Ken Osmond Cause of Death: ‘Leave It to Beaver’ Star Suffered Cardiopulmonary Arrest

Ken Osmond, the actor famous for playing troublemaker Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver, died after suffering a cardiopulmonary arrest, his death certificate says. The document, obtained by TMZ on Monday, showed that Osmond’s immediate cause of death was a cardiopulmonary arrest. He also suffered underlying causes of death, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, anemia, atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, depression, hypertension and pneumonia.

Osmond died at the age of 76 on May 18 at his Los Angeles home, surrounded by family and loved ones. The death certificate, which notates that he was cremated, lists his time of death at 12:35 a.m. It also notes that he was a veteran of the United States Armed Forces. At the time of his death, Osmond’s son Eric called him an “incredibly kind and wonderful father,” adding that “He [Osmond] had his family gathered around him when he passed. He was loved and will be very missed.” Eric and his brother Christian played Osmond’s on-screen sons in one of the 1980s Leave It to Beaver sequel series The New Leave It to Beaver.

Osmond started acting when he was just 9 years old and found his big break when he was 14 on Leave It to Beaver, where he played Eddie Haskell opposite Jerry Mathers, who played Beaver. Osmond’s Eddie Haskell became a stereotype for the rebel teenager who was polite to adults’ faces but criticized them behind their backs. He also always got his friends into trouble. Since then, similar rebellious characters have been unavoidable in family sitcoms.

After Leave It to Beaver ended in 1963, Osmond struggled to fight typecasting and left Hollywood in 1970. He joined the LAPD and grew a mustache so he would be unrecognizable. In 1983 the actor returned for Still the Beaver, which caught viewers up on the lives of the Cleaver children as adults. The next year, he reprised his role as Eddie Haskell on The Disney Channel’s The New Leave It to Beaver. He again returned to play his iconic character on other shows, appearing in Parker Lewis Can’t Lose and Hi Honey, I’m Home. He played the part one final time in the 1997 movie Leave It to Beaver.

Osmond retired from the LAPD in 1988, eight years after he survived a shooting during a chase with a car thief. In 2007, he sued the Screen Actors Guild for taking in foreign royalties without an explanation in collection agreements and settled three years later. Osmond was survived day his wife Sandra and sons, Christian and Eric.