Barbara Billingsley

About

Barbara Billingsley (December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010) was an American actress. She began her career in Shadow on the Wall (1950), and with uncredited roles in Three Guys Named Mike (1951), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and Invaders from Mars (1953) and was featured in the 1957 film The Careless Years opposite Natalie Trundy. She then appeared in recurring television roles, such as The Brothers.
Billingsley gained prominence for her best-known role of June Cleaver, the mother in the television series Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963) and its sequel The New Leave It to Beaver (1983–1989). She appeared as the “Jive Lady” in Airplane! (1980) and her final film role was as Aunt Martha in the 1997 film version of Leave It to Beaver.

Billingsley was born Barbara Lillian Combes on December 22, 1915, in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Lillian Agnes (née McLaughlin) and Robert Collyer Combes, a police officer. She had one elder sibling, Elizabeth. Her parents divorced before her fourth birthday and her father went on to remarry and become an assistant chief of police. After the divorce, Billingsley’s mother began working as a forewoman at a knitting mill.

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