| June 2 |
| 1917 -- prolific actor Max Showalter is born in Caldwell Kansas. He guested on more than 2,000 television episodes and played the role of Horace Vandergelder on stage in 'Hello, Dolly!' more than 3,000 times. His last performance was 1984's 'Sixteen Candles,' in which he played Molly Ringwald's slightly straight-forward Grandpa Fred. Showalter also played the role of Ward Cleaver in the pilot of 'Leave It to Beaver.' Oddly, the usually congenial actor played the role in an uncomfortable no-nonsense, authoritarian vein. Before the series began filming, Max was replaced in the role of Hugh Beaumont. Max Showalter died of cancer in 2000 at the age of 83. 1948 -- Jerry Mathers is born in Sioux City, Iowa. Forever Theodore 'Beaver' Cleaver, Jerry told me in a 2006 interview that he is still best friends with 'Rusty' Stevens, who played Beaver's best friend, Larry Mondello. 1957 -- CBS correspondent becomes the first American to interview Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. 1977 -- veteran character actor Forrest Lewis dies of a heart attack on this date. A staple of television in the '50s and '60s, he had the distinction of playing four separate characters during the course of 'The Andy Griffith Show,' including Luther, the hard-of-hearing tuba player on 'The Sermon for Today,' and as Cy Hudgins, owner of the hazardous dynamite-eating goat in 'The Loaded Goat.' Forrest was 77 at the time of his death. 1979 -- Dana James (Jim) Hutton dies of liver cancer. Born in Binghamton, New York, the gangly Hutton was at one time seen as a possible successor to another Jim: Jimmy Stewart. While his career didn't reach those heights, the under-appreciated actor made his biggest television impressions in the still-spooky telefilm 'Don't Bed Afraid of the Dark,' with Kim Darby, and as popular WWII-era sleuth/mystery writer Ellery Queen in the mid-70s. Tragically, Jim was only 45 when he died. He's the father of actor Tim Hutton. 1981 -- During a television interview, Barbara Walters infamously asks film legend Katherine Hepburn what kind of tree she would be. Katherine graciously responds 'an oak tree, strong and pretty.' 1985 -- On 'Murder, She Wrote,' Jessica Fletcher must solve the murder of a theme-park tycoon. The tycoon is played by James Coco. 2001 -- comedienne Imogene Coca dies at the age of 92. Most famous for 'Your Show of Shows,' she also left a lasting impression as the constantly complaining Aunt Edna on the big screen's 'National Lampoon's Vacation.' |