According to the gallery owner who represented Tony Dow as a sculptor, the actor who played Wally Cleaver on the TV sitcom Leave It To Beaver has passed away.
His cancer diagnosis came at age 77.
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An Update Posted on Facebook
An update posted on Facebook about 3:00 PM EDT on Wednesday confirmed that Tony had died away earlier that morning, with his beloved family by his side to help him through his final hours.
“There is widespread mourning for the passing of this great man. So many people cared for and appreciated what he did for the world. “It is rare that there is a guy who is so universally liked like Tony,” observed one of his many devoted followers.”
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Frank Bilotta, owner of the Bilotta Gallery, which displays and sells Dow’s sculptures, confirmed the artist’s passing via phone. The notification came a day after erroneous information about Dow’s death had been posted and then taken down.
The Older Sibling of Beaver
Dow, then 12 years old, played Wally Cleaver, the attractive and earnest older brother of Jerry Mathers’s Theodore “The Beaver” Cleaver.
Disputes amongst siblings, pranks in the neighbourhood, and crushes at school. Beginning in the ’50s, viewers went crazy for the heartwarming family comedy. Even Leave It to Beaver was a fairly bland show.
The show featured “a pretty isolated look at a white, American suburban middle-class household,” as Common Sense Media described it. Even so, you can catch reruns of Leave It to Beaver on Peacock.
Dow came from an artistic background in Hollywood. His dad worked in the construction industry and did some interior design as well. His mom was a pioneer of the stunt world in the movies. As a young man, young Dow excelled at swimming and diving on the competitive circuit.
After the 1963 cancellation of Leave It to Beaver, Dow appeared in several other TV shows, including as Lassie and Never Too Young, before returning to the Cleaver family in The New Leave It to Beaver in the 1980s. After that, he moved on to directing episodes of shows like Harry and the Hendersons and Coach.
An Advocate For Depressives
Dow was open and honest about his battle with depression. He represented what is now known as the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, formerly known as the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association.
He could see the “irony,” as Dow described it. Following his speech at the Chicago event, he made the following comment: “The fact that I’m depressed is especially ironic given that I starred in a TV show that was supposed to represent the ideal 1950s. However, I am only one of many millions.”
Dow’s lifelong interest in art was reignited in his later years when he returned to sculpture. Dow states on the website of the gallery that represents him, “My ambition from the moment I was old enough to think about things was to have a creative life.”
