Dennis Haskins, the actor remembered by generations of television viewers as Principal Richard Belding on Saved by the Bell, has died at the age of 75.

His death was confirmed by his agent, while a longtime friend and caretaker also shared the news. A cause of death has not been made public. Haskins had been living with Parkinson’s disease, according to a tribute from Dimples Karaoke, the California venue he frequented for years.

For millions of viewers, Haskins will always be the man behind the desk at Bayside High, trying to keep Zack Morris and his friends out of trouble. But his life before and after Saved by the Bell stretched well beyond the school hallways that made him famous.

Long before television viewers knew him as Mr. Belding, Haskins was a Chattanooga student deeply involved in journalism, theatre, campus entertainment and community work. At the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, he wrote for the student newspaper, performed with the Drama Club and Harlequins, served as the Student Government Association’s entertainment chairman and belonged to Blue Key Honor Fraternity and the Raven’s Society.

One detail from those college years stands out. As entertainment chairman, Haskins helped bring Ike and Tina Turner to UTC in 1973. He was also a founding member of the Harlequins community theatre group, where his work included acting, stage management and writing original plays.

His involvement on campus also had a civic side. Through Blue Key, Haskins helped organize the annual “Freaks vs. Fuzz” basketball game, an event that raised scholarship money for the children of UTC and Chattanooga police officers. He later helped get Mocs basketball games televised on Chattanooga’s NewsChannel 9.

The role that made Dennis Haskins a television fixture

Haskins’ association with Richard Belding began before Saved by the Bell itself. He first played the character in Good Morning, Miss Bliss, a Disney Channel series that preceded the NBC sitcom.

When Saved by the Bell arrived in 1989, Haskins became a familiar part of Bayside High alongside Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Tiffani Thiessen, Mario Lopez, Elizabeth Berkley, Lark Voorhies and Dustin Diamond. The original series ran for four seasons through 1993.

Belding was the authority figure in a show where teens were forever challenging authority figures, but Haskins provided the principal with enough personality to make him not just another disciplinary figure from TV. The catchphrase “Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?” was very much his.

And Haskins did not leave Belding behind when the original series ended.

He returned for Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which aired from 1993 to 2000, extending his run as the Bayside principal well beyond the original cast’s graduation. Years later, in 2015, he again stepped into the role when several cast members reunited for a Saved by the Bell sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Outside the franchise, Haskins appeared in television and film projects including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Mad Men, Hot in Cleveland, New Girl and A Million Ways to Die in the West.

Away from Hollywood, Dimples became a second home

Some of the most personal memories to emerge after Haskins’ death came not from a television studio but from Dimples Karaoke in Burbank, California.

The venue described Haskins as such a regular presence that some customers mistakenly believed he owned the place. He did not. He simply loved being there, singing, talking to people and taking photographs with fans.

“Dennis was a staple at Dimples,” the tribute said. “A lot of people thought he owned it, but he didn’t. He just loved the place and its people.”

That relationship offered a glimpse of Haskins away from the character that defined his career. To the public, he was Mr. Belding. To the people who knew him at Dimples, the tribute said, “he was much more than that.”

The bar also disclosed that Haskins had become ill about eight years earlier and had kept his battle with Parkinson’s private because he did not want attention drawn to his health.

The tribute said Haskins died on Sunday, September 27. His official cause of death, however, has not been released. That distinction is important: Parkinson’s was among the health conditions he had been living with, but the cause of his death is not yet clear.

‘He always had time for them’

Haskins’ agent remembered him not only for the television character audiences loved, but also for the way he treated those audiences away from the cameras.

“Everyone loved Mr. Belding and those of us who got to know Dennis, loved him even more,” his agent said, adding that Haskins “absolutely LOVED his fans” and “always had time for them, no matter what.”

That sentiment closely matches the memories shared by Dimples, where Haskins spent years singing, meeting strangers and posing for photographs long after Saved by the Bell had left prime television.

Born in Chattanooga on November 18, 1950, Haskins attended Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Notre Dame High School and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

His career ultimately took him from Chattanooga theatre and student activities to one of the most recognizable fictional schools in American television. Yet one of the more revealing threads in his story may be how consistently he remained drawn to people and performance, whether that meant organizing a major concert at college, writing plays, appearing on television or singing karaoke for a room full of regulars.

For television audiences, Dennis Haskins was Principal Belding. For those who knew him away from Bayside High, the memories being shared after his death suggest the role was only one part of the story.

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