OT: RIP Wally Cleaver
Tony Dow passed away this morning at age 77. He is survived by the Beav and reunited with Eddie Haskell. RIP
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/entertainment/tony-dow-obit/index.html
Damn. Didn’t know Eddie Haskell was gone.
Well, as of 5:02 pm today, Wally is still alive. Reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated. He's in hospice care, but still alive. Somebody goofed.
Is Francisco Franco still dead?
Time marches on. RIP Tony!
Jerry Mathers is the last one left from the main cast, yes? That wouldn’t be surprising. After all, it has been 60 years.
The actors who played Gilbert, Judy, and Tooey are still alive, although their parts were not what I consider main cast.
What about Lumpy?
Gone
Don't forget my personal favorite, Larry Mondello. (alive)
You linked CNN? WTF!!!
How about Larry Mondello?
Turns out he's not dead, so yes, more Fake News from CNN. LMAO
I think sites like CNN, Fox News and Deadspin are not allowed to be referenced here. Doesn't matter if they provide anything factual (in the rare instances that they do), just that they are not to be referenced.
RIP Mr Dow🙏
You were an icon in the Golden Age of television 👍
"Aw shucks, Wally" said the Beav more times than I can remember 😊
Was there a more 50's TV show than Leave it to Beaver? The depiction of white upper middle class suburbia was of a world taken for granted. As opposed to Mad Men's take on exactly the same environment (Don's family life with Betty) which explored its stifling and rigidly enforced conformity.
kinda depends on where youre from. The Honeymooners was more a city-life situation - lower-middle class people dealing with city noise, polution, con jobs, etc... I love Lucy was somehow in the middle of both i guess.
I never watched LITB... but ive watched honeymooners and I love lucy ---- and still watch if i randomly see it on today.
Growing up near NYC in the 90s, The Honeymooners was on every new years eve/day and my dad and I would watch the marathon! I still remember it.
First, RIP Tony.
Second, Ken Osmond (the actor who played Eddie) was on the Tonight Show maybe 15-20 years ago. He was laughing at the nostalgia that people had for "1950s Mayfield" because he said that fantasy world never actually existed.
The whole thing was a supposed to be an idealistic view of the world at that time - no different than most family based sitcoms have done ever since.
It was never supposed to be a documentary of middle class life in 1957.
i would agree, but what did that have to do with what i said?
Sorry - I was trying to reply to the message above yours. My bad.
I don't think anyone, then or now, believed it was a realistic depiction of anyone's life. But it did have a ring of truth about some aspects of kids' lives. I once read that the 2 main writers used events in their kids' lives as inspiration for most of the episodes - and it shows.
And, like most of that type show, most episodes taught a little lesson. They may have corny even then but it is not a bad idea to have moral and practical lessons repeated frequently to kids.
Wrong. Not only is there is a whole movement of people who believe that LITB and similar shows reflected life in the 50s, but that we should aspire to get back to this "golden age" of American society.
Fairly simple the differences in perception-one was made during the 50's, the other made much later looking back at the 50's. The majority of people during the 50's didn't think there was anything "stifling" or rigidly enforced about the middle class suburbia of the time-it was all they knew. (this is not a commentary on any issue of the 50's)
Father Knows Best. The Donna Reed Show. Danny Thomas. Some of the others.
All in the same vein. Dad went to work and mom vacuumed in her high heels. Dad came home and solved first world household problems when he got home.
Oh and RIP Wally. Best big bro ever.
I read recently that Shelly Fabares, the hot daughter on the Donna Reed Show who went on to star in a couple of Elvis beach movies, is still alive and well. She's got to be about the same age as Tony Dow.
RIP to Wally, the only kid to have the guts to stand up to that wise guy Eddie.
I think she's alive, but not necessarily well. She has some chronic disorder IIRC.
She also played the wife of the Minn St. coach. She was beautiful indeed.
They don't make 'em like Wally Cleaver anymore. The quintessential big brother.
RIP, Tony.
As sorry as I am to read of Tony Dow’s passing, it is sadder to read of his struggles to build a career after his childhood stardom. RIP Mr Dow, thanks for the memories.
He was in a soap opera in the 1960s, as I recall, but for the most part, I think the great majority of his credits in acting, apart from the original Leave It To Beaver and its revival in the 1980s, were bit parts. I remember reading some years ago that he was also a bronze sculptor too. I know he has directing credits as well - he directed a lot of episodes of Babylon 5, and several episodes of Coach.
"Gee, Beav. I don't think that's a swell idea." - Wally. Rest in Peace.
Leave it to Beaver was the show that I'd come home from elementary school that would always be on Channel 20 right when I got in the door; and I'd always sit and watch it if it was on. Thanks for the memories and RIP, Tony.
what's funny is i now come to mgoblog for two things: mich sports + obits
He was just featured on CBS Sunday morning earlier this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPSYhTvXnbE
Interesting retrospective. RIP Tony.
That was awesome. Thanks for sharing!
Usually they come in three's, but I think he's #4. The world is shifting on its axis.
That's got to be so hard on the beaver.
RIP. I religiously watched reruns of all these old shows this time of year when I was kid. Leave it to Beaver, Hogan's Heroes, Gilligan's Island, Flipper, Lassie... I loved them all.
Wally's Mom - (IRL) Barbara Billingsley is the aunt of Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) from the movie...
A Christmas Story.
RIP to the nicest kid in Mayfield.
One last time, "Hey Wally!"
Go Blue.
She is also fluent in jive.
Not once in that show did Ward ever hit the beaver.
The Beaver had it coming though.
Tony's condition has been upgraded to alive.
https://www.avclub.com/leave-it-to-beaver-star-tony-dow-still-alive-1849334457