Rock star Alice Cooper is not secretly “Leave it To Beaver” character Eddie Haskell all grown up or even the actor Ken Osmond in makeup. That bit of urban legend became a headache for both Cooper and Osmond.
Fans became convinced that Haskell grew up, adopted the stage name Alice Cooper, and started a successful rock career as a result. Well, school’s out on this rumor. Alice Cooper is indeed a stage name. But the rock star’s real name is Vincent Damon Furnier. He was born in 1948 in Detroit. Meanwhile, Osmond who portrayed Eddie on “Leave It To Beaver” was born five years earlier in California.
So why were fans convinced Cooper was Eddie Haskell all grown up? Well, thank some old-fashioned misreporting. In an interview with a college newspaper, Cooper said, “I was obnoxious, disgusting, a real Eddie Haskell.” The paper misinterpreted Cooper as saying he was the actor that played Eddie Haskell.
The issue got so bad for Cooper that he eventually started wearing a T-shirt. As Cooper told the New Times, “It was the biggest rumor that ever came out about me. Finally, I got a T-shirt that said ‘No, I am not Eddie Haskell.’ But people still believed it.”
The Real Eddie Haskell
Another rumor reported that adult film star John Holmes was the real Eddie Haskell. It was easy for fans to believe the little trouble maker on “Leave It to Beaver” grew up to get into all kinds of mischief. Fans quickly latched onto that idea as well. It took the reappearance of the real Eddie Haskell actor, Ken Osmond, to set the record straight.
Haskell’s actor had quit acting after appearing on the show. He found it difficult to get roles because he had been stereotyped as his “Leave It to Beaver” character. Instead, Osmond got a job as a police officer with the LAPD. He worked a number of years as a motorcycle cop, as well as narcotics and vice.
Finally, he returned decades later to the role that made him famous. They decided to resurrect the “Leave It To Beaver” property for a sequel series, which caught up to where the characters were at. Osmond portrayed Eddie Haskell on “The New Leave It to Beaver” as a father and married man.
The reappearance finally made audiences realize that there was no way the actor could also be moonlighting as a rockstar.
