R.I.P. Frank Bank

[Reza]

Leave It To Beaver star Frank Bank dies the day after his 71st birthday

By London Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 14:33 EST, 15 April 2013 | UPDATED: 14:34 EST, 15 April 2013

Just a day after his 71st birthday, TV star Frank Bank has died.

The actor played the bully Clarence 'Lumpy' Rutherford on the hit series Leave It To Beaver.

The news of his death surfaced on Saturday when Jerry Mathers, his former co-star from the 1957 - 1963 sitcom, posted to his Facebook page: 'I was so sad to hear today of the passing of my dear friend and business associate Frank Bank, who played Lumpy on Leave it to Beaver.

'He was a character and always kept us laughing,' the 64-year-old wrote. 'My deepest condolences to Frank's family.'

The cause of his death has not yet been reported.

Bank broke into the entertainment industry in 1952 by portraying a young Will Rogers in the 1952 biopic The Will Rogers Story, before appearing on Leave It To Beaver.

As he worked on Beaver, he used his time behind-the-scenes to learn about tax-free bonds, eventually opting out of a career in the entertainment industry for a position as a Los Angeles stockbroker to the stars such as Barbara Billingsley - June Cleaver on Leave It To Beaver - according to People.
Hit shot: Bank played a clumsy bully Clarence 'Lumpy' Rutherfor


Hit shot: Bank played a clumsy bully Clarence 'Lumpy' Rutherford on the series that ran from 1957 - 1963

'Frank is certainly brighter than Lumpy Rutherford, and a very good stockbroker,' Billingsley told the magazine.

Bank wrote an autobiography in 1997 titled Call Me Lumpy: My Leave It To Beaver Days and Other Wild Hollywood Life about his years on the show filled with women.

Yet, he did end up settling down - twice.

Bank first tied the knot with his high school sweetheart whom he had two children with, Julie and Kelly.

'I wanted normalcy,' reported he said. 'I wanted that Cleaver existence.'

After 15 years of marriage, the couple split and Bank married Rebecca Bank in 1998.
Kind words: 'Frank is certainly brighter than Lumpy Rutherford,


Kind words: 'Frank is certainly brighter than Lumpy Rutherford, and a very good stockbroker,' Barbara Billingsley previously said of Bank