Stanley Albert Fafara (September 20, 1949 – September 20, 2003) was an American child actor, best known for his role as Hubert "Whitey" Whitney in the original ''

Leave It to Beaver ''Leave It to Beaver'' is an American television sitcom that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It starred Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers. CBS first broadcast the show ...

'' television series. His older brother,

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

, played "Tooey W. Brown" in the series.

Early life and career

Fafara was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, in September 1949. In 1957, at the age of 7, his mother took him to an open casting call for a new family television series titled ''Leave It to Beaver''. He had been working in commercials and television

westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

since the age of 4. Fafara earned the part of Hubert "Whitey" Whitney, one of the Beaver Cleaver's best friends. Fafara remained with ''Leave It to Beaver'' for six years. After the show's cancellation in 1963, he attended

North Hollywood High School North Hollywood High School (NHHS) is a public high school in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is in the San Fernando Valley and enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Several neighborhoods, including m ...

. He became friendly with the pop-rock band

Paul Revere & the Raiders Paul Revere & the Raiders (also known as Raiders) were an American rock band formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. They saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was known for including Revolu ...

and reportedly moved in with the band for a time. He developed an alcohol habit and began to use drugs. At his parents' instigation, Fafara went to live with his sister in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, where he tried his hand at painting; however, he continued to drink and use narcotics. He then returned to Los Angeles in 1972 where he was married briefly. He supported himself by dealing narcotics. In the 1980s he was arrested for breaking into pharmacies seven times. Fafara was sentenced to a year in jail after being arrested and convicted for an eighth burglary. After his release from jail, Fafara tried several jobs but eventually returned to dealing drugs. Fafara later developed an addiction to

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

and was in-and-out of rehabilitation centers for many years. He became sober in 1995.

Later years and death

Fafara spent the final eight years of his life clean and sober, initially living in a house for recovering addicts and alcoholics, then in a subsidized apartment in downtown

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. He lived on

Social Security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

checks of $475 per month until his hospitalization in 2003. Due to his addiction to heroin, he contracted

hepatitis C Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver; it is a type of viral hepatitis. During the initial infection period, people often have mild or no symptoms. Early symptoms can include ...

. Fafara died on September 20, 2003, his 54th birthday, in Portland, Oregon, of complications from

hernia A hernia (: hernias or herniae, from Latin, meaning 'rupture') is the abnormal exit of tissue or an organ (anatomy), organ, such as the bowel, through the wall of the cavity in which it normally resides. The term is also used for the normal Devel ...

surgery he had undergone the previous month. Fafara is buried at Redland Pioneer Cemetery in Redland, Oregon.

Filmography

References

External links

* * at leaveittobeaver.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Fafara, Stanley 1949 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American male actors American male child actors American male film actors American male television actors American people convicted of burglary Male actors from San Francisco Male Western (genre) film actors People from Studio City, Los Angeles North Hollywood High School alumni