Jerry Mathers, 77, is best known for his iconic role in Leave It to Beaver. These days, he’s the only living member of his TV family, the Cleavers. The actor’s real life mom is still alive and the family resemblance is uncanny.
Jerry shared a photo of him and his 98-year-old mom, Marilyn. The two smiled in Hawaiian shirts with leis around their necks. And fans couldn’t get over how similar the mom and son appeared.
“WOW they look like twins,” one fan commented.
Another wrote, “Wow some good genes there. God Bless. I lost my Mom when she was 75. You are a lucky guy to have her.”
Jerry’s life as a Cleaver
Jerry starred as Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver on Leave It to Beaver for six seasons. The actor was just eight years old when the series aired.
“It was fun all the time,” Jerry recalled to PEOPLE. “I could have had to go to school and stuff like that…” but instead he went to the set.
Jerry remembered how much he and his TV-brother, Tony Dow, adored his fictional parents, played by Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley.
“They were really nice people,” he explained. “Hugh and Barbara were wonderful to Tony and me.
Jerry described Hugh, who died in 1982, as a steady presence on set.
“[He] was basically a very nice man, but he was also a minister,” Jerry said. “So he kept everybody pretty much on the straight and narrow. [The crew wasn’t] out drinking every night.”
Whenever Jerry thinks of Leave It to Beaver, he smiles.
“We shot 234 episodes from 1957 to 1963 so there is quite a lot to see,” Jerry explained. “And watching the show brings back many happy memories for me.”
Jerry remained close with his TV mom, Barbara, until her death in 2010.
“She did a lot of charity work,” he said. “She’d call me up and say that maybe she was not feeling so well that day, [and] could I help her. And I’d go around different places…and help out with whatever organization she worked with.”
Beyond Leave It to Beaver
After the show wrapped up in 1963, Jerry went on to serve in the California Air National Guard for three years. He had a few marriages, but only one that lasted. Jerry married Teresa Modnick in 2011. The two were married in Huntington Beach, California in front of 150 guests.
Jerry has three children: Noah, Mercedes, and Gretchen.
