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Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver is Ward and June's second son and is Wally's brother.

Biography[]

The Cleavers live in the fictional town of Mayfield. Ward is a white-collar, brief case-toting professional; he states he is an engineer who had experience in the Seabees. June is a full-time homemaker. In the second season, Wally is a high-school student. Being five years older than the Beaver, he often acts as a bridge between his parents and his brother. He puts communications from the parents into kidspeak for the Beaver, and keeps his parents apprised of the Beaver's plans, feelings, and activities. The Cleavers dwell in a spacious house on Mapleton Drive during the first two seasons. They moved to a similar house on nearby Pine Street for the remaining four seasons. The family drives a 1957 Ford Custom 300 in the first two seasons. In the remaining seasons, when the Chrysler Corporation was a sponsor of the program, the family car is a Plymouth Belvedere or a Plymouth Fury.

The Beaver's best friends are Larry Mondello, Gilbert Bates, Whitey Whitney, and the elderly Gus, a fireman. While the Beaver's peers cannot always be trusted or relied on in times of trouble, Gus can always be counted on to be sympathetic to the Beaver's woes and to steer the boy along the straight and narrow.

The Beaver is sometimes led astray by his school friends. In one episode, for example, Larry Mondello tells the Beaver the principal has a spanking machine in her office and the Beaver steals in to take a peek. He is accidentally locked in the office and calls the fire department to be freed. His parents are furious.

The Beaver's enemies are loud-mouthed, snitching classmate Judy Hensler in the early episodes, and, in the later seasons, snooty Penny Woods. Penny is more of his frenemy than just a mere enemy, as well as his constant love-hate-relationship. Wally's obnoxious pals, Eddie Haskell and Clarence "Lumpy" Rutherford pick on the Beaver at every opportunity (though Lumpy seems to be more friendly towards the Beaver in the final season). Wally ably defends his brother against their nasty onslaughts.

The Beaver is often exploited by others or becomes the victim of malicious persons. In one episode, Wally's classmate Mary Ellen Rogers makes friends with the Beaver in order to snaggle a date with Wally. As soon as Mary Ellen has the date settled, she drops the Beaver. In another episode, the Beaver kindly lets a strange boy ride his bike — only to have the boy steal it.

Larry Mondello is Beaver's best friend from seasons 1-4.

Larry is Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver's chubby, not very bright classmate and best friend distinguished for his apple-eating, candy bar-munching habits. Larry has a knack for leading Beaver astray and getting him into trouble.

Larry's mother, Margaret (portrayed by Madge Blake), is a nervous, exasperated parent, whose husband is so perennially out-of-town on business, the phrase "If your father were home . . ." comes out of her mouth, at some point, in almost every episode in which she appears. Mrs. Mondello sometimes takes Larry to Beaver's father for discipline. Larry's father makes one brief appearance, however; he is seen talking to Larry backstage in the second season episode, "School Play". Larry has older siblings, including a married brother and an unmarried 18-year-old sister (age mentioned in the 3rd season) and a little brother mentioned in the 1958 Episode 'Beaver & Henry' who live at home. In one episode, Mrs. Mondello catches Larry and Beaver reading Larry's sister's diary. Reports from various characters on the show indicate Larry's home life is one of "hollering" and physical punishments.

Larry and Beaver have an on-again/off-again relationship. The boys sometimes quarrel but make up when the clouds pass. They are in the same class together at Grant Avenue Grammar School and are forced to attend ballroom dance lessons at Miss Spencer's School of the Dance on Saturdays. Larry runs away from home in one episode — but only as far as Beaver's bathroom where he sleeps in the bath tub. In another episode, Larry throws his mother's pin money out the window, picks it up later, and claims the money fell from an airplane.

Actor Stevens left the show when his family moved from Burbank, California, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a move which brought Stevens's acting career to an end. According to Barbara Billingsley (in her TV Archive interview), his character was written out because of his overly ambitious stage mother causing grief with the producers. Stevens reprised his role of Larry Mondello in the 1983 reunion telemovie, Still the Beaver.

Whitey Whitney is one of Beaver's friends from school. He is his only friend to remain the entire series.

Judy is the know-it-all in Beaver's class. She doesn't like him and his friends and often tattles on them. She left in Season 4.

Linda is one of Beaver's friends in Season 1. She has a crush on him and he has a small one on her. She is a tom-boy.

Larry Mondello is Beaver's best friend from seasons 1-4.

Larry is Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver's chubby, not very bright classmate and best friend distinguished for his apple-eating, candy bar-munching habits. Larry has a knack for leading Beaver astray and getting him into trouble.

Larry's mother, Margaret (portrayed by Madge Blake), is a nervous, exasperated parent, whose husband is so perennially out-of-town on business, the phrase "If your father were home . . ." comes out of her mouth, at some point, in almost every episode in which she appears. Mrs. Mondello sometimes takes Larry to Beaver's father for discipline. Larry's father makes one brief appearance, however; he is seen talking to Larry backstage in the second season episode, "School Play". Larry has older siblings, including a married brother and an unmarried 18-year-old sister (age mentioned in the 3rd season) and a little brother mentioned in the 1958 Episode 'Beaver & Henry' who live at home. In one episode, Mrs. Mondello catches Larry and Beaver reading Larry's sister's diary. Reports from various characters on the show indicate Larry's home life is one of "hollering" and physical punishments.

Larry and Beaver have an on-again/off-again relationship. The boys sometimes quarrel but make up when the clouds pass. They are in the same class together at Grant Avenue Grammar School and are forced to attend ballroom dance lessons at Miss Spencer's School of the Dance on Saturdays. Larry runs away from home in one episode — but only as far as Beaver's bathroom where he sleeps in the bath tub. In another episode, Larry throws his mother's pin money out the window, picks it up later, and claims the money fell from an airplane.

Actor Stevens left the show when his family moved from Burbank, California, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a move which brought Stevens's acting career to an end. According to Barbara Billingsley (in her TV Archive interview), his character was written out because of his overly ambitious stage mother causing grief with the producers. Stevens reprised his role of Larry Mondello in the 1983 reunion telemovie, Still the Beaver.

Richard Rickover is one of Beaver's best friends.

He first appeared in Season 3 and is often alongside Gilbert.

Richard is first introduced in Season 3 and appears more as the show progresses.

Behind the scenes[]

His actor is also named Richard.

Gilbert Bates is one of Beaver's best friends.

He moved around a lot up until the third grade. For that reason, he told lies to his friends to make them think he was cool. Soon though, his friends find out he was lying. They soon felt bad for him and he became one of their best friends. After Larry Mondello was written out of the show, Gilbert was seen as Beaver's best friend.

Penny Woods is one of Beaver's enemies.

She was introduced in Season 3 and later replaced Judy as the class bully.

Chester is one of Wally's friends from the first three seasons.

Tooey is one of Wally's friends from the first three seasons.

Mary Ellen Rogers is one of Wally's friends. They often go to the movies.

Benjie is one of the Cleavers' neighbors. He usually not gets himself into trouble.

Gallery[]

Gallery/Episodes[]

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