Topic: Barbara Billingsley

Barbara Billingsley (December 22, 1915 – October 16, 2010) was an American film, television, voice and character actress of stage, who in her five decades of television came to prominence in the 1950s on the big screen in The Careless Years opposite Natalie Trundy, followed by her best-known role, that of June Cleaver on Leave it to Beaver and its sequel Still the Beaver (also known as The New Leave It to Beaver).

Billingsley was born Barbara Lillian Combes in Los Angeles, California in 1915, the daughter of Robert Collyer Combes, who was the Chief of Police, and Lillian A. (née McLaughlin) Combes, who worked in a factory. She was the youngest of three children. When she was a little girl, her mother would often take her to the movies. Her parents divorced while Barbara was an adolescent.

When she was in second grade, Billingsley fell in love with drama immediately. She was a popular student at Los Angeles's George Washington High School (now Washington Preparatory High School), where she fell in love with all the school plays. Billingsley was voted "Class Queen". She graduated from George Washington in 1934.