Diane Brewster (March 11, 1931 – November 12, 1991) was an American television actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in television series of the 1950s and 1960s: confidence trickster Samantha Crawford in the Western Maverick[1]: 668-669  with James Garner; pretty young second-grade teacher Miss Canfield in Leave It to Beaver; and doomed wife Helen Kimble in The Fugitive.

[1]: 502 On Maverick, Brewster's character is a gorgeous gambling con artist who often affects a southern accent to convince marks of her reliability, but is ultimately likable.

According to his detailed interview for the Archive of American Television, writer/producer and series creator Roy Huggins had given her character his mother's maiden name.

[5] In 1957, she co-starred with George Montgomery in the Western film Black Patch, playing his former and future love interest.

On January 31, 1959, Brewster played Lisa Caldwell in the episode "Runaway Train" of NBC's Cimarron City Western television series starring George Montgomery.

She made almost 50 appearances in various other television and film roles, including episodes of Crusader starring Brian Keith, Wanted: Dead or Alive with Steve McQueen, Tombstone Territory (as "Julie Dixon" in season 1 episode 33), Tales of Wells Fargo (as "Dr Alice" S2/E25) with Dale Robertson, and Harbor Command with Wendell Corey.

[7]: 150 In 1960, Brewster had a starring role as Wilhelmina "Steamboat Willy" Vanderveer in The Islanders,[1]: 512-513  an hour-long adventure series set in the South Pacific, with William Reynolds and James Philbrook.

Brewster was also a guest star in 1965 on Wagon Train, appearing in "The Echo Pass Story" along with Jack Lord and James Caan, which aired on January 3, 1964.