Barbara Billingsley, who turned the character of sitcom mom June Cleaver in the long-running show Leave It To Beaver into a beloved pop culture icon, died earlier this week at age 94. Billingsley's warm and comforting touch epitomized a fantasy view of suburban life that never really existed: the neighborhoods were perfect, violence was non-existence, politics was never discussed and the greatest crisis might be Beaver's attempt to cover up a bad report card. Billingsley co-starred for six years with actor Hugh Beaumont as June's husband Ward. Tony Dow played older son Wally and Jerry Mathers played The Beaver. The show was so popular that it was revived in the 1980s with both actors playing characters who were now coping with the problems of approaching middle age. Billingsley also revived her role as June, but Beaumont had passed away before the new series went into production. Billingsley had initially been under contract with MGM before striking it big on TV. She made a memorable and hilarious cameo appearance in the 1980 film Airplane playing a prim and proper housewife with an unlikely knack for chatting in jive talk. For more click here
