June Cleaver voted favorite TV mom

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - June Cleaver, the mother in the popular 1950's television show "Leave it to Beaver" topped the list of Americans' favorite mothers.

She was voted the mom that Americans would like to have had when they were growing up, according to a new poll.

More than 2,500 Americans questioned in an online poll voted Cleaver their first choice, followed by Claire Huxtable of "The Cosby Show" and Carol Brady of "The Brady Bunch".

"She stayed at home and was there when the kids got home and had cookies and milk," Regina Corso, director of Harris Interactive which conducted the survey, said in an interview.

"You get a sense that with so many dual-income families now and the necessity of the mother to be working as well, what they're looking for is a mom who is there."

The survey also showed that women preferred mother/lawyer Huxtable, who was on television in the 1980s, over Cleaver. But men liked the idea of having suburban homemaker Cleaver as their mother.

Of the 10 TV moms on the list, more than half of the characters ranking at the top were icons of the 50s to the 80s, and all were married, while modern day mothers ranked lower.

Roseanne Connor of "Roseanne", Lorelei Gilmore of "The Gilmore Girls" and Marge Simpson of "The Simpsons" all tied to place at the bottom of the list.

Other TV moms on the list included Marion Cunningham of "Happy Days", Donna Stone, of "The Donna Reed Show", and Harriet Nelson, from "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet who ranked fourth, fifth and sixth.

The survey showed that the two oldest generations favored Cleaver, while the Gen Xers, those aged 32 to 43, voted for Brady who was raising a large blended family with her second husband in the early 1970s.

The youngest generation of Echo Boomers, those aged 18 to 31, said single mother Gilmore was their favorite.

"I think the friend aspect is what the younger generation is looking for in their mom, and not just a mom," said Corso.

And with Mother's Day in just a few days the survey found 95 percent of people have planned something special for their mother. Almost 50 percent said they will send a card or buy a present and 29 percent plan to take their mother out.

But five percent said they won't be doing anything at all.

(Reporting by Irene Kuan; Editing by Patricia Reaney)