Hulton Archive/Getty; Charley Gallay/Getty The Beaver is back! Jerry Mathers, who played the titular Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver on the hit 1950s sitcomLeave iI to Beaver,delighted viewers with autographs and photos at a fan event,the Hollywood Show, on June 6 and 7 in Burbank, Calif. Mathers, 77, reunited with Luke Tiger Fafara, 80, who played Tooey Brown, Stephen Talbot, 76, who played Gilbert, Veronica Cartwright, 76, who played Violet Rutherford and Jeri Weil, 77, who played Judy Hensler. POSE Photo Ops It's been more than 60 years sinceLeave It to Beaverleft the small screen in 1963 following its 1957 debut, but the show still has a legion of dedicated fans thanks to syndication (season 1 is alsostreaming on Peacock). AfterLeave It to Beaver, Mathers took a break from acting. He went to high school, where he played football. He then served in the Air National Guard and later attended the University of California, Berkeley to pursue a degree in philosophy. While at Berkeley, a rumor spread that Mathers had been killed in the Vietnam War. "People sent letters of condolence and flowers to my family," he recalled. CBS via Getty In 1978, he and his onscreen brother Tony Dow, who played Wally, starred in a production of the comedy playBoeing, Boeing, which ran for 10 weeks in Kansas City, Mo. The two later reunited for the reboot ofLeave It to Beaver, The New Leave It to Beaver,which aired from 1983 to 1989. Through the reboot, the classic show about Beaver Cleaver's misadventures was introduced to a new generation. Much of the main cast returned for the reboot. with the exception of Beaver's father, played by Hugh Beaumont, as the actor died in 1982. Dow died in 2022, and Cleaver family matriarch Barbara Billingsley died in 2010. Talbot also didn't return for the reboot, and like Mathers, quit child acting afterLeave It to Beaver.He attended Wesleyan University and went on to have a successful career in public television. "I'm trying to establish myself as a documentary filmmaker and an investigative reporter," Talbot toldSalon in a 1997 articleof his choice to not participate inThe New Leave It to Beaver. "I can't go back to being Gilbert." Weil, who played the smart-mouthed Judy, also found it difficult to shed her role as a bully once she left the show. "When I started junior high, nobody would even talk to me. I mean, I was Judy — who wanted to be friends with Judy Hensler?" she toldRemind Magazine. Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. She revealed that she left the show after 31 episodes after an alleged dispute with the showrunners' over attempts to hide her changing body. Other than making a guest appearance inThe New Leave It to Beaver, Weil didn't return to acting and instead enjoyed a successful career in real estate. Cartwright continued her acting career, working withAudrey HepburninThe Children's HourandAlfred HitchcockinThe Birds. She also had roles inInvasion of the Body SnatchersandTheWitches of Eastwick.As an adult, she received three Emmy nominations, two for her role inERand one for her role inThe X-Files. Cartwright still looks back on her time onLeave It to Beaverfondly. "It's always fun to run into each other and reminisce about our childhoods and the work we did together," Cartwright told Fox in 2021. Read the original article onPeople
