No cause was given, but Dow had been in hospice care and announced in May that he had been diagnosed with prostate and gall bladder cancer. The news came a day after a post on Dow’s Facebook page prematurely reported that he had died, but his wife and management team later took down the post and explained that it was announced in error. He was 77.
Tony Dow’s son and management team have confirmed that the actor is still alive, with his representatives attributing the earlier misinformation to the distraught state of the Leave It To Beaver actor’s wife. “This is a difficult time,” Dow’s son Christopher Dow said in a statement posted on the actor’s Facebook page. “Dad is at home, under hospice care, and in his last hours. My wife and I are by his side along with many friends that have visited. He has a fighting heart.”
Tony Dow, best known for portraying Wally Cleaver on TV’s Leave It To Beaver, has died at age 77. In addition to playing one of pop culture’s most iconic older brothers — a role he played from 1957 to 1963, then reprised in The New Leave It to Beaver from 1983 to 1989 — Dow’s career included high-profile appearances on shows like Diagnosis Murder, Knight Rider, Lassie and Mod Squad. (Courtesy Everett Collection)
