Jerry Mathers

Mathers was born in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1948, the son of a high school principal, and grew up in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California.[1] Mathers has three siblings, one sister and two brothers, including Jimmy Mathers.

Mathers began his career at the age of 2 when he appeared as a child model for a department store ad.[2] Soon after, he starred in a commercial for PET Milk opposite vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn.[1]

His early movies included This is My Love (1954), Men of the Fighting Lady (1954), The Seven Little Foys (1955) and Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble with Harry (1955), in which he plays the son of Shirley MacLaine and finds a dead body in the forest.

Jerry Mathers in US Air Force uniform

As he moved into his teenage years, Mathers retired from acting to concentrate on high school. He attended Notre Dame High School, in Sherman Oaks, California. During this time he led a musical band called Beaver and the Trappers.[1] While he was still in high school, Mathers joined the United States Air Force Reserve, in 1966. Wearing his dress uniform, Mathers and child actress Angela Cartwright presented an Emmy award to Gene Kelly in 1967. After graduating from high school in 1967, Mathers continued to serve in the Reserve and made the rank of Sergeant.[9] In December 1969, a rumor began that Mathers was killed in action in the Vietnam War. Although the origin of the rumor is unclear,[10] Mathers never saw action and was never stationed outside of the United States.[11][12] Years later, in 1980, Mathers and Dow appeared with Bill Murray on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update segment, making fun of the Vietnam War death rumor.[13]

In 1973, Mathers attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy.[14] He then worked as a commercial loan officer at a bank before using well-invested savings from his acting career, which began at $500 a week,[15] to begin a career in real estate development. In 1978, he reentered the entertainment industry. That year, he and Tony Dow starred in a production of the comedy play Boeing, Boeing which ran for ten weeks in Kansas City. Mathers and Dow then toured the dinner theater circuit in a production of So Long, Stanley for 18 months. In 1981, he worked as a disc jockey at KEZY radio in Anaheim, California.[8]

In 1983, Mathers reprised his role in the television reunion film Still the Beaver, which also featured the majority of the original Leave It to Beaver cast.[8] The success of the television film led to the development of a sequel series, of the same title. The series began airing on the Disney Channel in 1984, then went on to be picked up by TBS and broadcast syndication, where it was retitled The New Leave It to Beaver and ran until 1989.[16]

Mathers has since continued his career in films and television roles. In the 1990s, he guest starred on episodes of Parker Lewis Can't Lose, Vengeance Unlimited, Diagnosis Murder, and as himself on Married... with Children. In 1998, Mathers released his memoirs, And Jerry Mathers as The Beaver.[17]

In 2001, he appeared on a special episode of The Weakest Link titled "Child TV stars edition," where he got voted off in the first round.

On June 5, 2007, he made his Broadway debut with a starring role as Wilbur Turnblad in the Tony-winning best musical Hairspray at the Neil Simon Theater.[4]

In 2018 and 2019, Mathers was seen promoting the Leave It To Beaver television series and other classic television series on the MeTV television network.

Mathers is a former member of the 146AW, California ANG (Air National Guard aka the Hollywood Guard), Van Nuys, California.

Mathers in 2007

Mathers has been married three times. He met his first wife, Diana Platt, in college. She attended Vallejo Senior High in California; class of 1969. They married in 1974 and later divorced.[14][19] Mathers met his second wife, Rhonda Gehring, while touring in the production of So Long, Stanley. They have three children, a son (Noah) and two daughters (Mercedes and Gretchen). Mathers and Gehring later divorced.[20] Mathers married his third wife, Teresa Modnick, in Huntington Beach on January 30, 2011.[21]

• And Jerry Mathers as The Beaver; Mathers, Jerry and Fagen, Herb; Berkley Trade (1998)
• Holmstrom, John. The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995. Norwich, Michael Russell, 1996, p. 275.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jerry Mathers.

• Official website
• Jerry Mathers at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jerry Mathers at IMDb
• Jerry Mathers at the TCM Movie Database
• Jerry Mathers at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television
• Interview with Jerry Mathers, Montgomery Advertiser, February 10, 2015.
• Interview with Jerry Mathers at Classic Film & TV Cafe, February 11, 2019.