The Surprising Connection Between ‘Leave It to Beaver’ and ‘The Fugitive’
Leave it to Beaver fans got to know Beaver’s very first teacher, Miss Canfield, in the show’s very first episode, which debuted Oct. 4, 1957. Played by popular character actress Diane Brewster, Ms. Canfield appeared in only a handful of episodes throughout the show’s first season (including the show’s ill-fated pilot), but she earned spot in Leave it to Beaver fans’ hearts — so much so that Brewster would return in the role in the 1983 TV movie Still the Beaver and the sequel series The New Leave it to Beaver, which ran from 1983-1988. But while plenty of the actress’s fans may remember as Beaver’s beloved teacher, they might not know the surprising connection she had to TV’s The Fugitive — she played Helen Kimble, the woman murdered by the infamous One-Armed Man.
Brewster won Beaver’s — and viewers’ — hearts as Miss Canfield
In Leave it to Beaver‘s first official episode, “Beaver Gets Spelled,” the Beave (Jerry Mathers) and his second grade teacher get off on the wrong foot, when she hands him a sealed note to give to Ward and June. Beaver’s classmates convince him he’s about to be expelled (spelled!), so the youngest Cleaver does everything in his power to ditch the note and keep Miss Canfield in the dark. Eventually, the real cause for the note is revealed — Miss Canfield wants Beaver to play Smokey the Bear in a school assembly — and Beaver grows to love his teacher.
Beaver moved onto Miss Landers in Season 2 and Brewster resumed a successful run of guest appearances on TV hits from Maverick and Wagon Train to The Fugitive and Ironside, and more.
She played gorgeous gambler Samantha Crawford on Maverick
MAVERICK, from left: Jack Kelly, Diane Brewster. Everett Collection
Once again, Brewster turned a handful of episodes into a major career boost when she turned up on the hit ABC western Maverick. Brewster’s pretty riverboat con woman Samatha Crawford first appears in the Season 1 episode “According to Hoyle,” soundly beating James Garner‘s Bret Maverick at poker.
The character was supposed to be in just one episode, but Brewster’s chemistry with Garner was so appealing that Samantha Crawford shows up to torment, tantalize and finally team up with the Maverick brothers in three more episodes throughout Seasons 1 and 2.
She was the late Helen Kimble on The Fugitive
Brewster got great notices in even fewer episodes when she took the role of Helen Kimble, murdered wife of Dr. Richard Kimble (David Janssen) in the hit ABC thriller series The Fugitive. Arrested and sent to death row for her killing, Dr. Kimble gets a lucky break that sends him on the run to catch the mysterious One-Armed Man (Bill Raisch) who he suspects really committed the crime.
Brewster appears in just three episodes, as Richard flashes back to his and Helen’s life together, and ruminates on why the authorities could believe he’s her killer. Though Brewster first declined the role, thinking it was a full-time gig and preferring to be home with her two young sons, she displayed her signature flair for doing a lot with a little. “Now, I have the most talked-about, seldom seen role in Hollywood,” the savvy actress said per MeTV.
Brewster reprised her role as Miss Canfield in a handful of The New Leave it to Beaver episodes, before retiring from acting for good. She died of heart failure on Nov. 11, 1991, at the age of 60.
Where to Watch Leave it to Beaver
You can watch Leave it to Beaver for free on MeTV and FETV.
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