Jerry Mathers

Gerald Patrick Mathers is an American former actor and child model best recognized for playing the title character, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, on the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver from 1957 to 1963. Born in Sioux City, Iowa, on June 2, 1948, he was raised in California's San Fernando Valley as the son of a high school principal.

His career began at age two as a department store model, which quickly led to television commercials and feature films. During his early childhood, he appeared in movies such as This Is My Love, Men of the Fighting Lady, The Seven Little Foys, and Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry. He secured his iconic television role on Leave It to Beaver after candidly informing producers that he preferred attending a Cub Scout meeting over auditioning. He featured in all 234 episodes and became the first child performer to secure a deal for a percentage of a show's merchandising revenue.

While attending Notre Dame High School, Mathers temporarily retired from acting, fronted a music group called Beaver and the Trappers, and recorded a 45 rpm single. From 1966 to 1969, he served in the California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing. He later completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1973. Following college, he worked as a banking commercial loan officer and ventured into real estate development.

Mathers returned to performing in 1978, appearing in stage productions alongside his former television co-star Tony Dow and working as a radio disc jockey in 1981. He reprised his famous character in the 1983 television movie Still the Beaver, which evolved into a continuation series that aired through 1989 as The New Leave It to Beaver. During the 1990s and 2000s, he made guest appearances on several television shows, published a memoir in 1998, and made his Broadway debut in Hairspray in 2007.

In his personal life, Mathers has been married three times and has three children from his second marriage. Following a type 2 diabetes diagnosis in 1996, he successfully undertook a weight loss regimen and subsequently served as a spokesperson for health organizations and medical initiatives. He later engaged in promotional appearances for classic television programming.