Dennis Haskins, the actor who became a Saturday-morning fixture as Principal Richard Belding on Saved by the Bell, has died. He was 75.
His passing was confirmed Monday by his longtime agent, Jay Schachter, and first reported by news outlets in Haskins’ hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. A cause of death has not been publicly disclosed. He died Sunday in California.
“It’s a tragic loss,” Schachter said in a statement. “Everyone loved Mr. Belding, and those of us who got to know Dennis loved him even more. He was a great person, and he loved — I mean absolutely loved — his fans. 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.”
Haskins was born Nov. 18, 1950, in Chattanooga. He attended Notre Dame High School and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he played basketball as a freshman, worked on the student newspaper, and served as entertainment chairman of student government. He left school in the 1970s to pursue entertainment, later returning to complete his degree in 2016.
He made his network television debut in 1979 on The Dukes of Hazzard and spent the next decade building a résumé of guest roles on series including Archie Bunker’s Place, Magnum, P.I., CHiPs, and The Twilight Zone.
The part that defined him arrived in 1988. Haskins first played Principal Belding on Disney Channel’s Good Morning, Miss Bliss. After one season the series was retooled for NBC as Saved by the Bell, and Haskins was the only adult regular carried over. From 1989 to 1993 he presided over Bayside High opposite Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffani Thiessen, Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, Lark Voorhies, and Dustin Diamond. His running greeting — “Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?” — became one of the show’s most durable catchphrases.
He stayed in the role through Saved by the Bell: The College Years and then Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which ran from 1993 to 2000. He also appeared in the franchise’s TV movies. In all, he spent more than a decade as television’s most recognizable high-school principal.
Haskins later guest-starred on Mad Men, New Girl, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Hot in Cleveland, Victorious, 7th Heaven, and How I Met Your Mother, and appeared in the 2014 film A Million Ways to Die in the West. In 2015 he reunited with several Saved by the Bell co-stars for a sketch on The Tonight Show.
Away from the set he was known for his patience with fans, frequent convention and ballpark appearances, and an enduring affection for professional wrestling. He is survived by a son, Dustin.
For a generation that grew up on Saturday mornings, Haskins was the adult in the room — exasperated, decent, and never quite as in charge as he pretended to be. That performance outlasted the show itself. Bayside’s principal is gone. The memory of him walking into the Max, already one step behind Zack Morris, is not.
