diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
index 2ac2b85df5..e250ef066b 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/AbstractDispatcher.scala
@@ -199,6 +199,7 @@ abstract class MessageDispatcher(val app: ActorSystem) extends Serializable {
     actor.mailbox = deadLetterMailbox
     mailBox.becomeClosed() // FIXME reschedule in tell if possible race with cleanUp is detected in order to properly clean up 
     cleanUpMailboxFor(actor, mailBox)
+    mailBox.cleanUp()
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
index 07163d8a77..6a49ab8d0b 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/dispatch/Mailbox.scala
@@ -194,6 +194,12 @@ abstract class Mailbox(val actor: ActorCell) extends AbstractMailbox with Messag
 
   @inline
   final def dispatcher: MessageDispatcher = actor.dispatcher
+
+  /**
+   * Overridable callback to clean up the mailbox,
+   * called when an actor is unregistered.
+   */
+  protected[dispatch] def cleanUp() {}
 }
 
 trait MessageQueue {
diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-beanstalk-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/BeanstalkBasedMailbox.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-beanstalk-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/BeanstalkBasedMailbox.scala
index 51abd0b4d1..c5565d1026 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-beanstalk-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/BeanstalkBasedMailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-beanstalk-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/BeanstalkBasedMailbox.scala
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class BeanstalkBasedMailbox(val owner: ActorCell) extends DurableMailbox(owner)
 
   val hostname = app.config.getString("akka.actor.mailbox.beanstalk.hostname", "0.0.0.0")
   val port = app.config.getInt("akka.actor.mailbox.beanstalk.port", 11300)
-  val defaultTimeUnit = app.AkkaConfig.DefaultTimeUnit
+  def defaultTimeUnit = app.AkkaConfig.DefaultTimeUnit
   val reconnectWindow = Duration(app.config.getInt("akka.actor.mailbox.beanstalk.reconnect-window", 5), defaultTimeUnit).toSeconds.toInt
   val messageSubmitDelay = Duration(app.config.getInt("akka.actor.mailbox.beanstalk.message-submit-delay", 0), defaultTimeUnit).toSeconds.toInt
   val messageSubmitTimeout = Duration(app.config.getInt("akka.actor.mailbox.beanstalk.message-submit-timeout", 5), defaultTimeUnit).toSeconds.toInt
diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
index 01b5f06cce..2473d75e39 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-mailboxes-common/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/DurableMailbox.scala
@@ -40,16 +40,11 @@ class DurableMailboxException private[akka] (message: String, cause: Throwable)
 abstract class DurableMailbox(owner: ActorCell) extends Mailbox(owner) with DefaultSystemMessageQueue {
   import DurableExecutableMailboxConfig._
 
-  val app = owner.app
-  val ownerPath = owner.self.path
+  def app = owner.app
+  def ownerPath = owner.self.path
   val ownerPathString = ownerPath.path.mkString("/")
   val name = "mailbox_" + Name.replaceAllIn(ownerPathString, "_")
 
-  val dispatcher: Dispatcher = owner.dispatcher match {
-    case e: Dispatcher ⇒ e
-    case _             ⇒ null
-  }
-
 }
 
 trait DurableMessageSerialization {
@@ -105,7 +100,7 @@ abstract class DurableMailboxType(mailboxFQN: String) extends MailboxType {
   }
 
   //TODO take into consideration a mailboxConfig parameter so one can have bounded mboxes and capacity etc
-  def create(dispatcher: MessageDispatcher, receiver: ActorCell): Mailbox = {
+  def create(receiver: ActorCell): Mailbox = {
     ReflectiveAccess.createInstance[AnyRef](mailboxClass, constructorSignature, Array[AnyRef](receiver)) match {
       case Right(instance) ⇒ instance.asInstanceOf[Mailbox]
       case Left(exception) ⇒
diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-zookeeper-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/ZooKeeperBasedMailbox.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-zookeeper-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/ZooKeeperBasedMailbox.scala
index 1f82bc0276..c70b5972e4 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-zookeeper-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/ZooKeeperBasedMailbox.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-zookeeper-mailbox/src/main/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/ZooKeeperBasedMailbox.scala
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ class ZooKeeperBasedMailboxException(message: String) extends AkkaException(mess
 class ZooKeeperBasedMailbox(val owner: ActorCell) extends DurableMailbox(owner) with DurableMessageSerialization {
 
   val zkServerAddresses = app.config.getString("akka.actor.mailbox.zookeeper.server-addresses", "localhost:2181")
-  val defaultTimeUnit = app.AkkaConfig.DefaultTimeUnit
+  def defaultTimeUnit = app.AkkaConfig.DefaultTimeUnit
   val sessionTimeout = Duration(app.config.getInt("akka.actor.mailbox.zookeeper.session-timeout", 60), defaultTimeUnit).toMillis.toInt
   val connectionTimeout = Duration(app.config.getInt("akka.actor.mailbox.zookeeper.connection-timeout", 60), defaultTimeUnit).toMillis.toInt
   val blockingQueue = app.config.getBool("akka.actor.mailbox.zookeeper.blocking-queue", true)
@@ -63,5 +63,11 @@ class ZooKeeperBasedMailbox(val owner: ActorCell) extends DurableMailbox(owner)
     case e ⇒ false
   }
 
-  def close() = zkClient.close
+  override def cleanUp() {
+    try {
+      zkClient.close()
+    } catch {
+      case e: Exception ⇒ // ignore
+    }
+  }
 }
diff --git a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-zookeeper-mailbox/src/test/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/ZooKeeperBasedMailboxSpec.scala b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-zookeeper-mailbox/src/test/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/ZooKeeperBasedMailboxSpec.scala
index 6838bc1338..da363beaaf 100644
--- a/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-zookeeper-mailbox/src/test/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/ZooKeeperBasedMailboxSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-durable-mailboxes/akka-zookeeper-mailbox/src/test/scala/akka/actor/mailbox/ZooKeeperBasedMailboxSpec.scala
@@ -18,11 +18,6 @@ class ZooKeeperBasedMailboxSpec extends DurableMailboxSpec("ZooKeeper", ZooKeepe
     super.atStartup()
   }
 
-  override def afterEach() {
-    // TOOD PN we should close the zkClient in the mailbox, would have been nice with a callback in the mailbox when it is closed
-    super.afterEach()
-  }
-
   override def atTermination() {
     zkServer.shutdown
     super.atTermination()