Tony Dow of ''Leave It to Beaver'' created a sculpture that was once in an exhibit at the Louvre

More like "Louvre" It to Beaver, am I right?

NBC/Universal

As a child actor, Tony Dow had the privilege of finding success at an early age when he won the role of Wally in Leave It to Beaver. It was a character that would serve Dow well; the role would turn him into a teen idol, and decades later, he would appear as Wally Cleaver once more in a Leave It to Beaver revival.

But acting wasn't Dow's only artistic pursuit. He was also an incredibly talented sculptor as well. According to an article in the Sun Herald, one of Dow's sculptures, entitled ''Unnamed Warrior,'' was actually shown as part of an exhibition at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.

Dow said of the experience, "Having something shown at the Louvre is about as good as you can get, especially when it's a juried show like this where there's a panel of judges who pick the pieces to be in the exhibition. I'm a little humbled by the whole thing but grateful nonetheless."

"Of course, I'm really proud of Leave It to Beaver and my directing career in television. Those are great accomplishments. I'm really proud of them, but this is interesting because I don't think they know anything about that at the Louvre."

In an interview with the Associated Press, Dow acknowledged that at times, his notoriety as an actor sometimes got in the way of his growth as a sculptor. He explained, "I think it's hard, especially with the Wally image to be taken seriously at pretty much anything other than that." 

In addition to sculpting, Dow also made a name for himself behind the camera as a director. According to another interview with the Associated Press, he confessed, "It's what I've wanted to do since the time I was sixteen years old."

Watch Leave It to Beaver on MeTV!

Weekdays at 8 & 8:30 AM, Sundays at 1 & 1:30 PM

*available in most MeTV markets
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
Close

11 Comments

tgoschwartz 6 months ago
I thought Tony was dreamy, but Beaver was a few years older than me, so I had my sites set on either him or Opie.
wendell 6 months ago
I love this show I watch it all the time. We never watched this as a kid. I wish we would have. I love all the characters but Gilbert cracks me up.
healingmindn 6 months ago
OMG, MeTV! It's actually called the "Unarmed Warrior:" https://tonydowsculpture.com/project/unarmed-warrior
Thanks for the link! I viewed the piece mentioned and all the others listed on the site! What a remarkable talent. I really liked his divers and swimmer pieces, he understood the forms so well.
healingmindn 6 months ago
This: https://tonydowsculpture.com/
Sooner 6 months ago
I hate it when they write articles about a physical object or person and then don't show them. And then a sharp commenter has to hunt one down and post it for them!
Beta6 6 months ago
I wish there had been a photo of hos sculpture included.
Trekkie1969 Beta6 6 months ago
Right? Now I'm just going to have to see if I can find it online somewhere.
tootsieg 6 months ago
Quite an accomplishment. Even better because it was based on his talent as a sculptor not on his television life.
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?