Beaumont “Bo” Dow, grandson of Tony Dow — who played Wally Cleaver, the older brother of Beaver Cleaver in the popular “Leave It To Beaver” sitcom in the 1950s and 60s — is set to star in a comedic feature film planned for release in the spring of 2042.
Dow (18), a freshman student in the School of Theater, Film and Television at UCLA, has previously appeared on stage and in commercials. This is his first film role.
The young actor was named in honor of the late Hugh Beaumont, who played Ward Cleaver, husband of June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) and father of Wally and Beaver Cleaver (Jerry Mathers) in the TV series.
The new movie, as yet untitled, is based on “Stories I’d Tell My Children (but maybe not until they’re adults,” written by bestselling author and first-year baby boomer Michael N. Marcus. The book is a mostly humorous memoir which includes more than 100 stories covering 55 years. The movie, being produced by indie studio Forty-Six Films, will concentrate on public school and college life. According to the author, “the book has plenty of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll -- and four murders.”
The book has been compared to both “Animal House” and “Porky’s,” and called “a male version of Sarah Silverman’s The Bedwetter." It was awarded the highest five-star rating by the Midwest Book Review, which said it is “a thoughtful and fun read, highly recommended."
Principal photography is planned to start when Dow will be on vacation from college. Location scouts are now at work, and it is expected that much of the movie will be filmed in New Haven, Connecticut, where the author grew up and many of the stories took place. The additional cast members have not yet been finalized, nor has the director. Executive producer J. R. Cafarelli has said that he’d “love to have a baby boomer like Rob Reiner or Ron Howard do the directing. They have experience on both sides of the camera, and lived through the period when the movie takes place.”
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