Leave it to Barbara...

                        
                                             BARBARA BILLINGSLEY

                             December 22, 1915- October 16, 2010


I tried to make my mother, and then myself into June Cleaver, an ideal I nurtured before reality separated itself from TV.   She was the always calm, always sweet natured, stay-at-home Mother, to the Beav, Wally and husband Ward on " Leave It to Beaver", from1957 to 1963, and in re-runs forever.  

And she did it in pearls and high heels.  Of all the mothers on TV, to me she personified a standard that I knew was too good to be true, but loved anyway.  To have that character and perfect intuition existed in a time when Mother knew best, before Father knew best, and now is just nostalgia.  Because we live in a time when it seems, no one knows best. 

So thank you June Cleaver for the standard.  And thank you Barbara Billingsley, for being the personification of one great Mom, and pretty good in all your other roles.

RIP

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