The actor Frank Bank has died, at the age of 71. Los Angeles Times reports that the man who played Clarence ‘Lumpy’ Rutherford in the classic TV comedy Leave It To Beaver. Lumpy was the “dim-witted foil” to Beaver Cleaver and his brother Wally in the show, which ran from 1957-63. Frank had suffered a number of illnesses, according to his former co-star Jerry Mathers and a spokesman for the Hillside Memorial Park in Los Angeles confirmed that the former TV star had passed away, though the cause of death was not known.

Mathers spoke highly of his co-star and stressed that he was nothing like the character that he played on screen. “Lumpy was the ultimate bully, but Frank was a very, very kind and gentle person and a very good actor to play it so well,” said Mathers. "The show was about all the people you knew growing up and throughout your life, and Frank brought that perspective to the show." When the show ended, though, Bank was wary of the typecasting that his association with the character would bring and instead of pursuing a career in acting, he became a successful stock and bonds broker in Los Angeles. By the mid-‘70s, we was reportedly earning a six figure sum.

He rarely discussed his role in the sitcome until his children were old enough to wonder what their father had done when he was younger. “They were so proud, I became proud,” he said.