Saved by the Bell actress recalls last time she saw late costar Dennis Haskins in sweet tribute
Several cast members from the teen comedy have sent love to Haskins following his death on Sunday.
Saved by the Bell actress recalls last time she saw late costar Dennis Haskins in sweet tribute
Several cast members from the teen comedy have sent love to Haskins following his death on Sunday.
By Raechal Shewfelt
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Raechal Shewfelt
Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.
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September 29, 2026 10:49 p.m. ET
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Dennis Haskins on ‘Saved by the Bell’. Credit:
Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
- *Saved by the Bell* actress Leanna Creel remembered Dennis Haskins, who played Mr. Belding, following his death.
- The actress portrayed Tori Scott on the final season of the teen comedy.
- Creel is only the latest Bayside High School Tiger to share kind remembrances of Haskins.
Leanna Creel, who played Tori on the final season of *Saved by the Bell*, is remembering the late Dennis Haskins, who died Sept. 27, after a struggle with Parkinson’s disease.
“Dennis!! You were always ready with a warm hug and smile!,” Creel captioned several images of him — photos of the two recently, of Creel’s sons at a *SBTB* event, and of the cast from the last installment of the original series.
She continued, “I joined Bayside Season 5, with realistic storylines like ‘Tori’ delivering Mr. Belding’s baby … in an elevator …during an earthquake! A few years ago, I got to bring my boys to a *SBTB* pop up where they had fun playing with the props. It was the last time I saw Dennis. Being kind, in the end, is the only thing that matters. May his memory be a blessing.”
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Leanna Creel as Tori Scott.
Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Creel’s character wasn’t one of the main ones on the teen comedy, but she did play a memorable part; Her Tori Scott arrived at Bayside when main characters Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani Thiessen) and Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley) disappeared without explanation. In reality, it was because NBC decided that it wanted more episodes than what had been planned, and Thiessen and Berkley had already moved on.
Tori famously dated Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s main character, Zack Morris, despite the two having gotten off to a rough start.
The storyline she mentioned was 1992’s “Earthquake,” in which Zack, Tori, Mr. Belding, and his pregnant wife, Becky (Louan Gideon), were trapped in an elevator while leaving school after the students had thrown her a baby shower.
Creel’s fellow cast members have been sending a lot of love to Haskins since the sad news of his death broke.
Lark Voorhies, who played the fashionable Lisa Turtle, noted that he “will always hold a special place in my heart” and that she would “miss his warmth and laughter.”
Where is the ‘Saved by the Bell’ cast now? See the stars 37 years after the series premiere
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Tiffani Thiessen pays tribute to ‘Saved by the Bell’ costar Dennis Haskins
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She explained, “Knowing Dennis Haskins for almost 40 years has been one of the truest blessings of my life, which makes losing him hurt so deeply. We shared so much history together from our earliest days, and through it all, he remained a fabulous person, a loyal friend, and someone with such a kind, gentle heart.”
Mario Lopez, who was behind jock A.C. Slater, wrote that he was “heartbroken to hear about my old friend Dennis Haskins. He played the principal, but Dennis was the biggest kid on the *SBTB* set. If you knew him, you loved him—and if there was karaoke, you knew Dennis was getting on that mic! I’m grateful for the laughs, the memories, and the friendship we shared all these years.”
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Thiessen, too, paid tribute.
“Dennis Haskins was a steady presence in my teenage years,” she wrote, “the kind of figure who kept us in line while making sure we knew he was in our corner. I will always remember his kindness and be grateful for the memories we as a cast got to share with him. RIP Mr. B.”
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