Ward Cleaver is the husband of June Cleaver. They have two sons, Wally and Beaver. He is played by the late Hugh Beaumont.
Biography[]
Ward is a farmer's son and hails from Shaker Heights, an actual location in Ohio which also has a suburb called Mayfield. Ward attended a prep school, is a veteran of World War II (having served as a surveyor in the Seabees), a State college graduate (majoring in Philosophy),[2] and member of a fraternity, a responsible white collar professional, and an upstanding citizen. Ward met his future wife, June Evelyn Bronson, when they were teens. The two dated and went to State college together. They married and became the parents of two sons, Wally and Theodore (a.k.a. "The Beaver").
Ward has few interests at home, other than monitoring his sons and spending evenings after dinner sitting next to his wife on the couch in the living room reading Mayfield's daily newspaper, the Mayfield Press (although other titles have been seen), and enjoying coffee. Ward is occasionally seen suppressing his smirks by sipping from his cup.
On the odd occasion, the two step out to a wedding reception, a school play, or a restaurant together. In one episode, Ward and June have the Rutherfords in for an evening of cards. Occasionally, as shown in the episode titled "Wally's Dinner Date", they play on their own. In other episodes, Ward manages the barbecue on the patio for dining al fresco with guests. Among the cars Ward drives are a 1957 Model Year Ford Fairlane, a 1959, 1960, and 1962 Plymouth Fury, all of them four-door sedans. Ward plays golf at a local country club, and attends church. Ward sometimes drives the family to nearby Crystal Falls or Friends Lake.
Ward played basketball in school and, in one episode, tries to give his sons and their friends a few tips on the game; however, he dominates the session with his nit-picking and the boys run off to play without his interference. He is somewhat handy with tools and does a few minor repairs around the house such as fixing squeaky doors and repairing or replacing electrical appliance cord plugs because June pulls them out of the electrical outlet by the wire instead of the plug. He occasionally dries the dishes for his wife as well.
In early episodes, packs of cigarettes are detectable in his shirt pocket. He has a meerschaum pipe (the gift of Fred Rutherford) which Beaver and Larry fill with coffee grounds and smoke. He chews gum in one episode. Ward also has a bottle of brandy in the dining room credenza that Beaver gives to an alcoholic handyman and then to a tramp.
The man of the house has a home office/den in the Pine Street dwelling of the last four seasons. He uses the room to discipline the boys, make phone calls, and balance his checkbook. A large globe stands on the floor before a window but is replaced in later episodes by a television set that is usually turned off. Though one wall is lined with books, rarely do the Cleavers read anything other than newspapers or magazines. Occasionally, a book is pulled from the shelves for Beaver's school assignments.
Work life[]
Ward is an archetypal white collar, briefcase-toting professional of the 1950s. He wears a business suit, works in an office with a view of a metropolitan area, has a secretary named Grace, leaves home early in the morning and returns in the early evening. He works for a "big company" with main offices in New York City; more specifically, it was revealed in Season 3, Episode 19 that Ward works for a trust company under Mr. Anderson. He drives to work in his Plymouth unless June needs the car during the day for a specific errand. He is home on weekends for golfing at a local country club. Occasionally, Ward is required to do some office work at home. In one early episode, for example, he works at home on a women's marketing survey. His co-worker is Fred Rutherford, a smug, pompous man who refers to the workplace as "the salt mine."
Trivia[]
- In the pilot "It's a Small World", he was played by Max Showalter credited as Casey Adams.
- Jerry Mathers had previously worked with Hugh on a promotional piece for a local park and had reportedly had his prayers answered when that "nice man" was cast to play his father in this series.
- Since Hugh passed away before the revival, his character was noted to have died in 1977 though in reality the actor died in 1982. Beaver's son "Kip" is named after him and is Ward Cleaver II.
- The revival series has one episode showing flashbacks and two with a younger version of played by David Prather.
- Ward is also similar to Norbit Albert Rice or Norbit:
- They have super strength (however, Ward has super strength due his magic powers, while Norbit Albert Rice had super strength due her weight).
- Their family members are also enemies of the protagonist (Beaver Cleaver and Wally Cleaver for Ward; and Big Black Jack Latimore, Blue Latimore and Earl Latimore for Raspuita).
- They use a person close to a female protagonist (June Cleaver and Kate Thomas respectively) for their evil plans (Larry and Deion Hughes respectively; however, Larry was a good person, while Deion wasn't)
- They tried to kill the protagonist, who in fact, was a good person (Violet for Ward and Norbit Albert Rice for Latimore).
- When they tried to kill their enemies, an angry mob, armed with several objects, appeared to help the protagonist from them. They were finally defeated after stab something in their bodies (however, Violet saved Ward stabbing an fists in his hands; while Rasputia survived the final battle with Norbit but ended with a rake into her ass, making her escape from the town to Mexico).