Dennis Haskins, principal on Saved by the Bell, dies at 75

Dennis Haskins, who played Principal Richard Belding on "Saved by the Bell" and kept the role through a spinoff that ran until 2000, died Sunday, Sept. 27, in Burbank, California, at 75.

His agent, Jay Schachter, confirmed the death to Variety, which reported that Haskins had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease eight years ago. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, his alma mater, said he died on Sept. 27.

Schachter, the head of film and television for Stewart Talent in New York City, said in a statement that Haskins had been his client and friend for more than 20 years and that he was heartbroken. "Everyone loved Mr. Belding and those of us who got to know Dennis, loved him even more," he said.

A decade as Mr. Belding

Haskins first played Belding on the Disney Channel series "Good Morning, Miss Bliss" in 1988. NBC picked up the format the following year as "Saved by the Bell," a Saturday morning comedy about students at the fictional Bayside High in Southern California, and the series ran until 1993. He played the part for the show's entire run.

Haskins was the adult in a cast built around teenagers, among them Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Dustin Diamond, Lark Voorhies, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Elizabeth Berkley and Mario Lopez. The Associated Press described a school that often appeared to be run more by the students than by their hapless principal, borrowing from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and a series both ridiculed and embraced for its zany plots.

His catchphrase, delivered as he walked in on whatever Zack Morris and his friends had started, was "Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?" Variety reported that Haskins appeared in nearly 90 episodes.

He reprised the role on "Saved by the Bell: The New Class," which aired Saturday mornings on NBC from 1993 to 2000, and in the television movie "Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style," a run in the same part that stretched over more than a decade.

The music business, then television

Haskins worked as a music manager, agent and concert promoter before he acted, with Tom Jones and Gregg Allman among his clients, according to his IMDb biography. He spent 10 years in the Chattanooga music business, arranging shows and working with artists, and moved to California in 1980, the university said in a remembrance published Tuesday.

He began in small television roles, including "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Magnum, P.I." He also had a guest turn on "The Twilight Zone" in the 1980s, according to the Associated Press.

Later he took supporting parts on "The West Wing," "Mad Men," "How I Met Your Mother" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Variety listed further film and television credits including "A Million Ways to Die in the West," "A Bennett Song Holiday," "Trailer Park Shark," "Jennifer Falls" and "Abstruse."

The university's remembrance counted more than 90 acting credits over a career that spanned decades, though the principal's office at Bayside High was the work people recognized.

Castmates and a karaoke bar

Lark Voorhies, who played Lisa Turtle, wrote on Instagram that she was heartbroken, and that knowing Haskins for almost 40 years had been one of the truest blessings of her life. She wrote that they had shared history from their earliest days, and described him as a fabulous person and a loyal friend with a kind, gentle heart, the Associated Press reported.

Dimples Karaoke, a bar in Burbank where Haskins was a regular, posted its own tribute on Instagram. "Dennis was a staple at Dimples. A lot of people thought he owned it, but he didn't," the post said, according to Variety. It said he enjoyed singing for people and taking selfies with fans, and that the bar closed about 11 years ago.

"Just know that if you tried to reach out to him in the last few years, I did read your messages to him, and you were heard," the post said. It said he was now at peace.

Steve Ray, the head of UTC's Department of Theatre, said in the university's remembrance that Haskins had fans all over the world and of all ages. "I never went anywhere with him that fans did not approach him. He was always gracious," Ray said.

Cause of death undisclosed

Neither the agent's statement nor the university's remembrance gave a cause of death, and Schachter's statement did not address memorial arrangements. NBC News reported that the cause and manner of death were unavailable, and the Associated Press reported that additional details were not immediately available. Haskins is survived by his son, Dustin, and a younger brother.

From Chattanooga to Bayside High

Haskins was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Notre Dame High School before enrolling at UTC. He arrived thinking about basketball and walked onto the Mocs roster after failing to make the team at the University of Tennessee.

Leon Ford, then UTC's athletic director, became an adviser and encouraged Haskins to take a theatre course after learning he was interested in it. His connection to performing went back to sixth grade, when the UTC professor Dorothy Hackett Ward cast him in a production of "Pinocchio" and he rehearsed on campus with college students for three weeks. "That's where I fell in love with theater," he said.

He was the social director for Kappa Sigma fraternity and later chairman of the university's entertainment committee, booking artists and helping bring Ike and Tina Turner to campus in 1973. He reported for The University Echo, was a founding member of the community theater group known as the Harlequins, and helped organize an annual benefit basketball game that raised scholarship money for the children of UTC and Chattanooga police officers.

A degree, four decades later

Haskins left UTC in the 1970s just short of graduation requirements, according to his alumni page on the university's website. He came back for the degree in his sixties. At the fall 2015 commencement, at age 65, he crossed the stage in cap and gown for a bachelor's degree in theatre, and someone had queued up the "Saved by the Bell" theme.

The university gave him its distinguished alumnus award in 2000, WVLT reported, and he later donated his personal working scripts from every episode of the show to the UTC Library.

Haskins lived in California for most of his adult life after moving west in 1980, though the university said he never stopped talking about the city and the school that gave him his start.

I've been in California longer than I've been in Chattanooga, but the most important years of my life, high school, college, were in Chattanooga.

On his alumni page, Haskins said the show had gone to over 87 countries and called it "a phenomenon that has not been matched by any other Saturday morning TV show." He said he was proud to have been there from the very first episode to the last.

In the show's own chronology, the principal ended up in Chattanooga as well. In the 2000 finale of "Saved by the Bell: The New Class," Belding left Bayside to become dean of students at UTC.