Jerry Mathers said that Hugh Beaumont was a ''Dutch Uncle''

Just because they played a family on screen doesn't mean they felt like one off-screen.

As an actor, you’re more likely to have a big personality, and with all of those big personalities working together on set, people are bound to clash with each other every so often.

However, Frank Bank takes this a step further in his autobiography, Call Me Lumpy, where he discusses his past on the set of Leave It To Beaver. In it, he writes that Jerry Mathers and Hugh Beaumont, though they played a loving father and son on television, actually didn’t care for each other that much. He wrote, “Jerry and Hugh were not the best of friends. Really, I think there was just a lot of difference in personality between the two. Water and oil. Jerry was young. Hugh was older. Hugh was sterner. And I don’t think Jerry liked that. I believe Jerry didn’t like somebody who was that strict.” He even went on to write, “When the script called for friction between father and son, they weren’t exactly always acting.”

He clarified, “I knew there was no long-lost love there between them. But it wasn’t open dislike or warfare either. You didn’t do things that way back then too often. It was more just beneath the surface.”

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Now, it’s not that unusual to clash with an authority-like figure when you’re a child; in fact, it’s pretty normal. Especially considering that many of the Leave It To Beaver kids have maintained that Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont were just as parent-like to them off-screen as they were on, it makes sense that Mathers may have conflicted with Beaumont in the same way that a son would conflict with his father.

But let’s not all believe Lumpy so soon. In his book, Mathers has an opportunity to describe his relationship with Beaumont. Mathers revealed that Hugh was not only a presence in his professional life, but his personal life as well. He said, “I knew Hugh before Leave It To Beaver. Hugh actually was a very, very close friend of my family. So I knew him not only on the set but off the set. He would come over and my father and he would play golf and things like that.”

Of Beaumont, Mathers also said, “Aside from being someone I worked with, Hugh was like a Dutch Uncle, maybe.” For those who don’t know, a Dutch Uncle is someone who is harsh and critical against someone else but uses that criticism to encourage or educate them. So, it looks like Lumpy and The Beav can both be right. Perhaps Mathers chafed against Beaumont’s encouragement now and again, but ultimately was grateful for it and appreciated Beaumont’s efforts.

In addition, Mathers discussed Beaumont in a post on his website, in which he called Beaumont his “friend and mentor,” and revealed that the two had been on screen together before they starred in Leave It To Beaver during a promotional film for Rose Hills Memorial Park.

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6 Comments

Grizz 14 days ago
Absolutely love the show always have…However I have come to realize just recently that Tony Dow had some depression issues. 😖 I feel so very, very bad now back in the 80’s I was was filling in for an L.P. Mgr in Los Angeles as I worked for MTS (Tower Records) and traveled to L.A. and Vegas, S.D. Ca. Well I happened to be at the L.A. location this time. I see Tony Dow at this time and he was looking at some CD’s well he had maybe 3 or 4 in his hand and put them under his arm to look and pick out some other ones. Ok let me clarify HE WAS NOT STEALING THEM but I walked up behind him and quietly said in my best attempt to mimic Beaver “Gee wally you’re not really going to steal those are ya dad will clobber you” I laughed and he just looked up at me and half smiled and said thanks for watching he shook my hand great guy I saw him a couple more times and he just half smiled I never asked for an autograph then or any other time as many, many celebrities shopped there. Well of course years and years later I read were he had depression difficulties because of identity being typecast etc etc 😫!!! I feel so horrible now I meant no harm or disrespect I always thought he was cool I’ve seen him on Emergency and other stuff so I never just thought of him as just Wally.
Heck the guy was like a swimmer with an Olympic team. So if anyone from his family or friends ever read this I’am so so so very very sorry please forgive me I miss seeing him I’ve seen some of his sculptures and thought they were great he was more than just Wally he really was so sorry Mr Dow.🙏🏼 I hope you can hear me. 🤙 🏄‍♂️
JP 18 months ago
Had to edit this sentence ;) 'He would come over and my father and he would play golf and JUNK.”
Jerryfan 18 months ago
Some of my family is buried at Rose Hills including my mom and my grandparents. I'm glad that JM was kind and ultimately does seem to have good memories of his TV dad.
Pacificsun 18 months ago
For awhile I thought I was "imagining" another comment made about HB. To the effect that Mr. Beaumont was so "resentful" of what happened in terms of the family's tragedy and his association with the series. That he was characterized as to "walking" through his role. I'd never read a negative comment about him before. A day later that comment was no longer part of the article. So Mr. Mathers must've spoken up. One, it's never kind to speak ill of the deceased. And two, to diminish a long standing reputation. JM was (is) far too much of a professional to be uselessly, negative.
LoveMETV22 18 months ago
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Pacificsun LoveMETV22 18 months ago
Doesn't that just sound like a Frank Bank's comment, character or not. Or maybe it should be relabeled as a George Takai take on the world. Heavens, graciously accept your television recognition.
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