Ken Osmond, who played Leave It to Beaver's Eddie Haskell, dies at 76

Variety

Osmond's appearance as Wally's mischievous best friend Eddie Haskell, starting at age 14, was originally intended to be a guest appearance. But producers were so impressed that Osmond stuck around through Beaver's entire 1957-1963 234-episode run. Osmond later reprised the Eddie Haskell role for The New Leave It to Beaver, which ran from 1983 to 1989. According to Variety, "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." Osmond joined the U.S. Army Reserve during his final years on the show and joined the LAPD in 1970, growing a mustache to hide his identity. In 1980, he was struck by five bullets while chasing a suspected car thief. He was placed on disability and retired in 1988.