Hugh Beaumont

For the British theatre manager, see Binkie Beaumont.

Hugh Beaumont
Beaumont in 1956
Born	Eugene Hugh Beaumont February 16, 1910 Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.
Died	May 14, 1982 (aged 72) Munich, West Germany
Education	University of Chattanooga (Bachelor of Arts) University of Southern California (Master of Theology)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1940–1972
Spouse	Kathryn Adams ​ ​ (m. 1941; div. 1974)​
Children	3

Eugene Hugh Beaumont (February 16, 1910 – May 14, 1982) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver on the television series Leave It to Beaver, originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963, and as private detective Michael Shayne in a series of low-budget crime films in 1946 and 1947.

Early life

Beaumont was born in Lawrence, Kansas, to Ethel Adaline Whitney and Edward H. Beaumont, a traveling salesman whose profession kept the family on the move. After graduating from the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the class of 1930, he attended the University of Chattanooga, where he played football. He later studied at the University of Southern California and graduated with a master's degree in theology in 1946.

Career

Beaumont began his career in show business in 1931 by performing in theaters, nightclubs, and radio. He began acting in motion pictures in 1940, appearing in over three dozen films. Many of those roles were bit parts and minor roles and were not credited. He often worked with actor William Bendix; they had prominent roles in the 1946 film noir The Blue Dahlia, playing the friends of star Alan Ladd's character. In 1946–1947, Beaumont starred in five films as private detective Michael Shayne, assuming the role from Lloyd Nolan. In 1950, he narrated the short film A Date with Your Family. He also starred in The Mole People in 1956.

In the early 1950s, Beaumont secured television work, often with guest roles on series such as Adventures of Superman, City Detective, Crossroads, Fireside Theatre, Ford Theatre, The Lone Ranger, Medic, The Millionaire, and Schlitz Playhouse of Stars. From 1951 to 1953, he narrated the Reed Hadley series Racket Squad, based on the cases of fictional detective Captain John Braddock in San Francisco. In 1954 and 1955, Beaumont appeared in The Public Defender, Hadley's second series, appearing in three episodes as Ed McGrath. That year, he guest-starred in the Lassie episode "The Well", one of two episodes filmed as pilots for the series. He also portrayed a sympathetic characterization of the Western bandit Jesse James on the series Tales of Wells Fargo.

In September 1957, Beaumont was selected to replace Max Showalter, who had appeared as Ward Cleaver in "It's a Small World", the original pilot for the sitcom Leave It to Beaver, in the role of wise small-town father Ward Cleaver. After initially airing to tepid ratings on CBS, the series moved to ABC for its second season, where it achieved more solid ratings. Beginning with the third season, Beaumont began directing several episodes; including the series' final episode "Family Scrapbook", often considered the first series finale.

In 2014, TV Guide ranked Beaumont's portrayal of Ward Cleaver at number 28 on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time".

In 1959, before production on the third season of Leave It to Beaver began, Beaumont's wife, son, and mother-in-law were driving from Minnesota to Hollywood to visit when a car accident killed Beaumont's mother-in-law and severely injured his son. Jerry Mathers later stated that the tragedy seriously affected Beaumont's participation in the production, with Beaumont often just "walking through" his part.

After Leave It to Beaver ended production in 1963, Beaumont appeared in many community theater productions and played a few guest roles on television series such as Marcus Welby, M.D., Mannix, Petticoat Junction, The Virginian, and Wagon Train. In February 1966, he made another appearance on Lassie, 11 years after his first.

He also continued to have success as a writer, selling several television screenplays and radio scripts as well as short stories to various magazines. He gradually left the entertainment business, launching a second career as a Christmas-tree farmer in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. After suffering a debilitating stroke in 1970, Beaumont officially retired from acting in 1972. In 1980, he did appear in a Beaver reunion with the rest of the cast that was conducted by a local Los Angeles TV station.

Personal life and death

On April 13, 1941, Beaumont wed actress Kathryn Adams (née Hohn) at the Hollywood Congregational Church. They had sons Hunter and Mark, and daughter Kristy. Their union lasted 33 years, until their divorce in 1974.

Beaumont was a lay minister in the Methodist Church. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector and served as a medic.

On May 14, 1982, Beaumont died of a heart attack while visiting his son Hunter, a psychologist, in Munich, West Germany. He was 72 years old.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1940	Phantom Raiders	Seaman	uncredited
	The Secret Seven	Southern Racketeer	uncredited
1941	South of Panama	Paul Martin
	The Cowboy and the Blonde	Sound Man	uncredited
	Private Nurse	McDonald	uncredited
	Unfinished Business	Hugh, the Bridegroom	uncredited
	Forbidden Passage	Clements	part of the Crime Does Not Pay series
	Week-End in Havana	Clipper Officer	uncredited
1942	Right to the Heart	Willie Donovan
	Unseen Enemy	Narrator
	Young America	G-Man
	Canal Zone	Radio Operator	uncredited
	To the Shores of Tripoli	Orderly	uncredited
	The Wife Takes a Flyer	Officer	uncredited
	Gang Busters	Announcer and voice on office radio	uncredited
	Top Sergeant	Radio Newscaster	uncredited voice
	Flight Lieutenant	John McGinnis	uncredited
	Wake Island	Captain	uncredited
	Northwest Rangers	Warren - Mountie who finds Fowler's body	uncredited
1943	Flight for Freedom	Flight Instructor	uncredited
	He Hired the Boss	Jordan
	Bombardier	Soldier	uncredited
	Du Barry Was a Lady	Footman	uncredited
	Good Luck, Mr. Yates	Adjutant	uncredited
	Mexican Spitfire's Blessed Event	George Sharpe
	Salute to the Marines	Sergeant	uncredited
	The Fallen Sparrow	Otto Skaas
	The Seventh Victim	Gregory Ward
	There's Something About a Soldier	Lt. Martin
1944	The Racket Man	"Irish" Duffy
	The Story of Dr. Wassell	Aide to Admiral Hart in Surabaya
	Song of the Open Road	John Moran	uncredited
	Mr. Winkle Goes to War	Ranger Officer	uncredited
	The Seventh Cross	Truck Driver	uncredited
	I Love a Soldier	John Moran	uncredited
	Strange Affair	Detective Carey	uncredited
	They Live in Fear	Instructor	uncredited
	Practically Yours	Film-Cutter	uncredited
1945	Objective, Burma!	Captain Hennessey	uncredited
	Blood on the Sun	Johnny Clarke	uncredited
	Counter-Attack	Russian Lieutenant	uncredited
	The Lady Confesses	Larry Craig
	The Blonde from Brooklyn	Discharging Lieutenant	uncredited
	You Came Along	Chaplain	uncredited
	Apology for Murder	Kenny Blake
	You Came Along	Chaplain	uncredited
1946	Murder Is My Business	Michael Shayne
	Johnny Comes Flying Home	Engineer	uncredited
	The Blue Dahlia	George Copeland
	Larceny in Her Heart	Michael Shayne
	Blonde for a Day
1947	The Guilt of Janet Ames	Frank Merino	uncredited
	Three on a Ticket	Michael Shayne
	Too Many Winners
	Railroaded!	Police Sgt. Mickey Ferguson
	Bury Me Dead	Michael Dunn
1948	Reaching from Heaven	Bill Starling
	Money Madness	Steve Clark / Freddie Howard
	The Counterfeiters	Phillip Drake
1949	Tokyo Joe	Provost Marshal Major	uncredited
1950	Second Chance	Dr. Emory
	The Flying Missile	Major Wilson
1951	Target Unknown	Colonel	uncredited
	The Last Outpost	Lt. Fenton
	Danger Zone	Dennis O'Brien
	Go for Broke!	Chaplain	uncredited
	Roaring City	Denny O'Brien
	Pier 23	Dennis O'Brien
	Home Town Story	Bob MacFarland	uncredited
	Savage Drums	Bill Fenton	uncredited
	Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell	Policeman	uncredited
	Lost Continent	Robert Phillips
	Callaway Went Thataway	Mr. Adkins, Attorney	uncredited
	Overland Telegraph	Brad Roberts
1952	Phone Call from a Stranger	Dr. Tim Brooks
	Bugles in the Afternoon	Lt. Cooke	uncredited
	Wild Stallion	Capt. Wilmurt
	Washington Story	Chaplain	uncredited
	Night Without Sleep	John Harkness
	The Member of the Wedding	Minister	uncredited
1953	The Mississippi Gambler	Kennerly	uncredited
	225,000 Mile Proving Ground, 1953	Narrator/reporter E.D. Gillespie	produced by Dudley Pictures for American Association of Railroads
1955	Hell's Horizon	Al Trask
1956	The Revolt of Mamie Stover	San Francisco Policeman	uncredited
	The Mole People	Dr. Jud Bellamin
1957	Night Passage	Jeff Kurth
1965	The Human Duplicators	Austin Welles

Television credits

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1950	The Silver Theatre	Harry Hamilton	episode: "Lady with Ideas"
1951	The Bigelow Theatre	Harry Hamilton	episode: "Lady with Ideas"
1952	Dangerous Assignment	various roles	episode: "The Piece of String Story" episode: "The Manger Story" episode: "The Assassin Ring Story"
	Hopalong Cassidy	Hank Scofield	episode: "The Feud"
1952–1953	Racket Squad	Narrator	33 episodes
1953	Ford Theatre	Sheriff Burns	episode: "The Trestle"
	Big Town	Carl Kesten / Rodney Mitchell	episode: "The Eliminator"
	Chevron Theatre		episode: "The Worthless Thing"
	The Lone Ranger	Rev. Randy Roberts	episode: "The Godless Men"
	Topper	Ed Merrill	episode: "The Spinster"
	Adventures of Superman	Dan Grayson	episode: "The Big Squeeze"
	Schlitz Playhouse of Stars	John Harris	episode: "Vacation for Ginny"
			episode: "Guardian of the Clock"
	The Loretta Young Show		writer episode: "The Bronte Story"
1953–1954	Fireside Theatre	various roles	episode: "The Traitor" episode: "Fight Night"
1953–1956	Four Star Playhouse	various roles	6 episodes
	Letter to Loretta	various roles	7 episodes
1954	City Detective	Philip Merriam	episode: "The Blonde Orchid"
	Waterfront	Roy Martin	episode: "Backwash"
	The Lineup	Charles Lanski	episode: "Cop Shooting"
	Studio 57	Charles Crane	episode: "Trap Mates"
	The Public Defender	Ed McGrath	episode: "Think No Evil"
		Gil Bowman	episode: "Lost Cause"
	Lux Video Theatre	George	episode: "Call Me Mrs."
1954–1956	Cavalcade of America	various roles	episode: "The Paper Sword" episode: "A Time for Courage" episode: "The Boy Who Walked to America"
1955	Indian American	Brother David	TV movie
	The Public Defender	Ed McGrath	episode: "A Knowledge of Astronomy"
	Medic	Col. Will Roberts	episode: "The World So High"
	Crossroads	Rev. Clifton R. Pond	episode: "With All My Love"
	Science Fiction Theatre	Dr. Guy Stanton	episode: "Conversation with an Ape"
	The Millionaire	Dr. Porter	episode: "The Walter Carter Story"
	The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse	Jeff	episode: "Stake My Life"
	The Touch of Steel	Col. Lander	TV movie
	Climax!		episode: "The Leaf Out of the Book"
	Lassie	Mr. Saunders	episode: "The Well"
1956	Climax!		episode: "Savage Portrait"
	Ford Theatre	Marshal Ferguson	episode: "The Silent Strangers"
	Lux Video Theatre	Larry	episode: "The Unfaithful"
	My Friend Flicka	Simmons	episode: "One Man's Horse"
			episode: "Night Rider"
	G.E. Summer Originals	Mike Hercules	episode: "Alias Mike Hercules" (unsold pilot)
	Matinee Theatre		episode: "The 25th Hour"
	Celebrity Playhouse		episode: "Home Is the Soldier"
1957	Meet McGraw	Clay Farrell	episode: "Border City"
	Tales of Wells Fargo	Jesse James	episode: "Jesse James"
1957–1963	Leave It to Beaver	Ward Cleaver	main role; 234 episodes directed 23 episodes (1960–63) writer of 1 episode (1959)
1964	Wagon Train	Jed Halick	episode: "The Pearlie Garnet Story"
1966	Lassie	Jim / Mr. Saunders	episode: "Cradle of the Deep"
	The Virginian	Maguire	episode: "Girl on the Glass Mountain"
	Petticoat Junction	Ronnie Beckman	episode: "Every Bachelor Should Have a Family"
1967		Mr. Donald Elliott	episode: "With This Gown I Thee Wed" episode: "Meet the In-Laws"
1968	The Virginian	Maj. James Carlton	episode: "Nora"
		Charles Martin	episode: "With Help from Ulysses"
	Mannix	Frank Abbott	episode: "To the Swiftest, Death"
1970		Hammond	episode: "The Mouse That Died"
		Mr. Calder	episode: "War of Nerves"
	Medical Center	Dr. Simpson	episode: "Death Grip"
	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Jim Wagner	episode: "The Merely Syndrome"
1971	The Most Deadly Game	Dr. Dominick	episode: "The Classic Burial Position"

Further reading

• Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. ISBN 9780345497734.
• Mathers, Jerry (1998). And Jerry Mathers as the Beaver. Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0425163702.

External links

• Hugh Beaumont at IMDb
• Hugh Beaumont at the TCM Movie Database
• Hugh Beaumont at AllMovie