Morning Man Classic: Tony Dow!

Yesterday would have been Tony Dow’s 78th birthday. Sadly, the actor and sculptor died last July just a few months after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

Reruns of the 1960s sitcom Leave it to Beaver used to air early in the mornings when I was in college and I remember watching the episodes before class and thinking they were hilarious.

I also seem to recall that as the Cleaver boys got older, Wally (played by Dow) developed into quite a hunk! Wally was the elder son of June (played by Barbara Billingsley) and Ward (played by Hugh Beaumont) Cleaver, and the brother of Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver (played by Jerry Mathers).

The classic sitcom ran from 1957 through 1963 and Dow was 18 when the show went off the air. He took a three year break from acting at that point to serve in the National Guard then returned to television with guest roles on such shows as Love American Style, Adam 12, The Mod Squad, The Hardy Boys, Knight Rider, Square Pegs, Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, Charles in Charge and Emergency!

But he wasn’t through being Wally quite yet. Most of the original cast reunited for 1983 television movie Still the Beaver which was so successful that it led to a whole other series called The New Leave it to Beaver which ran from 1985 through 1989.

Dow continued to act occasionally but has other skills as well. He was an accomplished sculptor and had also worked in visual effects on such television series as Doctor Who and Babylon 5.