10 Interesting Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About ‘Leave It to Beaver’ Actor Jerry Mathers

Jerry Mathers Enjoyed Childhood Stardom

Jerry described his time on set of the series as pure fun with his costars.

“What was great is that we were sent the full line of everything they made; they even sent Schwinn bicycles for my sister, my brother and myself, because I rode one on the show,” he told Closer in May 2019. “Being in the ‘spotlight’ wasn’t anything different for me. I’ve been an actor since I was two years old. I worked with Hitchcock, I did two movies with Bob Hope. I worked as much before Leave It to Beaver as I did during it. Plus, people don’t pay a lot of attention to kids. Some people would recognize me on the street, but not that many. It was just a really good life. I had a great education and I got to do some fabulous things, like getting a private tour of the Smithsonian. Any place we went, we were singled out pretty much and got great treatment. Just a fantastic life for a kid.”

He Got a Great Education

Jerry explained that he got a “really good” education while starring on Leave It to Beaver.

“I had a private tutor, which is the education of the kings and queens of Europe,” he told First for Women in February 2024. “My dad ended up as the superintendent of L.A. City Schools, but at the time he was a vice principal and principal, and he could pick out of the entire L.A.”

Jerry Wanted to Play Sports Like Tony Dow

Dow was known as a swimmer and a gymnast before portraying Wallace “Wally” Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver. Jerry looked up to his onscreen brother.

“What I wanted to do was play sports,” the Iowa native confessed. “Tony Dow had been a star athlete. He was a gymnast. In fact, that’s one of the reasons they picked him, but he never really got to do his gymnastics on camera.”

“Had he not done Leave It to Beaver, he probably would have been an Olympian, because that’s what he was training for and that’s what they wanted,” he continued. “When he interviewed for the show, they said, ‘Highly athletic.’ What’s funny is that Tony could take three or four steps, jump up in the air, do a front flip and land on his feet. And I said to myself, ‘I can’t do that,’ not realizing that most everybody else couldn’t do that, either. But he was the only person that I was really around, so I didn’t know. I would just look at him and go, ‘Oh, OK, I’m not gonna try that.”

He Became a Child Actor By Chance

Jerry’s first brush with the acting came after he was approached by a scout during an outing with his mom.

“My mom happened to be at a department store, and a lady came up to her and said, ‘Is this your little boy? We have a fashion show — could he be one of our models?’ That’s how I got started,” he told Closer in April 2024. “At the time, live TV was just getting started, so I started doing live TV because I was used to walking out in front of an audience [from the fashion shows].”

Jerry Mathers Got to Meet His Idols

Working on Leave It to Beaver meant that Jerry got to meet some of his idols.

“Sure, [Beaver was taped] at Universal. There were probably 12 to 15 soundstages, and you’d see these people,” the Still the Beaver actor said. “There was also a certain place in the commissary where the actors would go and have their lunch or dinner. It was really fun for me as a kid. I got to meet Alfred Hitchcock and Bob Hope. I actually did a couple of movies with Bob Hope. Those were just really fun times for me.”

Who Did He Enjoy Working With?

Jerry named Alfred Hitchcock as one of the people he enjoyed working with the most. The duo teamed up for 1955’s The Trouble With Harry.

Jerry Was Actually Not in ‘I Love Lucy’

Many fans of Jerry have pointed out how much he looked like the little boy who appeared in the I Love Lucy episode titled “Ricky’s Old Girlfriend.” He clarified that he was not the actor in the episode.

“I know that many of you have wondered whether or not I appeared in the I Love Lucy episode, ‘Ricky’s Old Girlfriend.’ Although the young boy with Lucy in the dream sequence may resemble me, I never appeared in an I Love Lucy episode,” Jerry wrote on Facebook in March 2019. “I enjoy your discussions about the topics that you find interesting about LITB, as well as other facets of my life!”

He Likes to Give Back

In December 2019, Jerry took part in an effort to give back to underprivileged kids in an event at The Hollywood Museum.

“I feel kind of lucky for all the wonderful things that I have in my life,” he said. “It’s such a small gesture to be able to help bring so much joy to the children out there at the Dolores Mission School. And it’s definitely a win-win. Truthfully, I was honored to be asked to be a part of this wonderful annual event. Mrs. Dadigan from The Hollywood Museum and the kids were so excited. It’s always fun to have fans like that, especially at that age, because you’ll have them for a long time. It was good to see them enjoy themselves so much.”

He Revealed Some of His Favorite Childhood TV Shows

Jerry credited the writers and the cast of Leave It to Beaver for making the show so great. He also shared one of the TV shows he watched as a kid.

“I know I used to watch The Little Rascals and shows like that as a kid, so I can understand the appeal of a good show with a good message,” he said about his childhood. “Not that The Little Rascals had that, but I watched it anyway. But Leave It to Beaver was a good show with a good message with stories that all came from real life in the fifties and sixties and are still happening to kids today.”

Barbara Billingsley Was His Mentor

Jerry credits Beaver costar Billingsley as one of his mentors from early on in his life. The late actress died in October 2010 at age 94.

“Barbara Billingsley was a good friend and an even better mentor,” he shared. “For me, she was like the favorite teacher that we all had in school. I was lucky enough to work with her for six years and have a life-long relationship with her.”