Mr. Belding Actor Dennis Haskins Dies at 75
Dennis Haskins died at his home in Burbank, California, on September 27, 2026. He was 75. The next day his friend and caretaker announced the death; WTVC in Chattanooga reported it. No cause was given.
After the final goodbyes, the caretaker crossed the hall to sign paperwork, looked up, and saw that the room Haskins had occupied was a gift from the Mario Lopez Golf Classic. That detail made the night a little easier to carry. Dimples Karaoke put the end into words on Instagram: “Late last night, that journey ended for him. He is now at peace and is probably entertaining the people in the sky. 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. After I said my final goodbyes to him last night, I was across the hall signing some paperwork. I looked up and saw that the room he had been in was a gift from the Mario Lopez Golf Classic, and somehow, that made me feel a little better. What a cool and amazing life he had. Rest in peace, Dennis. You were very much loved and will never be forgotten.”
By Monday the news had reached his agent. Jay Schachter confirmed it to TMZ on Monday, September 28, 2026. “It’s a tragic loss,” he 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.”
To the public he was Principal Richard Belding, the adult foil to Zack Morris and the rest of Bayside High on Saved by the Bell, which ran on NBC from 1989 to 1993. His trademark line landed whenever the schemes spilled into the hallway: “Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?” He had first played Belding on Disney’s Good Morning, Miss Bliss in 1988 and was the only adult regular carried into the retool. He kept the part through Saved by the Bell: The College Years and Saved by the Bell: The New Class, staying with the character into 2000. He auditioned seven times for the role.
The work reached past the principal’s office. His screen debut era included The Dukes of Hazzard in 1979; later guest turns took him to The West Wing, 7th Heaven, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and A Million Ways to Die in the West. That was the résumé fans knew. The years just behind it had been kept quieter. About eight years earlier he became ill. He stayed silent about his fight with Parkinson’s, among other health concerns, because he did not want the attention. He did not want to have to tell people. He would say, “What do I even say.” The diagnosis sat in the record as history; the cause of death was never disclosed.
What came before the illness was a life built far from Bayside. He was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on November 18, 1950, to Dennis Button Haskins IV and Veneta Marilyn Yarbrough. His siblings were Terrence William Haskins and Timothy Harold Haskins. He went to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Notre Dame High School, then the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. At UTC he reported for the student newspaper, performed with the Drama Club, and helped found the Harlequins, acting, stage-managing, and writing plays. He served as SGA entertainment chairman and belonged to the Blue Key Honor Fraternity and the Raven’s Society. In 1973 he helped bring Ike and Tina Turner to campus. Through Blue Key he helped run the annual Freaks vs. Fuzz basketball game, which raised scholarship money for the children of UTC and Chattanooga police officers.
Before any principal’s office, the work was music. He managed artists, booked shows, and promoted concerts; Tom Jones and Gregg Allman were among his clients. He also competed as a contestant on the game shows Press Your Luck and Scrabble. He married Sarah Dianne Goins. They later divorced and had one child; details about the child were never made public. Celebrity Net Worth estimated his net worth at about $400,000.
Away from cameras, the place that held him was a karaoke bar in Burbank. Dimples Karaoke remembered him as one of its own. “Dennis was a staple at Dimples. A lot of people thought he owned it, but he didn’t. He just loved the place and its people. He enjoyed singing for people, meeting them, and taking selfies with his fans. Dimples closed down about 11 years ago, and people still associate him with his beloved ‘second home.’ He was known to most as Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell, but to us, he was much more than that.”
A fan who had just arrived in Los Angeles found him there like anyone else. “Nicest guy in the world. Was a longtime regular at Dimples where he’d do karaoke or sip a whiskey ginger at the bar. Was one of my first ‘oh wow, a guy I watched on TV is hanging out like a normal dude’ moments after moving to LA. RIP to the legend Dennis Haskins.” The room had been gone for years. The tie to that second home did not loosen.
Fans took to X as the news moved. The tributes came in short posts, some addressed to the principal and some to the man who had played him. “RIP Mr. Belding. He made Saved by the Bell so much fun,” one wrote. “Not Mr. Belding! ! RIP Good sir,” posted another. A third left it bare: “That's so f--king sad. Dennis was the nicest man you'd ever hope to meet. RIP.” The messages kept arriving through the hours after the reports.
