America’s Favorite TV Family May Have Been Just as Perfect as We Thought 60 Years Ago

One of America’s favorite families was the Cleavers on Leave It to Beaver. Centered around a boy named Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver, the wholesome series was just one of those charming things that has been passed down for generations. And star Jerry Mathers, who was 9 years old when the show began, has nothing but fond memories of his television parents. Mathers was speaking with PEOPLE and shared stories about both Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley, who played Ward and June Cleaver on the series.

“They were really nice people,” Mathers told the publication. “Hugh Beaumont and Barbara Billingsley were wonderful to Tony and me. They were actually kind and caring to everyone.” Tony Dow played Beaver’s older brother, Wally, who was often included in whatever Beaver was up to that episode. But for all the fun that Mathers had on set, he shared that Beaumont made sure the cast stayed on track and did what they needed to do for the series.

“Hugh Beaumont was basically a very nice man, but he was also a minister,” Mathers said of Beaumont. “So he kept everybody pretty much on the straight and narrow.” Mathers then clarified that while the set was “a good time” and “a lot of fun,” Beaumont’s influence meant that the crew of Leave It to Beaver were people who “weren’t out drinking every night and coming in drunk.”

Jerry Mathers Shares His Favorite Part of ‘Leave It to Beaver’

Many child actors have horror stories from their time on television shows, but Mathers shared with PEOPLE that he has nothing but fond memories of the series. “It was fun all the time. I could have had to go to school and stuff like that, but it was just a lot of fun and a lot of nice people, so there wasn’t really any bad part to it,” Mathers said. He said that “every day” was different but that it always remained a fun environment for him. Which came from, as Mathers said, everyone on the set being parents themselves.

But one thing that Mathers cherished was his relationship with his fictional mother, played by Billingsley. “She did a lot of charity work,” he told PEOPLE. “Every once in a while, she’d call me up and say that maybe she was not feeling so well that day, could I help her? And I’d go around different places that I’d never been before and help out with whatever organization she worked with.”

You can see Mathers on episodes of spin-offs like The New Leave It to Beaver.