When Tony Dow was a teenager, he spent years playing Wally Cleaver on the classic television sitcom “Leave It To Beaver,” which ran from 1957-1963 and continues to captivate audiences to this day. In a new interview, the 74 year-old has opened up about his time on the show and revealed the reason why his parents never let him watch it.
“I don’t have any other recollections of doing anything else. It was my life, you know? I got up in the morning, had breakfast and went to work,” Dow said of working in television. “My mom would drive me to work. I would study my lines while on the way and I had three hours of a school a day. The rest of the time we were shooting or rehearsing. Back then, it took two days of rehearsal and then three actual shooting days.”
Dow said that the people making the show actually told his parents not to let him watch it.
“They actually asked our parents not to let us watch the show on TV so we wouldn’t get a big head,” Dow explained. “So there are probably some episodes that I haven’t seen yet… And there was no swearing on set at all, not even from the crew. They wanted to keep it as family-friendly as possible at all times.”
Dow was also asked how he escaped the pitfalls that most child stars fall into.
“When I wasn’t filming my life was normal,” he explained. “My parents wanted to make sure it was normal. When I wasn’t doing the show, I was at school. We had family vacations during the summers and I had my group of friends. And I appreciated that. It’s difficult to make the transition from being a kid actor to an adult actor because all sorts of things happen.”
“Your voice changes. You’re no longer the cute little kid,” Dow continued. “You go through an awkward age and don’t get hired, so you quit… I wasn’t neglected by my family… I also started college and kept acting… Then I decided to stop and try other things, like directing, to keep things interesting. But my life was sort of consistently the same. So I didn’t have trouble with that transition. And I’m still keeping busy today.”
Dow spent years working behind the camera as a director and a producer, and now he focuses on making art. We’re so glad to see that his life turned out so great after “Leave It To Beaver” ended!
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