Celebrity Deaths

News broke this weekend and early this week regarding two legendary TV stars and their passing. The first was Barbara Billingsley, who was most famous for her role as June Cleaver in the classic TV show "Leave it to Beaver". And then we heard news of Tom Bosley's passing, who played the role of Howard Cunningham on the hit TV series "Happy Days". Both of those shows originally aired well before I was born (well, not "Happy Days, apparently. It went off the air when I was two years old), however, new generations are able to enjoy these classics all thanks to re-runs. I never really caught on to "Happy Days," but I knew of Tom Bosley. He had an iconic voice and presence that you just can't forget. So I was rather shocked to hear of his passing earlier in the week as it was pretty unexpected.

Now as for "Leave it to Beaver," it's a show I thoroughly enjoy. I first started watching re-runs of the show when I was in college and instantly, I was hooked. It came on after another classic TV show I enjoy, "Emergency!". I don't really know why I came to enjoy LitB in the first place - I guess I enjoyed the interaction between the kids on the show. As you know, "Leave it to Beaver" is a show from a kid's perspective. And that's really a unique thing.

Barbara played an iconic character in June Cleaver. It's a character considered to be one of the greatest TV mom's of all time. The show was based in an era when the man of the house went off to work while the wife stayed home and was the homemaker. June was often seen in dresses, wearing pearls, and especially later on in the show, wearing high heels. No, that wasn't how a typical homemaker dressed. The reason for the high heels on the show was because the creators of the show wanted June to always be taller than Wally and the Beaver. So if you remember seeing June vacuuming in high heels, that was why. As for the pearls, Barbara always wore pearls, even when she was out of character. The reason for it was because she had a hollow in her neck that would cast a shadow during filming. And it became somewhat of a comfort for her to wear them all of the time, so she did.

June Cleaver was a caring, loving mother and her character will live on for many generations to come. Many people have looked up to her through the years and there's no reason to be that won't continue as long as "Leave it to Beaver" airs in re-runs. Barbara Billingsley lived a long life - she was 94 when she died. Still, her presence as well as Tom Bosley's will be missed. They played iconic characters who in a lot of ways were inspiring. Even though they are no longer with us in person, their spirit will always be with us and we'll be able to enjoy a variety of memories of them as aired during re-runs.