His real name was Ken Osmond, but generations of Americans knew him as Eddie Haskell, the two-faced ass-kissing kid on the TV series Leave It to Beaver.
He was born in 1943 and grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, CA. His father created props for the film and television industry.
Ken and his brother were born to a stereotypical showbiz mother who prodded both of her young sons to pursue acting at an early age. Ken began at four years old, mostly appearing in television commercials. He finally landed a speaking role in a movie at age nine.
1957: The CBS Network picked up Leave It to Beaver when Osmond was fourteen - by then a ten-year showbiz veteran.
The part of Eddie Haskell was originally supposed to be a one-time-only character, but Osmond’s performance convinced the show runners to bring back Eddie as a regular. He appeared in over 40% of the series’ 235 episodes.
CBS aired the first season but dropped the show. ABC picked it up for the remainder of its run until the summer of 1963. By the time it went off the air, Ken Osmond was 20 years old and a member of the US Army Reserve.
During the years it originally ran, not many viewers tuned in to watch Leave It to Beaver. According to Nielsen Ratings, it ran somewhere near the middle of the pack in terms of popularity. The show’s enduring fame came through endless reruns.
Osmond continued to act throughout the 1960s, but at nearly every audition he found it difficult to shake people’s perceptions of him as Eddie Haskell. He needed work. So he chose a new career.
1970: Ken Osmond joined the Los Angeles Police Department and became a motorcycle cop.
To hide his famous appearance from the public, he grew a mustache. His fellow officers knew his identity, but drivers he pulled over on LA’s freeways had no idea who he was.
A bizarre rumor spread around Los Angeles that the actor who portrayed Eddie Haskell had grown up to become porn star John Holmes. To prove the rumor was false, LAPD’s Internal Affairs division had Osmond remove his clothes to show that he was not as well hung as John Holmes. Osmond sued porn producers for using his character to promote their products, but he lost every case.
After ten years on the police force, Osmond was involved in a dangerous stolen car pursuit. During the incident, the assailant shot at him. Two bullets struck him in the chest. A Kevlar vest saved his life. He was taken to a hospital and had to share the ambulance ride with the man who had shot him.
The incident sent Osmond into a depression, which grew worse a month later when he was involved in another shooting.
For several years thereafter, Osmond struggled to get the LAPD Pension Commission to give him disability pay. After a long legal bout, he was granted his full pension with back pay in 1988.
During that same period of the 1980s, Osmond recreated Eddie Haskell (as an adult) on four seasons of The New Leave It to Beaver, which ran on TBS.
Osmond continued acting for the remainder of his life, doing small TV roles here and there, and died in 2020 just shy of his 77th birthday.
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