He sure had a nice body, didn't he? I was watching the episode where he gets a job as a lifeguard and couldn't stop staring when I noticed how built his legs were! :crazy:

Welcome coltsfan90! I always thought Wally or Tony had a nice built. A good looking guy!

Tony Dow was an athlete in real life so it's not surprising his body was in good shape. It's also the reason that the producers made Wally so athletic.

I have yet to see a female who didnt think Tony Dow was easy on the eyes.

Tony's main interest was swimming, so that must have helped with the build.

That Wally was a super nice guy also added to his appeal.

Tony Dow was an athlete in real life so it's not surprising his body was in good shape. It's also the reason that the producers made Wally so athletic.

I seem to recall that when he took the part of Wally Cleaver, he actually had his choice of 2 different roles in series (or was the other just a movie?). The other possibility was something like a junior Tarzan, in which he would do a lot of swimming, climbing, swinging by vine, et al. I remember for sure that he said he didn't know anything about acting, but he got into it by being so athletic and having a mother who was in show business, primarily as a stuntwoman.

I seem to recall that when he took the part of Wally Cleaver, he actually had his choice of 2 different roles in series (or was the other just a movie?). The other possibility was something like a junior Tarzan, in which he would do a lot of swimming, climbing, swinging by vine, et al. I remember for sure that he said he didn't know anything about acting, but he got into it by being so athletic and having a mother who was in show business, primarily as a stuntwoman.
I've heard or read that story somewhere too! Tony has also mentioned in interviews that he required a lot of coaching on his acting and line readings in the early seasons of "Beaver".

Tony was a Junior Olympics Diving Champion. The producers wanted him to play Wally for his athletic ability. They also wanted Beaver to look up to him. A little known fact, before Tony auditioned for Beaver he had a high voice.

Barbra remembered that Tony had to take voice lessons to get his vocal range down to someone sounding older!

Incredibly, Tony had NO previous acting experience. I can't remember exactly, but it was either a friend of his diving coach's son, or the diving coaches' son himself who went to Universal and HE did a reading for Wally. The producers than asked Tony if he would like to try-and they liked Tony's audition better! The rest is history!

Watch LITB carefully in scenes when Wally is nervous. He will often flick his nose usually two or three times in rapid succession. It is not known if Tony had this habit when he was nervous, or if Bob Mosher and/ or Joe Connelly encouraged him to do that.

Jack

Yeah, I remember reading somewhere that Tony needed a lot of coaching in the early years to help with his acting.
I've noticed him rubbing his nose a lot...I wasn't sure if Tony did that himself or that was part of his character!