Barbara Billingsley

Actress, Television Actress (1915–2010)

From 1957 to 1963, actress Barbara Billingsley played the perfect apron-wearing, cookie-baking housewife June Cleaver on TV's Leave it to Beaver.

Synopsis
Born on December 22, 1915, actress Barbara Billingsley had an acting career that spanned more than 30 years. But her best known role was as housewife June Cleaver on TV's Leave it to Beaver. Another notable performance was in 1980's Airplane!, in which demure Billingsley famously translated street slang, proclaiming, "I speak jive."

Acting Career
Actress Barbara Billingsley was born Barbara Lillian Combes on December 22, 1915, in Los Angeles, California. Billingsley is most famous for her role as June Cleaver on television's beloved Leave it to Beaver, which aired from 1957 to 1963. She played the perfect apron-wearing, cookie-baking, 1950s-style housewife and mother to sons Wally, played by Tony Dow, and Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, played Jerry Mathers, and husband Ward Cleaver, played by Hugh Beaumont.

In an acting career that has spanned more than 30 years, Billingsley had also appeared in numerous other film and television roles including Airplane! (1980) wherein she made a cameo as a demure passenger who volunteers to translate for flight attendants unable to communicate with a pair of passengers. "I speak jive," is her character's famous line, and the three go on to have a raucous conversation in street-slang. She also appeared in a Leave it to Beaver film (as Aunt Martha) that was released in 1997. Billingsley also made guest appearances on popular television series such as Murphy Brown and Roseanne.