RELATED: Were Ken Osmond and Jerry Mathers Friends in Real Life? Ken Osmond died in 2020 He got a degree in philosophy from the University of California before reprising his role as Beaver in a 1983 Leave It to Beaver TV movie that spawned a sequel series. He went to school in California and joined the United States Air Force Reserve in 1966.Īfter graduating high school in 1967, Mathers continued his life outside acting. After getting up to all sorts of shenanigans on Leave It to Beaver, Mathers traded the fictional town of Mayfield for a real-life high school experience. The actor who played the show’s namesake, Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver, is still alive. RELATED: ‘Leave It to Beaver’: Real-Life Brothers Inspired Wally and Beaver Cleaver Jerry Mathers is still alive He reprised his role as Wally Cleaver in the 1980s and eventually became a director and producer. After the iconic sitcom ended, Dow continued his acting career. That led him to Leave It to Beaver, which at the time was called Wally and The Beaver.

Can Tony go with me because we kind of look alike?’ He figured maybe that was the only way to get it.”ĭow landed a role in a pilot series called Johnny Wildlife but it didn’t take off. “He told my mom, ‘I’m going to this interview for a show where they’re looking for a father and son. “I was working out at the Hollywood athletic club and there was a lifeguard there who was an actor,” Dow told Fox News in 2019. He’d been an accomplished diver and only went to an audition by chance.

Dow, now 75, landed the role of the oldest Cleaver sibling as a child with little to no acting experience.

Tony Dow, or Wally Cleaver to Leave It to Beaver fans, is still alive. (L-R): Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver), Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver), Jerry Mathers (Beaver Cleaver), and Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver) | CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Leave it to beaver actors