A pioneer television writer-producer, Connelly and his partner Bob Mosher created or developed many classic early TV shows, including The Munsters, Tammy, Ichabod and Me, Calvin and the Colonel, Blondie, Bringing Up Buddy, Pistols ’n’ Petticoats, and 90 Bristol Court.
But he’s best known for his creation Leave It to Beaver (1957-1963, and still running in syndication), which was based on his own son. “I think the show is part of the Golden Age of television and because of Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher,” Jerry Mathers, who played “The Beaver”, once said. “That’s what makes [the show] part of television history. It wasn’t the actors — it was definitely the writers.”
Connelly and Mosher, who died in 1972, worked together since the early 1940s, and their first effort was so disappointing that Connelly said they decided to focus on “things we know.” When Beaver came around, he based the title character on his 8-year-old son Ricky; “Wally” was based on his 14-year-old son Jay. The name “Beaver” was the nickname for a shipmate in the Merchant Marines. Connelly died February 13 at a southern California nursing home after suffering a stroke. He was 85.