Barbara Billingsley(1915-2010)

The Cleaver clan became the iconic 1950s American nuclear family, and as Mrs. Cleaver she was often seen performing her household duties wearing complementary pearls and earrings. The pearls were actually her idea: she had a noticeable surgical scar on her neck and wore a strand of pearls to conceal it from the cameras.

Roy [her husband] died on a Saturday, while we were gardening. The Thursday before, I was up for the part of the mother in a series Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher were working on. Then Roy died, and nothing came of that series. But two months later, when they started on Leave It to Beaver (1957), they remembered me and asked me to read for the part of June. I've always thought that they felt sorry for me.