Nocturnal 
Dennis Haskins, the actor who spent more than a decade telling teenagers to get to class as Principal Richard Belding in Saved by the Bell, has died at the age of 75.
His death was confirmed by his agent, Jay Schachter, in a statement shared with several US outlets including ABC News and Variety. “It’s a tragic loss,” Schachter said. “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.”
An official cause of death has not been confirmed. Local outlet WTVC NewsChannel 9, citing Dimples Karaoke where Haskins was a regular, reported that he had Parkinson’s disease.
From Chattanooga to Bayside High
Haskins was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on 18 November 1950 and attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Notre Dame High School before studying at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He was heavily involved on campus, writing for the student newspaper, performing with the Drama Club and Harlequins, and serving as the Student Government Association’s entertainment chairman, a role in which he helped bring Ike and Tina Turner to the university in 1973. He also co-founded the Harlequins community theatre group and helped organise the “Freaks vs. Fuzz” basketball game, which raised scholarship money for the children of UTC and Chattanooga police officers.
He first played the principal in 1988’s Good Morning, Miss Bliss on the Disney Channel. When the show was reworked as Saved by the Bell the following year, it became one of the defining sitcoms of the 1990s, running on NBC from 1989 to 1993 alongside Mario Lopez, Tiffani Thiessen, Lark Voorhies, Elizabeth Berkley, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and the late Dustin Diamond, who died in 2021.
“Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?”
Haskins carried the role on into the spin-off Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which ran for a further seven years until 2000, becoming known for his catchphrase: “Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?” He also reprised Belding for one-off specials including Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas.
Speaking to Parade in 2013, Haskins reflected on the show’s success: “When we got to the full-on Saved by the Bell, I knew it was something special because the energy was different, the kids were a little bit older, the dynamic was great between everybody, and we were having a great time.” He added that being kept on for the spin-off, while his younger co-stars moved on from the fictional school, gave him “the best job of all”.
Beyond Bayside High, Haskins built a long character-acting career, appearing in shows including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, New Girl, Mad Men and How I Met Your Mother, as well as the film A Million Ways to Die in the West. He briefly revived Belding for Nickelodeon’s Victorious in 2012 and for a Khalid music video, and reunited with his original co-stars for a comedy sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2015.
Tributes have been pouring in from fans of the show since news of his death broke on Monday. No funeral arrangements have yet been announced.
