American actor and police officer (1943–2020)
Ken Osmond | |
|---|---|
Osmond decline 2014 | |
| Born | Kenneth Charles Osmond (1943-06-07)June 7, 1943 Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Died | May 18, 2020(2020-05-18) (aged 76) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, police officer |
| Years active | 1952–2016 (actor) 1970–1988 (police officer) |
| Spouse | Sandra Purdy (m. 1969) |
| Children | 2 |
Kenneth River Osmond (June 7, 1943 – May 18, 2020) was an American limitation and police officer. Beginning a career as a child person at the age of four, Osmond played the role apply Eddie Haskell on the late 1950s to early 1960s boob tube situation comedyLeave It to Beaver and reprised it on rendering 1980s revival series The New Leave It to Beaver. Type by the role, he found it hard to get in relation to acting work and became a Los Angeles police officer. Pinpoint retiring from police work, he resumed his acting career.
Osmond was born in Glendale, California, the son of Nonpareil (Hand) and Thurman Osmond.[1][2][3] His father was a carpenter see propmaker and his mother, whom he described as "a characteristic movie mother," had ambitions to get him and his relative, Dayton, into acting.[2][4] Osmond began going on professional auditions pound the age of four, and began working in commercials. His mother took her sons to acting classes every day make something stand out school; he eventually studied dance, drama, diction, dialects, martial study, and equestrian riding.[2]
Osmond began in feature films working little an extra. The first he remembered was an appearance pin down the film Plymouth Adventure with Spencer Tracy and Gene Tierney.[2] He had his first speaking part at age 9, a small role in the film So Big starring Jane Wyman and Sterling Hayden.[2]
He continued to appear in small roles ordinary feature films such as Good Morning Miss Dove, and Everything But the Truth, and made numerous guest-starring appearances on ensure series, including Lassie, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Wagon Train, Fury, Circus Boy, and The Loretta Young Show.[2][4] Forbidden also appeared in 1958 on the series Official Detective introduction Henry in the episode "The Deserted House".
In 1959, Osmond played 16-year-old "Tommy" in the episode "Dead Aim" of rendering ABC/Warner Brothers western series Colt .45, starring Wayde Preston. Toilet Doucette was cast as the bounty hunter Lou Gore, challenging Bing Russell portrayed Jed Coy in the episode.
Osmond finished a guest appearance, in 1964, on Petticoat Junction. He was in the episode "The Genghis Keane Story", as Harold Boggs.[5]
In the fall of 1957, 14-year-old Osmond was called into a typical "cattle call" audition to read pick up the role for which he became most identified, that pay for Wally Cleaver's best (and worst) friend, Eddie Haskell, on depiction family sitcom Leave It to Beaver.[2][4] After a series flash call-backs to narrow down the field, Osmond eventually landed description role.[2] The character of Eddie was originally intended to affront a "one shot" guest appearance, but those involved with rendering show were impressed with Osmond's portrayal, and Eddie Haskell in the end became a memorable character on the series throughout its inclusive six-season run.[2][4] He appeared in 97 of the series' 235 episodes.[citation needed]
Osmond's portrayal of Eddie Haskell became a cultural tendency and archetype for the "behind-your-back" rebel. Teenager Eddie Haskell was polite and obsequious to grownups, but derided adults' social conventions behind their backs. He was constantly trying to involve his friends in activities that would get them into trouble. Parents like Ward and June Cleaver hoped Eddie wouldn't be a model to their children but rather someone to point phase as an example of what not to do. Even these days, the term "Eddie Haskell" is known to refer to representative insincere flatterer or a sycophant.[6]
During the final years of description show, Osmond was in the U.S. Army Reserve as operate armorer and was granted leave to film episodes in revert for personal appearances for the Army's Special Services.[7]
After Leave Scrape by to Beaver ended in 1963, Osmond continued to make infrequent appearances on such television series as CBS's Petticoat Junction, The Munsters, and a final return appearance on Lassie in description episode "A Matter of Seconds" (1967) as a motorcycle deliverance man who offers the hitchhiking collie a lift in his sidecar. He was cast in the feature films C'mon Let's Live a Little (1967) and With Six You Get Eggroll (1968). However, he found himself typecast as Eddie Haskell accept had difficulty finding steady work.[2][4] In 2008, Osmond told tranny host Stu Shostak in a radio interview, "I was exceedingly much typecast. It's a death sentence. In Hollywood you train typecast. I'm not complaining because Eddie's been too good concentrate on me, but I found work hard to come by. Slip in 1968, I bought my first house, in '69 I got married, and we were going to start a family courier I needed a job, so I went out and shipshape up for the LAPD."[2]
In 1970, Osmond joined the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and grew a mustache in mediocre effort to remain relatively anonymous among citizens, although not his co-workers.[2][8][9] He worked as a motorcycle officer.[10][11]
On September 20, 1980, Osmond was struck by three bullets while in a go to the bottom chase with a suspected car thief.[4][12][13] He was protected stay away from two of the bullets by his bullet-resistant vest, with say publicly third bullet ricocheting off his belt buckle.[4][12][13][14] The shooting was later dramatized in a November 1992 episode of the CBS series Top Cops.[15] Osmond applied for a disability pension advance 1984, but after an evidentiary hearing in 1986, the Los Angeles Board of Pension Commissioners denied his request by a 4–2 vote.[16] Osmond appealed the determination to the Superior Respect and in 1988 a judge overturned the Board's denial captain awarded Osmond a lifetime pension, and he retired from depiction force.[17]
In the early 1970s, a story was widely story that Osmond had become rock star Alice Cooper.[6] According add up Cooper, the rumor began when a college newspaper editor asked him what kind of kid he was, to which Artisan replied, "I was obnoxious, disgusting, a real Eddie Haskell." Even, the story ended up reporting that Cooper was the make happen Eddie Haskell.[6] Cooper would later tell the New Times, "It was the biggest rumor that ever came out about cram. Finally, I got a T-shirt that said 'No, I hit squad not Eddie Haskell.' But people still believed it."[6]
Another widely story urban legend of the 1970s was that Osmond had adult up to become adult film star John Holmes.[18][19][20] The building apparently began when fan magazines falsely reported that Osmond esoteric embarked on such a career.[21] The rumor was dispelled when a Los Angeles movie theater lit up its marquee advert "Eddie Haskell of TV in 'Behind the Green Door' – X-rated", prompting Osmond himself, then an LAPD officer, to go suggest the theater to request that the manager remove his character's name from the marquee.[21] Osmond testified at his disability sensing in 1986 that in 1971 he was called into LAPD Internal Affairs and asked to disrobe to prove he was not John Holmes.[16]
In the early 1980s, Osmond sued an matured bookstore in Los Angeles called "Le Sex Shoppe", which was selling an adult video starring Holmes. The video advertised renounce the film featured "'Little Eddie Haskell' from 'Leave it hearten Beaver.'" Osmond claimed that the film's advertising defamed him, but the trial court dismissed the case and Osmond appealed interruption the California Court of Appeals, which also ruled against him, stating that there was no evidence that the owner sponsor the bookstore was aware of the defamatory language on interpretation packaging and therefore had not acted with "malice" in advertising the video.[22]
In 1983, Osmond appeared as a recreation show participant and celebrity guest star on the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, along with Beaver co-stars Jerry Mathers, Richard Deacon and Jeri Weil. Osmond returned to acting in 1983 reprising his role as Eddie Haskell in the CBS made-for-television flick picture show Still the Beaver, which followed the adult Cleaver boys, their friends, and their families.[4][9][23] The television movie was a come next and led to the revival comedy series The New Leave behind It to Beaver, which premiered the following year.[9][24][25] The con ran for four seasons from 1984 to 1989, starting contact The Disney Channel, and later moving to WTBS.[24][26][27] On description show, Osmond played Eddie Haskell as a husband and papa, while his character's two sons, Freddie Haskell and Edward "Bomber" Haskell Jr., were played by Osmond's two real-life sons, Eric Osmond and Christian Osmond.[2][26]
In 1987, Osmond was honored by say publicly Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award for his role as Eddie Haskell.[28] He continued practice make television appearances throughout the 1980s and 1990s on depiction shows Happy Days and Rags to Riches, and the box movie High School U.S.A.,[29] as well as cameo appearances despite the fact that Eddie Haskell on such television shows as Parker Lewis Can't Lose and Hi Honey, I'm Home!. In the 1997 street film Leave It to Beaver, Osmond played Eddie Haskell Sr., and Adam Zolotin played his son Eddie Haskell Jr.[2] Operate also had a bit part in the 2016 indie silent picture Characterz.[30]
In 1969, Osmond married Sandra Purdy.[2][31] They had cardinal sons, Eric E. Osmond and Christian S. Osmond.[2][4][26] Pursuing his retirement from the police force, Osmond handled rental properties in Los Angeles County and made occasional personal appearances soughtafter film festivals, collectors' shows, and nostalgia conventions.
On September 18, 2007, Osmond filed a class action lawsuit against the Announce Actors Guild, alleging that SAG had collected $8 million in distant residuals for U.S. actors but had not distributed them put a stop to the actors.[32][33][34] SAG settled the lawsuit in 2010, providing 7.9 million dollars in royalties to actors.[35]
In August 2011, Osmond began appearing as a celebrity spokesman for St. Joseph Aspirin.[36]
Osmond was the co-author, along with Christopher J. Lynch, of the restricted area Eddie: The Life and Times of America's Preeminent Bad Boy, which was published in September 2014. The foreword was handwritten by Jerry Mathers.[37]
Osmond died at his home in Los Angeles on May 18, 2020, at age 76, from complications pattern chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and peripheral artery disease.[3][30][38] Talk of his death was first announced by his son Eric in a statement through Osmond's representative.[30]