Barbara Billingsley, Beaver Cleaver's TV mom, dies

[Kadie]

Barbara Billingsley, Beaver Cleaver's TV mom, dies

By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer – 9 mins ago

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Barbara Billingsley, who gained the title supermom for her gentle portrayal of June Cleaver, the warm, supportive mother of a pair of precocious boys in "Leave it to Beaver," has died. She was 94.

Spokeswoman Judy Twersky says Billingsley died early Saturday at her home in Santa Monica. She had suffered from a rheumatoid disease.
She acted in a number of roles in movies from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s, but it wasn't until "Leave it to Beaver" that she became a star.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101016/ap_on_en_tv/us_barbara_billingsley_2



FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2007 file photo, Barbara Billingsley, of 'Leave It To Beaver,' smiles as the cast members reunite in Santa Monica, Calif. Billingsley, who gained the title supermom for her gentle portrayal of June Cleaver, the warm, supportive mother of a pair of precocious boys in 'Leave it to Beaver,' has died Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010. She was 94. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

[EFerrari]

1. I just saw her on a "Rosanne" rerun and she was wicked funny.

Sad.

[KingFlorez]

2. So sad

I always liked her.

[CreekDog]

3. Damn!

Right when I needed a Jive translator.

[WillyT]

4. Wow...

:scared:

:hi:

[blondeatlast]

5. Really, really tragic loss. She had a gift for deft gentle comedy.

She was the perfect straight woman with sass.

Man, this hurts. :cry:

[Honeycombe8]

6. Oh, no. An era gone by. She was a class act.

She had a great cameo in the comedy movie Airplane! years ago.

When asked years later about her portrayal as the perfect mom, who didn't have to work outside the home, and what effect that might have had on women who DID have to work outside the home, she said (and I'm paraphrasing)...she was just doing an acting job in a television show about a family, and about a boy...and don't forget, she said, that as an actress, I was a working woman and not at all like Mrs. Cleaver, myself!

Notice the pearls in the pic? Still wearing the pearls, after all those years. She lived a long life. I hope her end was peaceful.

[Angry Dragon]

7. When the world was a better place

RIP

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Oh how sad

I just loved her on Beaver.

[thelordofhell]

9. "Oh Sterwardess, I speak Jive."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymMBEwtRZOg

best scene in Airplane hands down.

R.I.P. Barbara, you earned it

[woo me with science]

10. To be truthful, Beaver was never very precocious.

As he moved into adolescence, he was actually pretty dim.

But she was always wonderful.

[TexasObserver]

11. Ward, you were a little hard on the beaver last night!

We loved her as Beaver's mom, but we really loved her on Airplane!

[lunatica]

12. Every kid from a dysfunctional family wanted her as their mom

She never told Ward to just "Shut The Fuck Up Ward"