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When Tony Dow died today at the age of 77 after a battle with liver cancer, it wasn’t just another celebrity death.
Not only did viewers lose a bona fide TV icon, but as a result of Dow having played Wally Cleaver for so many years – first for six seasons on Leave It to Beaver, then for another four seasons on its sequel series, Still the Beaver – it was like losing an older brother.
Oh, sure, maybe your relationship wasn’t always the strongest, and you might go for years without seeing him, but whenever he popped up, the warm and fuzzy memories immediately came flooding back.
Born in Los Angeles on April 13, 1945, Dow had one of those Hollywood success stories that infuriates struggling actors: he walked into a casting call for Leave It to Beaver with virtually no acting experience and walked out with the role of Wally Cleaver, son of Ward and June Cleaver and big brother to Theodore Cleaver, a.k.a. the Beaver.
As Wally, Dow managed to pull off a performance that made him the kind of teenage boy that girls wanted to date and guys wanted to emulate. Wally was handsome, intelligent, polite, athletic, popular among his peers, and liked by most adults. He talked more or less like a real teenager, and he acted like one, too, which is to say that he made his mistakes along the way, but he generally learned a lesson in the end, because of course he did. (Everyone knows that teenagers on TV in the ‘50s and ‘60s weren’t allowed to make mistakes without learning the error of their ways before the closing credits began to roll.)
Wally might not have been the anti-Eddie Haskell, but with the help of Ward and June, you always knew that he’d end up growing up to be a fine young man…and, indeed, we saw that very thing happen in the ‘80s, when The Disney Channel – and then later TBS – provided viewers with the chance to enjoy the further adventures of the Cleaver family and their friends as adults, both parents and, in June’s case, grandparents. (Sadly, Hugh Beaumont, who played Ward, died in 1982.)
There was more to Tony Dow than just Wally Cleaver, of course. In the immediate wake of Leave It to Beaver leaving the airwaves, Dow guested on such shows as Dr. Kildare and My Three Sons before settling into a role on Never Too Young, a soap opera geared specifically toward a teen audience. While the show only lasted from September 1965 to June 1966, Dow appeared in 153 episodes during its brief run, after which he joined the U.S. National Guard for a few years.
Although he spent some time working construction in the ‘70s, Dow also got back into acting, and during the ‘70s and ‘80s he could be seen popping up on a variety of different shows, including – but not limited to – Adam-12, The Mod Squad, Emergency!, Square Pegs, Quincy M.E., Knight Rider, Murder, She Wrote, and Charles in Charge. Additionally, he popped up in a few films, most notably Kentucky Fried Movie and Back to the Beach.
In the late ‘80s, Dow decided to step behind the camera, directing episodes of a diverse variety of shows, among them Get a Life, The New Lassie, Harry and the Hendersons, Swamp Thing, Coach, Babylon 5, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family. You can’t say the guy didn’t have range as a director…
Beyond acting and director, Dow was also an artist, as displayed on an installment of CBS Sunday Morning:
Throughout the decades, however, Dow still remained predominantly known as Wally, and if there was any point when he grew weary of the association, he certainly got over it, having spent the last several years regularly appearing at autograph and nostalgia conventions alongside his longtime TV brother, Jerry Mathers.
In fact, since Mathers issued a statement via Facebook in the wake of his friend and former co-star’s death, it seems only appropriate to let the Beav have the final word:
“It is with the utmost sadness I learned this morning of my co-star and lifelong friend Tony Dow’s passing. He was not only my brother on tv, but in many ways in life as well. Tony leaves an empty place in my heart that won’t be filled. He was always the kindest, most generous, gentle, loving, sincere, and humble man, that it was my honor and privilege to be able to share memories together with for 65 years. Tony was so grateful for all of the love and support from our fans across the world. My wife Teresa and I send our deepest condolences to his wife Lauren, his family and to all of those who knew and loved him. The world may have lost a star today, but the heavens gained another.”
Will Harris (@NonStopPop) has a longstanding history of doing long-form interviews with random pop culture figures for the A.V. Club, Vulture, and a variety of other outlets, including Variety. He’s currently working on a book with David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. (And don’t call him Shirley.)
