Robert "Rusty" Stevens (born 1948) is an American former

child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...

best remembered for his role as

Larry Mondello Larry Mondello is a fictional character from the iconic American television series '' Leave It to Beaver'' (1957–1963). He is portrayed by child actor Robert "Rusty" Stevens. Larry Mondello appears in 68 of the show's 234 episodes over th ...

, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver's young friend, in the original '' Leave It to Beaver''

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

. Stevens appeared in 67 of the show's 234 episodes, between 1957 and 1960.

Career

Stevens had parts in some TV shows before and after he portrayed

in the sitcom Leave It to Beaver. It was reported that he left the show in 1960 because his family moved from Burbank to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, however,

Barbara Billingsley Barbara Billingsley (born Barbara Lillian Combes; December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010) was an American actress. She began her career with uncredited roles in ''Three Guys Named Mike'' (1951), ''The Bad and the Beautiful'' (1952), and '' Inva ...

, who played "

June Cleaver June Evelyn Bronson Cleaver is a principal character in the American television sitcom '' Leave It to Beaver''. June and her husband, Ward, are often invoked as the archetypal suburban parents of the 1950s. The couple are the parents of two sons, ...

" on the series, said in a TV Archive interview that Stevens was fired because his overbearing stage mother caused grief for the producers of the series. Stevens briefly returned to acting when he reprised his role as Larry Mondello in the 1983 made-for-television reunion movie '' Still the Beaver.'' He was able to join the cast for Still the Beaver, after

Jerry Mathers Gerald Patrick Mathers (born June 2, 1948) is an American actor best known for his role in the television sitcom '' Leave It to Beaver'', originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963, in which he played the protagonist Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the y ...

, who portrayed

Beaver Cleaver Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver is the fictional title character in the American television series '' Leave It to Beaver''. Originally played by Jerry Mathers, Beaver is the son of June and Ward Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont, respective ...

, tracked him down after searching for many years. At the time, he was working as a car insurance salesman in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Partial filmography

References

External links

* 1948 births American male television actors American male child actors Living people Male actors from Boston Male actors from Los Angeles {{US-tv-actor-1940s-stub