Mario Lopez Remembers Dennis Haskins as “The Biggest Kid” on the Saved by the Bell Set After His Death at 76

by · Thought Catalog
Ron Galella, Ltd. / Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

TV + Movies

By Chrissy Stockton

Updated 45 minutes ago, September 30, 2026

Dennis Haskins, the actor who played the beloved Principal Richard Belding on Saved by the Bell, has died at 76, and his former castmates and friends are paying tribute to the man behind Bayside High’s most memorable authority figure.

At the Saved By the Max Los Angeles opening night pop-up in West Hollywood on May 1, 2018, Dennis Haskins gestures toward a framed portrait of himself on display at the event. Photo by Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Images.

Mario Lopez, who starred as A.C. Slater on the series, was among the first to remember Haskins after his death on September 27. In an Instagram tribute, Lopez recalled how Haskins would take the mic whenever there was karaoke and wrote, “You’ll always be part of our Bayside family.”

At the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, CA, on July 19, 1990, the Saved by the Bell ensemble — Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Elizabeth Berkley, Mario Lopez, Dennis Haskins, Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, and Lark Voorhies — appeared at NBC’s TV Summer Press Tour. Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images.

Leanna Creel, who played Tori Scott, also shared a memory of the actor. She said she last saw him a few years ago when she brought her sons to a Saved by the Bell pop-up, and remembered him as someone who was always ready with a hug and a smile.

Haskins’s agent, Jay Schacher, confirmed his death. A cause of death has not been made public.

At the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, Dennis Haskins flashes a playful hand gesture during Celebrity Locker Room’s “An All Star Night at the Mansion” event on July 11, 2006. Photo by Michael Buckner / Getty Images.

Dimples Karaoke Bar in Burbank offered its own tribute, revealing that Haskins had lived with Parkinson’s disease and had kept his diagnosis private. The bar said he was such a regular that people sometimes thought he owned it.

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