According to the gallery owner who represented Dow as a sculptor, Tony Dow, who portrayed Wally Cleaver in the television program Leave It To Beaver, has passed away. The cancer had been discovered in the 77-year-old man.
According to a statement on Facebook on Wednesday afternoon, “We have got confirmation from Christopher, Tony’s son, that Tony passed away earlier this morning, with his loving family by his side to see him through this journey.”
“We are aware that the loss of this awesome guy has affected the entire planet. He was loved by so many people and offered so much to all of us. The best summary came from a fan who remarked, “It is rare when there is a guy who is so much adored as Tony.”
Frank Bilotta of the Bilotta Galleries, which sells Dow’s sculpture, confirmed his death over the phone. The news of Dow’s passing was revealed a day after it had mistakenly been posted before being pulled down.
Big Brother Beaver
Dow, who portrayed Wally Cleaver, was cast as Theodore “The Beaver” Cleaver’s older, more attractive brother when he was 12 years old. Jerry Mathers played Theodore “The Beaver” Cleaver. siblings fighting, mischief in the neighborhood, and school crushes. Beginning in the late 1950s, the family comedy’s success with audiences grew. White bread was also used in Leave It To Beaver. The show featured “an extremely isolated look at a white, American suburban middle-class family,” according to Common Sense Media. On Peacock, Leave It To Beaver is still broadcast in reruns.
Dow was raised in a creative Hollywood family. His father was a general builder and house architect. One of the first stuntwomen in Hollywood was his mother. The young Dow excelled in diving and swimming competitions.
Dow appeared in several TV shows after Leave It To Beaver ended in 1963, including Lassie, Never Too Young, and a Cleaver family revival from the 1980s called The New Leave It To Beaver. Later, he directed episodes of Harry and the Hendersons, Coach, and other shows while working behind the camera.
A Spokesperson For Those Who Suffered From Depression
Dow was open about his struggle with depression. He served as a spokesperson for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, which is now known as the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association. He understood the “irony,” as Dow phrased it. After delivering a speech at an organization event in Chicago, he stated, “I mean, here I am, depressed, and I was in a TV show that supposedly represented the perfect society of the 1950s. I’m only one in a million, though.”
Later in life, Dow renewed his longtime love of making art, specifically sculpture. The Bilotta Gallery, which is his agent, states on its website that Dow’s purpose “was to live a creative life from the time I was old enough to think about things.”