![]() In the same way the era is misremembered, the most representative sitcom of the period, “Leave It to Beaver,” is misunderstood. A culture that in hindsight can look pasty-faced and intolerant in fact included idiosyncratic voices of protest and anti-majoritarian values. It was, after all, the era of, among others, Elvis Presley, Marlon Brando, Thelonious Monk, Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, Rosa Parks and Central High in Little Rock. In many ways, that’s a mischaracterization. In today’s culture, the 1950s and early 1960s are portrayed as a white-bread era of bland conformity and racism. In 1980, he was seriously wounded in the line of duty. He left acting and became a public servant, joining the Los Angeles Police Department in 1970. He was typecast (as were all the characters on the show except for Barbara Billingsley, who did a memorable turn 20 years later as a jive-talking passenger in “Airplane!” ) no one could believe the actor who played Eddie Haskell could be anything but a wiseguy. His portrayal of Eddie Haskell was, in a sense, a death sentence for his acting career. Osmond was the antithesis of Eddie Haskell - a kind, generous family man, and a good father. Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver, called Osmond the best actor on the show because in real life his personality was the opposite of the character that he so brilliantly portrayed. Perhaps the most telling thing Eddie ever told Wally was, “if you can make the other guy feel like a goon first, then you don’t feel like so much of a goon.” At heart, he was a decent and likable person. It was that insecurity that made him the way he was. If you watch the show carefully, you discover Eddie was actually a sensitive, insecure kid who grew up in an unhappy home. In a number of shows, the writers attempted to explain the essence of Eddie Haskell and, by extension, why people like him behave the way they do. He was a far more complex character than he is thought of today. He never used physical violence and even his taunts were generally more good-natured than mean. Many of the obituaries and tributes to Ken Osmond called Eddie Haskell a bully - he was anything but. The writers took great pains to flesh out the personalities of the boys and their parents. Contrary to popular opinion now, the characters on “Leave It to Beaver” were not cliches. Yet for all that familiarity, Eddie Haskell is also one of television’s most misunderstood characters.
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