By Michael Buckley
03 Jun 2007
Jerry Mathers is the only actor who's had Bob Hope save his life and Shelley Winters (erroneously) announce his death on national TV. Forever identified with the role of Theodore "Beaver"/"The Beav" Cleaver, whom he played on "Leave It to Beaver," from 1957 to 1963, he's celebrating his 59th birthday (June 2) by making his Broadway debut in Hairspray June 5, the show's 2,000th performance.
An enthusiastic Mathers exclaims, "For an actor, Broadway is the pinnacle! My agent called and asked, 'How would you like to do a Broadway show?' For me, just to be able to tell people I auditioned would be a treat. I flew in [from L.A.], did it, and the next thing you know, here I am."
Admits Mathers, "The dancing [in Hairspray] is the biggest challenge. But I'm kind of a perfectionist and I like challenges. When I auditioned, I sang the chorus of 'Timeless' [Wilbur and Edna's duet, "Timeless to Me"], and read some lines. I went in thinking: It's just an audition. When I finished, I started to walk out, and one of the producers asked me to wait, so the dance captain could work with me. I wasn't very good at it; I've never been a dancer. I'm also diabetic, which I control with diet and exercise. I have to be in good shape and check my blood sugar to be sure I'm alright to go onstage." (The actor's a spokesperson for Johnson & Johnson's OneTouch UltraMini System, which monitors blood glucose.)
Mathers has often been asked if the "Beaver" connection was a blessing or a curse, and he always replies, "I consider it only a plus. I grew up in people's living rooms. I took the money I made and used it to put myself through college [earning a BA in Philosophy from UC-Berkeley]. Another question he's often asked is if he'd have one of his offspring be a child actor. "I tell people if you are putting your child in show business, don't. If the child is begging to do it, that's different. My children [Noah, Mercedes, Gretchen] were in children's theatre."
He started modeling at age two, made his TV debut on "The Ed Wynn Show," and is listed as having made his movie debut in "Son of Paleface" with Bob Hope. Claims Mathers, "I think I did, but I definitely don't remember." He does recall making two other Bob Hope films: "The Seven Little Foys" (1955) and "That Certain Feeling" (1956), adapted from Jean Kerr's 1954 Broadway comedy King of Hearts.
Playing young Bryan, one of Eddie Foy's seven kids, Mathers was placed on a catwalk for what was a re-enactment of a real Chicago-theatre fire, where Foy was dancing onstage and prevented many possible deaths by calming the audience. "A stuntman, dressed like Hope, was supposed to rush up a ladder when the curtain went on fire, grab me, and bring me down. They put too much gasoline on the curtain, the extras panicked, knocked down the ladder, and pushed the stuntman to safety. Bob Hope was watching the scene, put the ladder back up, crawled up and grabbed me, and took me through the flames. He saved my life!" (Thanks for the memory.)
Of his pre-"Beaver" films, Mathers particularly likes Alfred Hitchcock's comedy "The Trouble with Harry." He explains, "Shirley MacLaine [making her screen debut as his mother] was very nice, very beautiful. It was the first time I was away from home. We filmed in Vermont. Mr. Hitchcock was very kind to me. Edmund Gwenn [in his final role] was absolutely wonderful! I'd sit on his knee, and he'd tell me stories. It was a great cast: John Forsythe, Mildred Dunnock, Mildred Natwick. I'm in awe of the caliber of people I've worked with, but I was a kid at the time and didn't realize it. To me, they were just really nice people. I've been truly blessed with my life and career."
During the Vietnam War, while Mathers was serving in the Air Force National Guard, Shelley Winters was a guest on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," and told viewers that Jerry Mathers had been killed in Vietnam. Luckily for Mathers, as Mark Twain once said, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
Twice divorced, Mathers has also worked in banking and real estate. In the 1982 TV-movie "Still the Beaver," he played a grown-up "Beav," which led to a syndicated series "The New Leave It to Beaver," in which he appeared and many episodes of which he directed. He'll soon be seen on a PBS-TV special, "Getting Around," which "deals with the baby-boom generation, and how they may have to take away the [car] keys from aging parents."
Meanwhile, he's onstage at the Neil Simon Theatre, playing opposite Paul C. Vogt's Edna. "Broadway is an elite club that I've been asked to join," declares Mathers, "and I want to be able to come up to that level, and be an active member of this fraternity. Everyone in the cast and the producers have been so good to me and so helpful. That's what has given me the confidence to know that I can do this!"
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Some Tony Thoughts
Sunday, June 10, is Tony night and I'm not referring to the final episode of "The Sopranos" (which runs that night on HBO). I predict that Audra McDonald will take home her fifth medallion (the first in a Best Actress category). Her talent shines so brightly — both vocally and dramatically — that, with Audra, it's always 110 in the Shade. Long may she reign!
Raul Esparza will earn a Tony for his Bobby, and John Doyle's Company will be chosen Best Musical Revival.
Though Curtains was my favorite, no doubt Spring Awakening will win Best Musical. It proves that teens will be teens — even more than a century ago, when there was sex and education, but no sex-education. And while I preferred Radio Golf, The Coast of Utopia has a lock on Best Play.
Journey's End, which closes June 10, should receive the Best Revival of a Play award. If nominee Boyd Gaines were to win as Best Actor in a Play, it would mark his fourth Tony — one in each of the four acting categories.
Gaines previously won as Actor, Musical (She Loves Me), Featured Actor, Musical (Contact), and Featured Actor, Play (The Heidi Chronicles).
Eve Best will return to England as a Tony winner for A Moon for the Misbegotten, O'Neill's story of boy meets girl, girl makes pass, boy passes out. I think that the Featured Actress winners will be Karen Ziemba (Curtains) and Martha Plimpton (Utopia).
Almost any of the Featured Actor, Play, nominees — Anthony Chisholm and John Earl Jelks (Radio Golf); Billy Crudup and Ethan Hawke (Utopia); Stark Sands (Journey's End) — could win; my guess is that it will be Crudup. And Featured Actor, Musical, is a close call between John Cullum's Dad in 110 and David Pittu's Brecht in LoveMusik.
As stated in previous columns, I think that there should be a Tony for Best Concession Stand Items. Contenders would include the Frost/Nixon Chief Executive coffee mug, guaranteed to have no leaks; the Spring Awakening 1890s neon condoms; and, at Inherit the Wind, Clarence Darrow's briefs. Happy Tony viewing!
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| Nikki Blonsky in "Hairspray."
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| photo by New Line Cinema |
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