His neighborhood name Lumpy was a reference to the lumps he gave the local kids when he caught them. Originally, Clarence was a bully who picked on the Cleaver kids on their way home from school. He reprised the Lumpy role in the 1983 TV movie “Still the Beaver” and the series “The New Leave It to Beaver,” seen on the Disney Channel and later WTBS from 1985 to 1989. Nickname of Clarence Rutherford (Frank Bank), the friend of Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow) on the sitcom LEAVE IT TO BEAVER/CBS/ABC/1957-63. Then, he told Orange Coast magazine in 1989, “They were so proud, I became proud.” He rarely brought up his role in the iconic sitcom until after he married and had children old enough to wonder what their father did when he was younger.

“That’s not Archie, that’s Lumpy,” Bank, in a 1998 People magazine interview, recalled hearing the sponsor say.ĭiscouraged by the typecasting - and not wanting “to be like George Reeves, who could only be Superman,” he said - he decided to give up on acting to pursue business.īorn in Los Angeles on April 12, 1942, Bank made his acting debut in 1950 with an uncredited appearance in the movie “Cargo to Capetown.” He had small parts on television before joining the cast of “Leave It to Beaver” and becoming forever linked to the Lumpy character. “The show was about all the people you knew growing up and throughout your life, and Frank brought that perspective to the show.”Īfter the show ended, Bank was chosen to play comic book character Archie Andrews in the pilot for a new series but found he could not shake his previous TV identity. Banks will always be remembered by anyone who grew up in the 1950s as one of sitcoms stereotypical bullies.The series aired between 19, though reruns have gone on since then. 'Lumpy' was the dim-witted foil to 'Beaver' Cleaver and his brother Wally on the classic Leave It to Beaver comedy. “Lumpy was the ultimate bully, but Frank was a very, very kind and gentle person and a very good actor to play it so well,” Mathers told the Los Angeles Times this week. Clarence 'Lumpy' Rutherford actor Frank Bank has died. “Leave It to Beaver” revolved around young Beaver and his misadventures, which usually involved the teenage Wally and Wally’s friends - skinny, sarcastic Eddie Haskell and oafish, overweight Lumpy, who loved pushing Beaver around. He was 71.Ī spokesman for Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles confirmed Bank’s death but did not disclose where he died or the cause.īank had a number of illnesses and was hospitalized recently in Rancho Mirage, Calif., said Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver Cleaver in the popular series that ran from 1957 to 1963. LOS ANGELES - Frank Bank, who as Clarence “Lumpy” Rutherford served as the dim-witted foil to “Beaver” Cleaver and brother Wally on the classic TV comedy “Leave It to Beaver,” died Saturday. Frank ‘Lumpy’ Bank remembered as ‘Leave It to Beaver’ foil – Boulder Daily Camera Close Menu

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