle family series," says Farhi, noting that Eddie "differed from virtually any other child or teen characters on TV: He was a bad kid, with little effort made to redeem or rehabilitate him." Osmond's Eddie "embodied the kind of personality that people first encounter on the playground but then again throughout adulthood: the obsequious work colleague, the backstabbing boyfriend, the smarmy politician," says Farhi. "Real life has a lot of Eddie Haskells." Farhi adds that Eddie Haskell "was an antihero, singular because he was subversive — Bart Simpson long before The Simpsons were born. On every episode of Beaver, he could be counted on to instigate a scheme that would invariably land Wally or the Beav in hot water, like the time he persuaded Wally to play a practical joke on Lumpy by hitching a chain wrapped around a tree to the rear axle of Lumpy’s car. The mildly disastrous consequences of Eddie’s deviltry predictably set up the big moment at the end of the show in which Ward or June Cleaver would distill an important Life Lesson from the experience." Farhi concludes: "So few characters have echoed down through the decades as the one he created. The jerk endures." ALSO: Cameron Crowe calls Eddie Haskell (https://twitter.com/CameronCrowe/status/1262473402331181062) "one of the greatest characters ever": "I always dreamed Jeff Spicoli was a distant relative of the Haskells..."

...Osmond's Eddie "embodied the kind of personality that people first encounter on the playground but then again throughout adulthood: the obsequious work colleague, the backstabbing boyfriend, the smarmy politician,"...

And the New Leave it to Beaver bears this out. He was exactly the same as an adult Eddie.

Great pix and great posts. Eddie Haskell was a character that comes around once every 100 years. He had such potential and truly developed his character. He was fabulous in seasons 5 and 6. I love the In memoriam that MeTV is showing, very nice tribute.

I think always calling him Eddie Haskell not just Eddie branded his character.

A pretty funny quote from FB: "As Eddie enters the Pearly Gates: 'Why good evening, Lord, what a lovey halo you're wearing and heaven looks nice too.' "

:lol::lol::lol:

He could say the same thing to the devil if he went the other way.

"Good evening, you devil. You're really on fire tonight. I'm gonna have a hot time here!"

Sad to hear about his passing. :rip:

He died from complications of COPD and peripheral artery disease.

I am heartbroken over this. I was really hoping to meet or at least write to Ken at some point. I heard a while ago that he wasn't doing that well but I was hoping that he was getting better. He will be very missed. I really want to read his book as soon as I can.

I am heartbroken over this. I was really hoping to meet or at least write to Ken at some point. I heard a while ago that he wasn't doing that well but I was hoping that he was getting better. He will be very missed. I really want to read his book as soon as I can.

I didn’t know that he wasn’t doing that well for a long time.

Neither did I.

His cause of death has been posted in the main-stream news today.

Here it is Dec. and I'm just finding out about Ken. I'm so sad over this. I've been watch LITB since I was a kid. I don't know how I missed this news.

Ken Osmond might've played Eddie Haskell, but he was more like Ward in real life (https://www.metv.com/stories/ken-osmond-mightve-played-eddie-haskell-but-he-was-more-like-ward-in-real-life)

''My life is much closer to Ward Cleaver's,'' the actor said.

Here it is Dec. and I'm just finding out about Ken. I'm so sad over this. I've been watch LITB since I was a kid. I don't know how I missed this news.

Here it is Dec. 2022--this was back in May 2020. In case you didn't hear about Tony Dow, too:

https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=421383