LOS ANGELES — Tony Dow, the longtime actor and producer best known for playing Wally Cleaver on "Leave it to Beaver," died Tuesday morning at the age of 77.
"It is with an extremely heavy heart that we share with you the passing of our beloved Tony this morning," his management team wrote in a since-deleted post on Dow's Facebook page. "Tony was a beautiful soul — kind, compassionate, funny and humble. It was truly a joy to just be around him. His gentle voice and unpretentious manner was immediately comforting and you could not help but love him.
"The world has lost an amazing human being, but we are all richer for the memories that he has left us," the statement continued. "From the warm reminiscences of Wally Cleaver to those of us fortunate enough to know him personally — thank you Tony. And thank you for the reflections of a simpler time, the laughter, the friendship and for the feeling that you were a big brother to us all."
Dow was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, and his wife, Lauren, announced in May that it had returned, although an official cause of death was not announced.
Dow beamed his way into televisions across America at the age of 12 when he was cast to play Wally Cleaver on "Leave It To Beaver." The show ran for six years and is considered one of television's classics.
Jerry Mathers, who played Cleaver's younger brother Theodore (aka Beaver), wrote a tribute to Dow in 2015 for his 70th birthday, comparing his real-life family to that of the famed TV show.
"As most people know, Tony Dow was my big brother on Leave it to Beaver," Mathers wrote. "Ironically, he was really 'the Beaver' in his real life family because he only had an older brother and he was the youngest. I on the other hand was the eldest of my four siblings so I actually was the 'Wally' in my real family."
But Dow might have never landed the role were it not for someone else's teenage growth spurt, Mathers added. Dow wasn't in the original pilot for the show, which was called "It's a Small World." It was only when the original Wally shot up in height before production began that producers searched for a shorter star.
"The boy who played Wally grew about 5 inches between the time the pilot was filmed and [when] we went into production of the series," Mathers wrote. "He was almost as tall as Hugh Beaumont [who played father Ward Cleaver] so the producers decided to put out another casting call for a boy who was more height appropriate for that age. Tony's true life ability as an athlete was a perfect fit for Wally, he was cast for the part, and the rest is television history!"
Dow went on to appear on several other shows before breaking from acting to serve in the U.S. National Guard from 1965 to 1968. He made his directorial debut with an episode of "The New Lassie" in 1989. He also made a career in sculpting, with one of his pieces even landing at the Louvre.
"There's a lot of remnants of wood things, trees and whatnot," he told the L.A. Times in 2008 around the sculpture's launch. "I tend to find burly kinds of pieces, roots and things, and bring them home. Some of the prettiest pieces seem to come from burned wood. There's a little bit of that blackness left in — it has a warmth to it."
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