Society has left so much to Beaver over the last fifty years, it’s only natural that a few things would slip through his tiny fingers. One of those things that Beaver was unable to handle was the health of the actor who played Lumpy, the clumsy neighborhood tough that would frequently bully Beaver, Wally and their friend Eddie Haskell.
Frank Bank, the actor who portrayed Lumpy in the classic television sitcom Leave it to Beaver, passed away this week. Bank, 71, was a much beloved figure in and around Hollywood. He maintained strong relationships with his co-stars even after the show was taken off the air, and had successful career as a stock broker and investor, which allowed him to live an exciting life even beyond his childhood celebrity.
Bank died on Saturday, and will be buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles. According to his good friend Jerry Mathers, who portrayed the titular Beaver Cleaver on Leave it to Beaver, Bank was recently hospitalized in Rancho Mirage. The cause of Bank’s death has not been announced.
Bank’s role on one of the definitive sitcoms in television history earned him a number of friends and wild success, but his stardom did not translate to many other acting roles. His most significant, non-Beaver acting job was being cast as the comic book character Archie for a television series. He struggled to portray that iconic character, because, in the eyes of the television audience, he was already another iconic character.
Bank returned to the character of Lumpy in the 1980’s as part of the show’s revival in “Still the Beaver” and the “The New Leave it to Beaver.”
When he wasn’t acting, Bank was a successful businessman. He told People Magazine that he taught himself to invest in bonds and handicap horses during his downtime on the set of “Leave it to Beaver,” and both Mathers and co-star June Ward said that Bank was their stockbroker.
Bank is survived by his wife, Rebecca, daughters Julie, Kelly, Michelle, and Joanne, and five grandchildren.
Most of America learned of Bank’s passing from Jerry Mathers’ Facebook page, on which he shared, “I was so sad to hear today of the passing of my dear friend and business associate Frank Bank, who played Lumpy on Leave it to Beaver. He was a character and always kept us laughing. My deepest condolences to Frank’s family.”
Image Credit: Michael Germana/Everett Collection