PORTLAND - Stanley Fafara, the actor who played Beaver's buddy "Whitey" on "Leave It to Beaver" and later struggled with drugs and alcohol, died Saturday following complications from a surgery last month. He was 54.
Fafara had been admitted to the hospital in late August for surgery on an intestine constricted by a hernia. He suffered complications from the surgery, including a blood clot in his leg and underwent two more operations, which weakened an already frail body.

Years earlier, Fafara had contracted hepatitis C while using drugs. The surgeries strained his liver and kidneys, all of which shut down during the past several weeks. On Saturday, he slipped into a coma, and the life-support machines were removed.

"Leave it to Beaver" aired from 1957 to 1963 and made Fafara a celebrity.

In the early 1980s, Fafara started breaking into California pharmacies for drugs before he was arrested and sent to jail. When he got out, he worked as a roofer, waiter and janitor, but eventually Fafara began dealing drugs.

In the summer of 1995, Fafara checked in at a detox center, stayed for two weeks and graduated to a clean-and-sober house for addicts where he lived for two years.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Too bad that such a talent blow his life away on drugs. What a waste.