His official Facebook page posted that he died on Tuesday morning. “It is with extremely heavy hearts that we share with you the passing of our beloved Tony this morning. Tony was a beautiful soul – kind, compassionate, funny and humble,” read the message from his management team. Dow and his wife Lauren announced in May that his cancer, which he had been diagnosed with years ago, had returned. Dow was born in Hollywood and his mother was a stunt double for Clara Bow. He was a New Olympics diving champion but didn’t have much experience in showbiz when he tagged along with a friend and ended up auditioning and winning the role of Wally. “Leave it to Beaver” began airing in 1957 and ran until 1963. The popular black-and-white sitcom, centered on the typical idealized family of the time, followed the adventures of mischievous young Beaver, the practical brother of Wally, the deceitful friend Eddie Haskell and their long-suffering but understanding parents played by Barbara Billingsley and Hugh Beaumont. The show’s writers, Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly, based the characters on their own children, incorporating details such as Wally’s constant hairdo that they noticed in their own teenagers. As the show ended, Wally was ready to start college while Beaver was ready for high school. Dow returned in the 1980s for the TV movie Still the Beaver and the series The New Leave It to Beaver, for which he also directed five episodes and wrote one. He wrote, produced and directed while continuing to act and directed several episodes of ‘Harry and the Hendersons’, ‘Coach’, ‘Babylon 5’, ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ and an episode of ‘Star Trek: Deep’. Space Nine.” After “Leave It to Beaver,” Dow appeared in series such as “General Hospital,” “Mr. Novak,” “Never Too Young,” “Lassie,” “Love, American Style,” “Square Pegs” and “The Love Boat,” in which he starred. He also played himself in the 2003 comedy “Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star,” which featured cameos by dozens of former child actors, and appeared in the John Landis comedy “The Kentucky Fried Movie . Dow battled depression in his 20s, filming the self-help video “Beating the Blues” to help others, and later survived two bouts of cancer. He also became a sculptor and started a construction company. He is survived by his wife Lauren and two children.
