Tony had a pretty good run/life and managed to avoid the post-child-actor tragedy we all hear about. Sure he was often remembered as Wally, the older brother from Leave it to Beaver, a SitCom I never hated yet I could never really get into it. When SCTV did a parody of it with a very cruel story involving a grown-up Beaver shooting Eddie Haskell for pissing him off, I laughed pretty hard given how idyllic and cheesy the show was. He made forays into the more “modern” world with a cameo in the R-rated skit film Kentucky Fried Movie and I completely forgot his guest spot on Square Pegs, the SitCom Anne Beatts beat out John Hughes into doing by two years.
I knew Tony more for being a TV director of episodic shows, namely Babylon 5 alongside with Adam Nimoy (Leonard Nimoy’s son). The experience got him to chip in on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine too. What I learned through my cursory research was he got to be a special effects supervisor on B5 which is super impressive given how the show was the pioneer in using computer graphics instead of traditional, practical models.
Being born and raised in Hollywood did lead him to doing other jobs when acting or directing wasn’t happening. Tony was a sculptor and involved in construction. The latter was probably pretty lucrative when Los Angeles wasn’t a crowded as today.
Thanks for everything Tony. For years, you were America’s older brother and it’s not such a bad thing to be in public. I’m glad you continued to follow your passions, flex other creative muscles and contribute to vast collection of American Popular Culture.