Dennis Haskins death certificate lists Parkinson's disease
The actor who played Principal Belding on Saved by the Bell died Sept. 27 in Burbank; he had kept his illness private.
Parkinson's disease is listed as the cause of death of Dennis Haskins, who played Principal Richard Belding on Saved by the Bell, according to a death certificate that TMZ says it obtained from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. TMZ published the report on Oct. 6.
The actor was 75 and died Sept. 27 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California. His agent, Jay Schachter, confirmed the death to ABC News on Sept. 29 without giving a cause, and called it a tragic loss.
TMZ reports that Haskins spent his last years in an assisted-living facility and kept the diagnosis to himself. It attributes to his ex-wife, Sarah Quinones, the statement that he distanced himself from loved ones so it would stay private. This report covers only the immediate cause: neither he nor those close to him made any other condition public.
The cause comes from a certificate TMZ says it saw. Neither the family nor the agent has confirmed it in the sources reviewed, and the WAFB copy matches TMZ but does not independently verify the document.
According to ABC News, Haskins played Belding in the original NBC series from 1989 to 1993 and then in Saved by the Bell: The New Class, seven seasons through 2000. He also played him on Good Morning, Miss Bliss, the Disney Channel show that gave rise to the series. He last returned to the character in 2015, in a sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Among his castmates, Lark Voorhies, who played Lisa Turtle, remembered knowing him for almost four decades as a blessing in her life, and Mario Lopez, the series' A.C. Slater, said he was the biggest kid on set, per ABC News.
His credits include appearances on Mad Men, New Girl and Hot in Cleveland, among other series.
