Jerry Mathers

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Jerry Mathers
File:Jerry Mathers 1959.JPG
Mathers in a 1959 publicity shot
Born Gerald Patrick Mathers
(1948-06-02) June 2, 1948 (age 76)
Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.
Education Notre Dame High School
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley
Occupation
  • Actor
  • singer
Years active 1950–present
Known for Portrayal of Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver in Leave It to Beaver
Spouse(s) Diana Platt (m. 1974–81)
Rhonda Gehring (m. 198?–1997)
Teresa Modnick (m. 2011)
Children 3
Relatives Jim Mathers (brother)
Website www.jerrymathers.com

Gerald Patrick Mathers (born June 2, 1948) is an American actor and singer. Mathers is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963, in which he played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the younger son of the suburban couple June and Ward Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont, respectively) and the younger brother of Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow).

Early life and family

Mathers was born in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1948, the son of a high school principal, and grew up in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California.[1] Mathers has three siblings, one sister and two brothers, including Jimmy Mathers.

Early career

Mathers began his career at the age of 2 when he appeared as a child model for a department store ad.[2] Soon after, he starred in a commercial for PET Milk opposite vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn.[1]

His early movies included This is My Love (1954), Men of the Fighting Lady (1954), The Seven Little Foys (1955) and Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble with Harry (1955), in which he plays the son of Shirley MacLaine and finds a body in the forest.

Leave It to Beaver

Mathers states that he got the role of Beaver Cleaver after telling the show's producers he would rather be at his Cub Scout meeting than audition for the part. The producers found his candor appealing and perfect for the role.[1][3] Mathers played the Beaver for six years, appearing in all 234 episodes of the series. He was the first child actor to have ever had a deal made on his behalf to get a percentage of the merchandising revenue from a television show. Indeed, Leave It to Beaver still generates revenue, more than a half century after its original production run.

The original sitcom has been shown in over 80 countries in 40 languages. Mathers noted that the Leave It to Beaver phenomenon is worldwide. "I can go anywhere in the world, and people know me," Mathers has said. "In Japan, the show's called 'The Happy Boy and His Family.' So I'll be walking through the airport in Japan, and people will come up and say, 'Hi, Happy Boy!'"[4]

When asked in a 2014 television interview whether he had known at the time of the filming of the Leave it to Beaver series that the show was special, and would be in perpetual syndication, Mathers responded: "No, not at all. I had worked since I was two years old. I did movies. I didn't do any other series, but I had done a lot of movies and things like that so, in fact, every year it was a question whether we would come back for the next year 'cause you had to be picked up. So you would do 39 shows and then we would go to New York and meet all the press, and then we'd go to Chicago to meet the ad people, then we'd come back and take about five to six weeks off, and if we got picked up, then we'd start again. So we did that for six years because that was the length of the contracts at those times. So that's why there are 39 [episodes] for six years, and then it was off the air. Not off the air, but we didn't film any new ones [after that.]"[5]

Mathers remained friends with Barbara Billingsley, who played his TV mother June Cleaver, and he remembered her after her death as "a good friend and an even better mentor. For me she was like the favorite teacher that we all had in school."[6]

Music

In 1962, near the end of the run of Leave It to Beaver, Mathers recorded two songs for a single 45 rpm: "Don't 'Cha Cry," and for the flip side, the twist ditty "Wind-Up Toy".[7] During his high school years, Mathers had a band called Beaver and the Trappers.[8]

Later career

File:USAF Sergeant Jerry Mathers.png
Jerry Mathers in US Air Force uniform

As he moved into his teenage years, Mathers retired from acting to concentrate on high school. He attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California. During this time he led a musical band called Beaver and the Trappers.[1] While he was still in high school, Mathers joined the United States Air Force Reserve in 1966. Wearing his dress uniform, Mathers, along with child actress Angela Cartwright, presented an Emmy award to Gene Kelly in 1967. After graduating from high school in 1967, Mathers continued to serve in the Reserve and made the rank of Sergeant.[9] In December 1969, a rumor began that Mathers was killed in action in the Vietnam War.[10] Although the origin of the rumor is unclear,[11] Mathers never saw action and was never stationed outside the United States.[12][13] Years later, in 1980, Mathers and Dow appeared with Bill Murray on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update segment, making fun of the Vietnam War death rumor.[14]

In 1973, Mathers attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy.[15] He then worked as a commercial loan officer at a bank before using well-invested savings from his acting career, which began at $500 a week,[16] to begin a career in real estate development. In 1978, he reentered the entertainment industry. That year, he and Tony Dow starred in a production of the comedy play Boeing, Boeing which ran for ten weeks in Kansas City. Mathers and Dow then toured the dinner theater circuit in a production of So Long, Stanley for 18 months. In 1981, he worked as a disc jockey at KEZY radio in Anaheim, California.[8]

In 1983, Mathers reprised his role in the television reunion film Still the Beaver, which also featured the majority of the original Leave It to Beaver cast.[8] The success of the television film led to the development of a sequel series, of the same title. The series began airing on the Disney Channel in 1984, then went on to be picked up by TBS and broadcast syndication, where it was retitled The New Leave It to Beaver and ran until 1989.[17]

Mathers has since continued his career in films and television roles. In the 1990s, he guest starred on episodes of Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Vengeance Unlimited, Diagnosis Murder, and as himself on Married... with Children. In 1998, Mathers released his memoirs, And Jerry Mathers as The Beaver.[18]

In 2001, he appeared on a special episode of The Weakest Link titled "Child TV stars edition," where he got voted off in the first round.

On June 5, 2007, he made his Broadway debut with a starring role as Wilbur Turnblad in the Tony-winning best musical Hairspray at the Neil Simon Theater.[4]

In 2018 and 2019, Mathers was seen promoting the Leave It To Beaver television series and other classic television series on the MeTV television network.

Other ventures

In 2009, Mathers became the national spokesman for PhRMA and their Partnership for Prescription Assistance program.[19]

Military service

Mathers is a former member of the 146AW, California ANG (Air National Guard aka the Hollywood Guard), Van Nuys, California.

Personal life

File:Jerry Mathers.jpg
Mathers in 2007

Mathers has been married three times. He met his first wife, Diana Platt, in college. She attended Vallejo Senior High in California; class of 1969. They married in 1974 and later divorced.[15][20] Mathers met his second wife, Rhonda Gehring, while touring in the production of So Long, Stanley. They have three children, a son (Noah) and two daughters (Mercedes and Gretchen). Mathers and Gehring later divorced in 1997.[21] Mathers married his third wife, Teresa Modnick, in Huntington Beach on January 30, 2011.[22]

Diabetes

Mathers was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1996.[23] On the advice of his doctor, Mathers enrolled in a weight loss program with Jenny Craig in May 1997 and lost over 40 lb (18 kg).[18] He later became the first male spokesperson for Jenny Craig.[24][8] He has also represented a Type 2 diabetes reversal program's publications in a television ad.[25]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1952 Son of Paleface Child at Finale Uncredited
1954 Men of the Fighting Lady Richard Dodson Uncredited
1954 This Is My Love David Myer
1955 The Seven Little Foys Bryan Lincoln Foy - Age 5 Uncredited
1955 The Trouble with Harry Arnie Rogers
1956 That Certain Feeling Norman Taylor
1956 Bigger Than Life Freddie Uncredited
1957 The Shadow on the Window Petey Atlas
1958 The Deep Six Steve Innes Uncredited
1987 Back to the Beach Judge #2
1990 Down the Drain Policeman (desk)
1994 The Other Man Sergeant Dun Alternative title: Sexual Malice
1998 Playing Patti
2002 Better Luck Tomorrow Biology Teacher
2005 Angels with Angles Mr. Cohiba
2008 Will to Power Mr. Simpson
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1952 The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Trick-or-treating Child Episode: "Halloween Party"
1955 Lux Video Theatre Little Boy Episode: "The Great McGinty"
1955 General Electric Theater Tommy Episode: "Into the Night"
1955 Matinee Theater Episode: "Santa is no Saint"
1956 Screen Directors Playhouse Peter at 5 Episode: "It's a Most Unusual Day"
1957–1963 Leave It to Beaver Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver 234 episodes
1963 Insight Episode: "The Boy and the Bomb"
1966 The Dating Game Himself
1968 Batman Pop, the Stage Doorman Episode: "The Great Escape"
Uncredited
1968 Lassie Ken Hines Episode: "Lassie and the 4-H Boys"
1970 My Three Sons Joe Lawrie Episode: "Love Thy Neighbor"
1978 Flying High Chuck Wallace Episode: "Fear of Cheesecake"
1981 The Girl, the Gold Watch and Dynamite Deputy Henry Thomas Watts Television film
1983 Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour Himself Game Show Participant / Celebrity Guest Star
1983 Still the Beaver Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver Television film
1983–1989 The New Leave It to Beaver Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver 101 episodes
1984 Hardcastle and McCormick Cameo Appearance Season 1; Episode 19 " The Homecoming: Part 2"
1987 The Love Boat "Beaver" Cleaver Episode: "Who Killed Maxwell Thorn?"
1991 Married... with Children Himself Episode: "You Better Shop Around (Part 2)"
1991 Parker Lewis Can't Lose Theodore Musso Episode: "Jerry: Portrait of a Video Junkie"
1999 Vengeance Unlimited Lucas Zimmerman Episode: "Friends"
1999 Diagnosis: Murder Mr. Lustig Episode: "Trash TV: Part One"
2001 The Weakest Link Himself Child TV Stars Edition
2006 The War at Home Principal Episode: "Back to School"
2008 Mother Goose Parade Television film

Awards

Year Award Category Title of work
1984 Young Artist Award Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award[26] Leave It to Beaver

Bibliography

  • And Jerry Mathers as The Beaver; Mathers, Jerry and Fagen, Herb; Berkley Trade (1998)
  • Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 275.

References

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External links

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  3. ↑ Jerry Mathers on auditioning for "Leave it to Beaver" Emmy TV Legends video (posted in 2010)
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  10. ↑ This is mentioned in the 1981 made for television movie Kent State, although those discussing it also claimed that Paul McCartney was also dead. Kent State, written by Joseph Kelner, Gerald Green and Richard Kramer (writer), and directed by James Goldstone. It was produced by Philip Barry, Jr., Wes Craven, Lionel A. Ephraim, Max A. Keller and Micheline H. Keller for Interplanetary and Keller Entertainment Group, and first broadcast by NBC on Sunday 8th of February, 1981
  11. ↑ Jerry Mathers discusses the urban myth of his "death in Vietnam" Emmy TV Legends video (posted 2010)
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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