- Born
- Died
- Birth nameBarbara Lillian Combes
- Nicknames
- Barbara Billinsley
- Barbara Combes
- Height5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
- Born Barbara Lillian Combes, she attended Los Angeles Junior College in the mid-1930s and then moved to New York City, where she worked as a model. In 1945, she received a contract from MGM, and she appeared in several films during the late 1940s and 1950s, sometimes without screen credit. In the 1950s, she turned to television and appeared in shows including the sitcoms Professional Father (1955) and The Box Brothers (1956), as well as guest-starring on "The Abbott and Costello Show", the David Niven anthology series, Four Star Playhouse (1952), and the sitcom, Mr. Adams and Eve (1957). In 1957, Billingsley began starring in the sitcom, Leave It to Beaver (1957), as "June Cleaver", mother to "Wally" and "Theodore", nicknamed "Beaver". She appeared in her most famous role for 234 episodes, remaining with the show until it ended after six seasons. After 17 years of semi-retirement, Billingsley returned to movies in 1980's Airplane! (1980), creating another iconic role by spoofing her wholesome image with a brief appearance in this send-up of 1970s disaster movies, as a middle-aged white passenger who could translate between a white stewardess and two African-American passengers, because "I speak jive". She also appeared in The New Leave It to Beaver (1983), which ran from 1983 to 1989, and voiced the character of "Nanny" in the Muppet Babies (1984) cartoon series, from 1984 to 1991. Billingsley continued to act occasionally, including appearances on the sitcoms, Roseanne (1988) and Empty Nest (1988), and died at her home, after having dealt for several years with the effects of a rheumatoid disease.
- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- SpousesDr. William Leigh Mortensen(June 28, 1959 - July 5, 1981) (his death)Roy Kellino(November 15, 1953 - November 18, 1956) (his death)Glenn Andrew Billingsley(October 11, 1940 - February 13, 1947) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenGlenn Billingsley JrDrew Billingsley
- ParentsLillian Agnes McLaughlinRobert Collyer Combes
- Her pearls
- Her June Cleaver character
- Deep husky, sultry voice.
- Vacuuming while wearing high heels, a below the knee skirt or dress, and a string of gleaming white pearls (usually choker style) around her neck.
- 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.
- Her show, Leave It to Beaver (1957), was canceled at the end of the sixth season because her castmates desired to move on to other projects. Also, Tony Dow was graduating from high school and Jerry Mathers was entering high school that year.
- Was reunited with her ex-Leave It to Beaver (1957) co-stars, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers, along with ex-Airplane! (1980) co-star, Peter Graves, on the final episode of The Love Boat (1977).
- After her second husband Roy Kellino died prematurely of a heart attack in 1956, she married Dr. William Mortensen, a Santa Monica physician and widower who was an old friend of hers and Roy's during their marriage.
- She and first husband Glenn Billingsley, a successful restaurateur, had two sons, Drew and Glenn, Jr. Since 1974, Drew and Glenn have owned and operated Billingsley's Restaurant in West Los Angeles, in the tradition of their father, and their great uncle, Sherman Billingsley, founder of New York City's very fashionable 1940s-era nightclub, The Stork Club.
- 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.
- June Cleaver didn't keep her house in perfect order, the prop man did it.
- [asked in 2000 if there was a difference between her and the June Cleaver character] My sons say, no. Gradually what happened is the writers started writing about you, as well as the character they created originally. So you all become mixed up.
- [of Jerry Mathers who played "The Beaver"] Jerry told me it had been a dream of his always to be able to go to New York and be in a Broadway show. So all we have to do is decide what we want to do. You have to have a dream.
- [about auditioning for June Cleaver] Well, I was doing the script, and I don't think I could have changed it. But I loved it.
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