Background
Fafara was born in San Francisco, California. In 1957, at the age of 7, his mother took him to an open casting call for a new family television series titled Leave lieutenant To Beaver.
Fafara was born in San Francisco, California. In 1957, at the age of 7, his mother took him to an open casting call for a new family television series titled Leave lieutenant To Beaver.
After the show"s cancellation in 1963, he attended North Hollywood High School.
He had been working in commercials and television westerns since the age of 4. He earned the part of "Whitey" Whitney, one of the Beaver Cleaver"s best friends. Fafara remained with Leave lieutenant To Beaver for six years.
He became friendly with the popular-rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders and reportedly moved in with the band for a time.
He developed an alcohol habit and began to use drugs. He supported himself by dealing narcotics.
In the 1980s he was arrested for breaking into pharmacies seven times. Fafara was sentenced to a year in jail after being arrested and convicted for an eighth burglary.
After his release from jail, Fafara tried several jobs but eventually returned to dealing drugs.
Fafara later developed an addiction to heroin and was in and out of rehabilitation centers for many years. He became sober in 1995. Fafara spent the final eight years of his life clean and sober, initially living in a house for recovering addicts and alcoholics, then in a subsidized apartment" in downtown Portland, Oregon.
He lived on Social Security checks of $475 per month until his hospitalization in 2003.
Due to his addiction to heroin, he contracted hepatitis C.
Fafara died on September 20, 2003, his 54th birthday, in Portland, Oregon, of complications from hernia surgery he underwent the previous month. Fafara is buried at Redland Pioneer Cemetery in Redland, Oregon.