Was Jerry Mathers (Leave it to Beaver) killed in Vietnam?

[bluestateguy]

I have a friend who told me today that he was sure "the Beaver" was killed in Vietnam. I told him I was fairly sure this was an urban legend, but I had no proof. Does anybody know where this crackpot tale came from?

[Blue-Jay]

1. Not true.

I don't have any links, but I saw Mathers in some dumb Beaver reunion show about ten years ago or so.

[wicket]

7. Oh GOD

That show was terrible!!! Painful to the eyes.

[Blue-Jay]

8. Here ya go. Appears to be a common rumour.

Birthday: June 2, 1948
Birth Place: Sioux City Iowa, USA

Biography:
Jerry Mathers, better known as the Beaver, is the quintesscential American boy through the Leave it to Beaver Series. Mathers, who had numerous movie parts previously (Most notably, the Trouble with Harry (1955)), is reported to have auditioned for the Beaver part while dressed for his Cub Scout meeting, scheduled later in the day. During the process, he remarked as to how long this would take, as he had his meeting to attend. His mother was aghast, but the show's producers, looking for a real-life depiction of the times, knew then and there he was the one. Now in syndication, the show ran for many years.
There have been a few made for TV revivals and even a movie (in which he declined to appear)Mathers, who later joined the Armed Services (and was thought to have died in action), has penned 2 books and is living in So CA.

http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/DetailsServlet/epid-0/showid-0/personid-15815/moduleid-38

[Kahuna]

11. "Still the Beaver," or something. I think it was a short lived series..

on the Disney Channel. He got another 15 minutes of fame from the show.

[Taverner]

22. He's selling SlimFast...or WeightWatchers...or Atkins

Or some diet...not sure which.

[NightTrain]

2. No!

Some time in the '80s, Jerry Mathers, Tony Dow, and Barbara Billingsley co-starred in a made-for-TV movie called "Still The Beaver." (Hugh Beaumont had died by that time.) Would've been kinda hard for Mathers to have appeared in that film had he been killed in Nam!

[nini]

3. no

he's still around.

I've never heard that rumor but I'm not surprised.

[Tummler]

4. Snopes has an entry on the subject

http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/beaver.htm

[dflprincess]

5. Don't know where the story came from but it is an Urban Myth

I saw him on the Tonight show in the last few years

[bigwillq]

6. The Beav is alive

I saw him on a show a few years back. HE made a guest apperance. Not sure what show it was though. Can't remember.

[PragMantisT]

9. It wasn't in 'Nam. He ate pop rocks and drank a coke. n/t

[tridim]

14. That was Mikey of LIFE cereal fame.

and it's also a popular urban legend. Mythbusters did a long segment on it using a real pig stomach. :D

[sbj405]

10. Just rented "Better Luck Tomorrow" which he was in

which was from 2002. good movie, btw.

[Gloria]

12. Last I heard, he was diabetic and a bond salesperson.....

Oh, for the glory days of being the Beaver!!

[Deja Q]

13. He was in a 1989 episode of "Married with Children"

Poking fun at himself, he was hilarious, and proving he's no weiner. :-)

Though I didn't like the Charles Nelson-Reilly joke, but nobody's perfect. :-)

[asthmaticeog]

15. The better rumor

was that the kid who played Eddie Haskell grew up to become porn star John Holmes. Sadly untrue.

[Twillig]

16. Didn't the kid who played E. Haskell

Become a cop, and take a bullet on the job?

[asthmaticeog]

21. I don't know about whether he was shot,

but he was an officer with the L.A.P.D.

Imagine Eddie Haskell in the Rodney King video. There's sick humor a-plenty to be had there...

[m-jean03]

17. I don't know, but it could have been from the speculations of

sociologists dealing in pop culture, asking if 50's era American innocence, as represented by shows like Leave it To Beaver, really did die in the jungles of Southeast Asia. So, in that case, you could say speculate about the characters in the show, and use their experiences in the 60s as metaphors for what the American consciousness went through during that time. Hence, "the Beaver died in Vietnam"= American innocence died in Vietnam.

[mede8er]

18. I've heard......

He's running a charter boat out of the Keys......

[Red State Rebel]

19. He was in St. Louis recently for a benefit for Excema

I heard him on a local radio show being interviewed. Didn't sound too dead to me...

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

20. The other popular ones were that Mr. Rogers was a Marine Corps

sniper in Korea, and John Denver was a Marine Corps sniper in Vietnam.

Those are stories that, if not true, ought to be!