Tony Dow, the American child actor who went on to direct 24 episodes of the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses, has died aged 77. Although well known as Wally Cleaver on the US sitcom Leave It to Beaver in his younger days, he came to Britain and directed some of the best loved shows of Only Fools, including Yuppy Love, containing the bar-flap incident voted the country's favourite comedy moment.
His death was confirmed by Frank Bilotta, who represented Dow in his work as a sculptor, in an email to the Associated Press. No cause of death was given, but it was known that Dow had been in a hospice having been diagnosed with prostate and gall bladder cancer.
A post on Dow’s Facebook page on Tuesday prematurely reported that he had died, but his wife and management team later took down the post, explaining it was an error.
