'Leave It to Beaver' holiday marathon
You can celebrate All Things Cleaver on Thanksgiving Day when the retro-channel Antenna TV airs a 27-hour "Leave It to Beaver" marathon (it begins Thursday at midnight and ends early Friday morning at 3 a.m.). Here are five things you may not have known about the cast of that classic sitcom:
Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver) held a master of theology degree from the University of Southern California and was an ordained minister.
Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver), right, told an interviewer in 2007 the reason she always wore pearls on camera is because of a small indentation just above her sternum that didn't photograph well.
Jerry Mathers (Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver) was a member of the Air National Guard from 1966 to 1969. (And the urban legend is definitely not true: he was not killed in Vietnam; he's still very much with us, and, hard to believe, turns 65 next year.)
From 1970 to 1988, Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell) was a Los Angeles Police Department officer, working in vice and narcotics, and a motorcycle officer. (And the urban legend is definitely not true: He did not become ghoulish rock star Alice Cooper.)
In the 1990s, Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver) revealed that he has struggled with and was eventually diagnosed with clinical depression.
Get ready for sun and fun with NewsdayTV's summer FunBook special! From celebrating America's 250th birthday to a new ride at Adventureland, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano and Newsday lifestyle editor Meghan Giannotta have your inside look at Newsday's summer FunBook.
