Tony Dow’s management team removes statement star has died
Editor’s note: CNN previously reported an obituary on Tony Dow, after receiving a statement from his management team confirming his death. That statement has since been rescinded and a family friend has confirmed to CNN that Dow is in hospice care.
After sharing a statement on his verified Facebook account Tuesday morning that Tony Dow, an actor and director best known for his role as older brother Wally Cleaver on “Leave It to Beaver,” had died, Dow’s management team has removed the statement.
According to Judy Twersky, a longtime friend of Dow’s, he was still alive as of 3:30 p.m. ET, when she spoke to Dow’s wife, Lauren Dow.

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Tony Dow, an actor and director best known for his role as "The Beaver's" older brother Wally Cleaver on "Leave It to Beaver," died Tuesday, according to his agent.
Lauren Dow told Twersky he is still breathing and receiving hospice care. Dow was unclear what happened with the statement from her husband’s management team earlier today, Twersky told CNN.
Dow was thrust into stardom at age 12, when he was cast on the soon-to-be-smash sitcom “Leave It to Beaver.” In the role, Dow helped create the archetype of a suburban nuclear family and became a household name to millions of viewers. The show ran from 1957 to 1963.
In a January interview with CBS Sunday Morning, Dow recalled learning over a hamburger and malt that he was offered the part after auditioning on a whim.
“There went my life,” he said.
Wally Cleaver, the straight-arrow teenage son, star athlete and Boy Scout, became inextricably tied to Dow, who said he struggled to stand on his own.
“It’s sad to be famous at 12 years old or something, and then you grow up and become a real person, and nothing’s happened for you,” he told CBS.
Dow, who said he experienced undiagnosed depression from age 20 to age 40, spoke out for decades about his mental health challenges, long before it was common for celebrities to disclose that information publicly. In 1993, he was an honorary speaker at a convention for the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association.

Members of the original cast of the “Leave It To Beaver” television series paused during filming of a TV special, “Still The Beaver,” in Los Angeles on Dec. 10, 1982. From left to right are Ken Osmond, Tony Dow, Babara Billingsley and Jerry Mathers. (Associated Press photo)

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
The cast of Leave It To Beaver poses for a photo as they are reunited in Santa Monica, Calif. Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show. The cast was shooting a segment for Good Morning America. Seated (L to R): Jerry Mathers, Barbara Billingsley, Tony Dow and his wife Lauren Shulkind. Standing (L to R): Frank Bank and Ken Osmond.
“I realize there’s a perceived irony about this,” he told the Baltimore Sun of his depression in 1993. “You know, the fact that I was in a TV program that epitomized the supposed ideal world of the ’50s, and here I’m suffering from depression. But I’m just one of millions.”
Dow told CBS that once he accepted his diagnosis and began treatment, he found hope. He channeled that hope into art, too, sculpting ornate pieces at his home studio.
“I think people should take the leap of faith that they can feel better,” he said.
Dow continued to work in Hollywood, taking parts in TV series and even reprising his role in “The New Leave It to Beaver” in the 1980s. He also directed episodes of series like “Harry and the Hendersons,” “Coach” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”
Jerry Mathers, who starred opposite Dow as Beaver on their hit sitcom, told fans earlier this month that he’d been in contact with Dow, whose managers said had been “in and out of the hospital with various complications and treatments.”
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AP file, 1975
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AP file
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AP file, 1964
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AP file, 2015
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AP file, 2004
Ann Turner Cook, whose cherubic baby face was known the world over as the original Gerber baby, has died. She was 95. Cook was 5 months old when a neighbor, artist Dorothy Hope Smith, drew a charcoal sketch of her that was later submitted for a contest Gerber was holding for a national marketing campaign for baby food. The image was a hit, so much so that it became the company's trademark in 1931 and has been used in all packaging and advertising since.
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AP file
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AP file, 2006
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AP file, 2014
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AP file, 2009
James Rado, co-creator of the groundbreaking hippie musical “Hair,” which celebrated protest, pot and free love and paved the way for the sound of rock on Broadway, died June 21, 2022. He was 90. “Hair,” which has a story and lyrics by Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot, was the first rock musical on Broadway, the first Broadway show to feature full nudity and the first to feature a same-sex kiss.
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AP file, 2009
Tony Siragusa, the charismatic defensive tackle who was part of one of the most celebrated defenses in NFL history with the Baltimore Ravens, died June 22, 2022. He was 55. Siragusa, known as “Goose,” played seven seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and five with the Ravens. Baltimore’s 2000 team won the Super Bowl behind a stout defense that included Siragusa, Ray Lewis and Sam Adams. Siragusa was popular with fans because of his fun-loving attitude, which also helped him transition quickly to broadcasting after his playing career.
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AP file, 2009
O. Bruton Smith, who emerged from North Carolina farm country and parlayed his love of motorsports into a Hall of Fame career as one of the biggest track owners and most successful promoters in the history of auto racing, died June 22, 2022. He was 95.
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AP file, 1975
Marlin Briscoe, who became the first Black starting quarterback in the American Football League more than 50 years ago, died June 27, 2022. He was 76.
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AP file, 1980
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AP file, 2016
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AP file, 1987
Oprah Winfrey’s father, Vernon Winfrey, died July 8, 2022, at the age of 89. Vernon served as a member of Nashville's Metro City Council for 16 years and was a trustee for the Tennessee State University. Oprah spent her early childhood at her father's hometown of Kosciusko, Mississippi, and in Milwaukee with her mother, Vernita Lee, who died in 2018.
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AP file, 2006
Tony Sirico, who played the impeccably groomed mobster Paulie Walnuts in “The Sopranos” and brought his tough-guy swagger to films including “Goodfellas,” died July 8, 2022. He was 79.
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AP file, 1966
Larry Storch, the rubber-faced comic whose long career in theater, movies and television was capped by his “F Troop” role as zany Cpl. Agarn in the 1960s spoof of Western frontier TV shows, died July 8, 2022. Storch was 99.
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AP file, 2014
Shinzo Abe, a divisive archconservative who was Japan’s longest-serving prime minister and remained a powerful and influential politician after leaving office, has died after being shot during a campaign speech July 8, 2022. He was 67. Abe, a political blueblood, was perhaps the most polarizing, complex politician in recent Japanese history. At the same time, he revitalized Japan’s economy, led efforts for the nation to take a stronger role in Asia and served as a rare beacon of political stability before stepping down two years ago for health reasons.
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AP file, 2007
Ivana Trump, a skier-turned-businesswoman who formed half of a publicity power couple in the 1980s as the first wife of former President Donald Trump and mother of his oldest children, died July 14, 2022. She was 73.
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AP file, 2011
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AP file, 2006
William “Poogie” Hart (center), a founder of the Grammy-winning trio the Delfonics who helped write and sang a soft lead tenor on such classic “Sound of Philadelphia” ballads as “La-La (Means I Love You)” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” died July 14, 2022, at age 77.
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AP file, 1967
David Warner, a versatile British actor whose roles ranged from Shakespearean tragedies to sci-fi cult classics, died July 24, 2022. He was 80. Often cast as a villain, Warner had roles in the 1971 psychological thriller “Straw Dogs,” the 1976 horror classic “The Omen,” the 1979 time-travel adventure “Time After Time” — he was Jack the Ripper — and the 1997 blockbuster “Titanic,” where he played the malicious valet Spicer Lovejoy.
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AP file, 2018
Paul Sorvino, an imposing actor who specialized in playing crooks and cops like Paulie Cicero in “Goodfellas” and the NYPD sergeant Phil Cerreta on “Law & Order,” died July 25, 2022. He was 83. In his over 50 years in the entertainment business, Sorvino was a mainstay in films and television, playing an Italian American communist in Warren Beatty’s “Reds,” Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s “Nixon” and mob boss Eddie Valentine in “The Rocketeer.”
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AP file, 2008
Pat Carroll, a comedic television mainstay for decades, Emmy-winner for “Caesar’s Hour” and the voice Ursula in “The Little Mermaid,” died July 30, 2022. She was 95. Carroll won an Emmy for her work on the sketch comedy series “Caesar’s Hour” in 1956, was a regular on “Make Room for Daddy” with Danny Thomas, a guest star on “The DuPont Show with June Allyson” and a variety show regular stopping by “The Danny Kaye Show,” “The Red Skelton Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show.” A new generation would come to know and love her voice thanks to Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which came out in 1989.
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AP file, 2012
Tony Dow, who as Wally Cleaver on the sitcom “Leave It to Beaver” helped create the popular and lasting image of the American teenager of the 1950s and 60s, died July 27, 2022. He was 77. Dow's Wally was an often annoyed but essentially loving big brother who was constantly bailing out the title character, Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver, played by Jerry Mathers, on the show that was synonymous with the sometimes hokey, wholesome image of the 1950s American family.
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AP file, 2017
Nichelle Nichols, who broke barriers for Black women in Hollywood when she played communications officer Lt. Uhura on the original “Star Trek” television series, died July 30, 2022, at the age of 89. Her role in the 1966-69 series as Lt. Uhura earned Nichols a lifelong position of honor with the series’ rabid fans, known as Trekkers and Trekkies. It also earned her accolades for breaking stereotypes that had limited Black women to acting roles as servants and included an interracial onscreen kiss with co-star William Shatner that was unheard of at the time.
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AP file, 1966
Bill Russell, the NBA great who anchored a Boston Celtics dynasty that won 11 championships in 13 years — the last two as the first Black head coach in any major U.S. sport — and marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr., died July 31, 2022. He was 88. A Hall of Famer, five-time Most Valuable Player and 12-time All-Star, Russell in 1980 was voted the greatest player in NBA history by basketball writers. He remains the sport’s most prolific winner and an archetype of selflessness who won with defense and rebounding while leaving the scoring to others.
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Reed Saxon
In this Thursday, Sept. 18, 2012 photo, Tony Dow, actor, director and artist, poses at his home and studio in the Topanga area of Los Angeles. When it comes time to sitting down in a studio and carving out bronze and wooden sculptures inspired by the nature all around him, Wally isn't leaving it up to the Beav these days. Dow, who famously played the Beaver's older brother Wally on the classic 1950s-60s sitcom "Leave it To Beaver," is carving out a name for himself in the art world these days, as an abstract artist. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)