I'm not so sure...! Things might be pointing upward. A recent perusal of pics featuring one Tony Dow during and shortly after his days on the famed situation comedy
Leave it to Beaver (1957-1963), show one rather cutie-patootie who had an athletic physique (thanks to his stint as a Junior Olympic diver) and some seriously luminous eyes. No, we're not into boys (he was twelve when the show began), but by the time the show ended and he was eighteen, he'd grown into quite a looker. Unfortunately, not long after that, he spent three years in the National Guard, which sidelined his acting career. He did return to acting, but never to the same amount of hullabaloo he'd garnered as Wally Cleaver.
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| Dow as a handsome and popular young star. |
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| As the eldest, yet still youthful, brother on TV's Leave It to Beaver. |
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| By this time, the eyes really have it! |
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| TV mom Barbara Billingsley was famous for wearing pearls at practically all times (and was at times mocked for it), though the habit originated because she had a scar at her throat that she was attempting to obscure. |
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| Active TV brothers, with the lean Dow towering over his sibling Jerry "The Beaver" Mathers. |
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| Beaver looked up to Wally in more ways than one. |
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| Dow supplied the teen idol aspects for the audience while Mathers tended to carry more of the comedic weight. |
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| Here they discuss ball handling skills... |
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| Why couldn't someone fix The Beav's swimsuit belt?? |
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| a patriotic Thanksgiving presentation. This would never fly on television today. But, again, the eyes! |
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| Wally hits the books. |
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| This time in living color. |
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| Bye Bye Beaver, the rest of the pics focus on Dow without you! |
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| Presumably preparing for his driver's test. |
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| In his day, Dow was a fan magazine staple. |
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| Always athletic, these next three pics have a locker room playfulness to them. |
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| Towel Fight! |
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| I bet he'll win. |
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| Approaching the end now. |
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| Mr. Dow eventually morphed into a rather doughy man with a lot of fluffy hair, but he always had those incredible eyes. Seventy-two these days, he is now an accomplished sculptor. |
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| Now we're talking... Well, hello! |
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| The End. |
