Saved by the Bell actor Dennis Haskins has died. He was 75.
“It’s a tragic loss,” his spokesperson confirmed to Us on Monday, September 28. “Everyone loved Mr. Belding and those of us who got to know Dennis, loved him even more.”
Haskins originated the role of Bayside High School’s Principal Richard Belding on the short-lived teen comedy Good Morning, Miss Bliss in 1988 and was one of the few characters carried over when the Saturday morning sitcom was revamped as Saved by the Bell the following year. (Saved by the Bell aired from 1989 to 1993 on NBC.)
“[Dennis] was a great person, and he loved, I mean absolutely LOVED his fans,” his rep told Us. “He always had time for them, no matter what. He was my client and dear friend for over 20 years, and I will miss him terribly. I’m heartbroken.”
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A cause of death has not yet been determined. (TMZ was first to report the news.)
Haskins’ portrayal of Mr. Belding proved to be such a popular nemesis for smart aleck heartthrob Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) that the character took on more prominence on spinoff Saved By the Bell: The New Class, which ran from 1993 to 2000.
The actor also reprised the iconic role as Mr. Belding for cameo appearances on the primetime spinoff Saved by the Bell: The College Years and the TV movie Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas.
A Chattanooga, Tennessee, native, Haskins got his start as an actor by making several appearances on the action comedy series The Dukes of Hazzard, playing a new character each time. (Haskins appeared in three Dukes of Hazzard episodes in total.)
He landed bit roles on Archie Bunker’s Place and Magnum PI before being cast in his signature sitcom part as Mr. Belding after seven auditions in 1988. Haskins fully embraced Saved by the Bell, even making cameos as Mr. Belding in Robot Chicken and Victorious in later years.
“On Good Morning, Miss Bliss, I was just glad to have a job. It was a long seven-audition process,” he told Parade in 2013. “I was in. I was out. And then, finally at the last minute, I got it. We were just happy to be working. We weren’t thinking in terms of how long we were going to go.”
Haskins recalled being told during the run of Good Morning, Miss Bliss that the show’s original home, the Disney Channel, was not satisfied with the show.
“One day [producer] Peter Engel came on the stage and said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, Disney has chosen not to go on with the project. There’s a slight chance ABC will do something, but I just wanted to thank everybody.’ And then I started hearing things,” he remembered. “The prop guy came up to me and said, ‘Hey, Dennis. They just told us to save the sets.’ I found out that I was going on to Saved by the Bell, because NBC had bought the rights to four characters, by the wardrobe guy telling me, ‘They told me to save your suits,’ and giving me a big thumbs up.”
In that same 2013 interview, Haskins described playing the frequently exasperated Mr. Belding as “the best job of all.”
“The principal stayed while the kids came and went,” he pointed out. “So I had a steady job for eleven years. For me, that’s long-term. But I know that what everybody loves is the original Saved by the Bell.”
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Haskins was previously married to Sarah Dianne Goins in the 1990s and they shared a son.
Saved by the Bell has seen its share of tragedies over the years. Dustin Diamond — who played Screech on both the original Saved by the Bell and The New Class — died at age 44 in February 2021 following a battle with stage IV small-cell lung carcinoma.