Rusty Stevens
Rusty Stevens | |
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Rusty Stevens in Leave It to Beaver | |
Born |
Robert "Rusty" Stevens November 25, 1948 Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
Occupation | Child actor: Larry Mondello on Leave It to Beaver |
Robert "Rusty" Stevens (born November 25, 1948) is an American former child actor best remembered for his role as Larry Mondello, Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver's young friend, in the original Leave It to Beaver television series. Stevens appeared in 68 of the show's 235 episodes, between 1957 and 1960. Stevens was reported to have left the show in 1960 because his family moved from Burbank to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, although Barbara Billingsley, who played "June Cleaver" on the series, said in a TV Archive interview that Stevens was dropped because his overbearing mother caused grief for the producers of the series.[1]
After 1960, Stevens appeared in a handful of television episodes on other shows, including the NBC family drama National Velvet. He was also cast as a schoolboy bully on an episode of ABC's The Rifleman.
Stevens briefly returned to the screen when he reprised his role as Larry Mondello in the 1983 made-for-television reunion movie, Still the Beaver, and for three episodes of The New Leave It to Beaver.