RICHARD BENJAMIN (Uncle Larry)

Raised on Manhattan’s West Side, Benjamin graduated from New York’s High School of Performing Arts and then from Northwestern University, majoring in drama.  His first professional acting job was in Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare production of Taming of the Shrew.  In 1964 Mike Nichols cast him in the lead role for the national company of Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park and later he directed the London production of the now-classic romantic comedy.  Upon his return from London, Benjamin was signed to co-star with Dan Dailey in the national company of another  Neil Simon classic The Odd Couple.  Benjamin made his Broadway debut in Simon’s  The Star Spangled Girl.  His other Broadway credits include The Little Black Book and The Norman Conquests.

Benjamin’s auspicious film debut came in 1969, starring opposite Ali MacGraw in Goodbye, Columbus.  He went on to appear in more than twenty feature films, including Catch-22, Diary of a Mad Housewife, The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker, The Steagle, Portnoy’s Complaint, House Calls, and Love at First Bite.  He was honored in 1975 with the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in The Sunshine Boys.

In 1982, Benjamin made the transition from acting to directing with My Favorite Year, a film that brought Peter O’Toole an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.  Benjamin has since directed the films: Racing With The Moon with Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage, City Heat with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, The Money Pit with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long, Little Nikita with Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix, My Stepmother is an Alien with Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger, Downtown with Anthony Edwards and Forest Whitaker, Mermaids with Cher, Winona Ryder, and Bob Hoskins, Made in America with Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson, Milk Money starring Melanie Griffith and Ed Harris, and Mrs.Winterbourne with Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, and Brendan Fraser. 

Benjamin directed the acclaimed military satire, The Pentagon Wars for HBO.  He then directed Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor for Showtime Networks.  The film received an Emmy nomination for best picture. 

On television, Benjamin co-starred with his wife Paula Prentiss in the CBS series “He and She,” and starred in the Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Arthur Miller’s “Fame.”  Benjamin also hosted two top-rated episodes of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” one of which earned an Emmy nomination.

Returning to screen acting, Benjamin appeared in Woody Allen's film, Deconstructing Harry. On stage, Mr. Benjamin did a four month run of Power Plays by Elaine May and Alan Arkin with his wife Paula Prentiss in New York City. Mr. Benjamin directed the satire, Marci X, starring Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans for Paramount Pictures, released in 2003.  Next, he produced and directed Neil Simon’s The Goodbye Girl, starring Patricia Heaton, Jeff Daniels, and Alan Cumming for TNT.

In 2005 he starred in All My Sons by Arthur Miller with his wife and son, Ross Benjamin at Shadowlands Theater in Ellenville, New York.  He then directed the film A Little Thing Called Murder starring Judy Davis. He recently starred with George Segal at the Geffen Playhouse  in the American premiere of Heroes, adapted and translated by Tom Stoppard.

TONY DOW (Paul Hammond)

Tony Dow is an American film producer, director, sculptor, and television actor. He is best known for his role in the television sitcom Leave It to Beaver, which ran in primetime from 1957 to 1963. Dow played Wally Cleaver, the elder son of June (played by Barbara Billingsley) and Ward Cleaver (played by Hugh Beaumont) and the brother of Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver (played by Jerry Mathers).

Tony won the role of Wally Cleaver in Leave It to Beaver in a casting call and Dow continued to perform on Leave It to Beaver for six years, until the series ended in 1963. After that, he appeared on other television shows, including My Three Sons, Dr. Kildare, The Greatest Show on Earth, Never Too Young, and on five episodes of Mr. Novak in three different roles. Then, from 1965 to 1968, he served in the National Guard, interrupting his acting career. On his return to acting, he was a guest star in the television series Adam-12, Love American Style, Knight Rider, Square Pegs, The Mod Squad, The Hardy Boys, and Emergency!.

During the 1970s, Dow continued acting while working in the construction industry and studying jounalism and filmmaking. In 1986, he wrote an episode of The New Leave It to Beaver. In 1987, he was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star Lifetime Achievement Award for his role as Wally Cleaver. Dow's most recent screen appearance was in the 2003 film Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. In April 2019, Dow was seen promoting the Leave It To Beaver television series and other classic television series on the MeTV television network. In 1989, he made his debut as a director with an episode of The New Lassie, followed by episodes of Get a Life, Harry and the Hendersons, Coach, Babylon 5, Crusade, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He served as the visual effects supervisor for Babylon 5. In 1996, he provided visual effects for the Fox television movie Doctor Who.

Dow has become a sculptor, creating abstract bronze sculptures. One of his bronze pieces was on display in the backyard garden of Barbara Billingsley, who played his mother on Leave It to Beaver. He was chosen as one of three sculptors to show at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts exhibition, in the Carrousel du Louvre, in Paris, France, in December 2008. He represented the United States delegation, which was composed of artists from the Karen Lynne Gallery. His abstract shown at the Louvre was titled "Unarmed Warrior", a bronze figure of a woman holding a shield.

BEVERLY WASHBURN (Gloria Hammond)

Beverly Washburn was one of Hollywood's most familiar child actors during the 1950's and 1960's, a consummate performer who excelled at both comedy and drama with equal ease. Renowned for her uncanny ability to cry on cue, she appeared in countless television shows during the medium's Golden Age, and many of the era's best loved movies.
A native of   Hollywood California, she started modeling children's clothes at the age of three and got her first acting job at the age of six in the Columbia movie The Killer That Stalked New York, starring Evelyn Keyes.

Beverly might  best be  remembered for her role as Lisbeth in the classic Walt Disney film Old Yeller  and fans will also remember her from other movies such as Shane  starring Alan Ladd, The Greatest Show on Earth in which she was directed by Cecil B. DeMille,  Hans Christian Andersen in which she portrayed the little girl outside the jail who Danny Kaye sings Thumbelina to, as well as Here Comes the Groom starring Bing Crosby. She also co-starred with Kirk Douglas in The Juggler and Western fans will remember her from The Lone Ranger feature film starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels.

One of her best remembered  films is Spider Baby starring Lon chaney Jr., which has become a cult classic  film garnering fans throughout the world. Those of you who are Superman fans will also remember her as the little girl in "Superman and the Molemen".  Beverly's career throughout her lifetime has been very diverse, having worked on almost every major TV show  from the 5o's and 60's including "Wagon Train" in which she co-starred with Lou Costello in his only dramatic role, "Gidget", "The Patty Duke Show",  "77 Sunset Strip", " Hawaiian Eye"," Dragnet", "Playhouse 90", "The Texan", "Arrest and Trial", "One Step Beyond", 'Thriller" (which just came out on dvd and in which she  does  the commentary for her episode "Parasite Mansion" ), "The Law and Mr. Jones", Lux Video Theatre, Four Star Playhouse, Schlitz Playhouse, "Father Knows Best", "Mr. Novak",  "The Streets of San Francisco",  "The Millionaire"," Fury", "McMillan and Wife", and  Science Fiction Theater - just to name a few. She also appeared on the  original  "Star Trek" as Lt. Arlene Galway in "The Deadly Years" . She was also a series regular on "The New Loretta Young Show", having worked with Loretta Young several times on her anthology show and treasured her deep friendship with her up until the time Ms. Young passed away.

In the 1960's Beverly even cut a  hit record on the Smash label called "Everybody Loves Saturday Night But Me", written by the legendary folk artist Pete Seeger.

One of Beverly's favorite appearances was working with Tony Dow on "Leave it to Beaver" in an episode titled "The Blind Date Committee" in which she portrays a girl in school who nobody wants to go out with, so "Wally" gets stuck taking her out.  Beverly is  thrilled to be re-uniting with him once again in December Dilemma ... this time playing his wife!

Beverly currently lives in Las Vegas and is the author of "Reel Tears - The Beverly Washburn Story, Take Two"  which can be purchased on-line and in bookstores. She also writes a monthly column titled "Hollywood Memories" for a local paper called "Vegas Voice" and is an animal advocate.

ROSS BENJAMIN (Adam Reissman)

Ross Benjamin is a graduate of Harvard University and studied in Oxford and London with the British American Drama Academy.  Ross was a recurring guest star on NBC’s Harry’s Law and Tracy Ullman’s HBO comedy Tracey Takes On and served as both producer and star of the National Lampoon comedy Hard Four (with Ed Asner, Dabney Coleman, Ed Begley Jr. and Bryan Cranston).  Other film credits include playing Peter Goldsmith in Mike Nichols’ Primary Colors, Made in America, The Shrink Is In, Revolution #9, TNT's The Goodbye Girl, Treatment, Inversion and the upcoming Barking Mad.  Other t.v. guest star credits include Life On Mars, Showtime’s State of the Union, The Young and the Restless, High Incident, and AMC’s Remember Wenn. 

Ross recently completed a run in the West Coast Premiere of Sam Bobrick’s New York Water at The Pico.  His theatre credits include Tom Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie, Ben Jacobson in the sold out West Coast Premiere of Modern Orthodox, Chris Keller in All My Sons, Jerry Black in the West Coast Jewish Theatre’s production of A Majority of One and Ira Krensky opposite Larry Pressman in Only the Dead Know Burbank (directed by Peter Bonerz). 

Ross appeared in New York as Treplyev in The Sea Gull, Al in On the Open Road, Cootie in Moonchildren, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Sir Andrew in Twelfth Night.  At the Williamstown Theatre Festival, he played Harry Bagley in Cloud Nine and Tireseus in The Bacchae, and at the Drill Hall in London, the King in Love's Labour's Lost.

STANLEY LIVINGSTON (Rev. Coker)

My Three Sons was more than a hit show for ABC and CBS from 1960-’72 – it’s an industry hall of fame production. Stanley Livingston, who played the role of Richard “Chip” Douglas, the third son of Steve Douglas (Fred MacMurray), appeared throughout the entire series. The series was the cornerstone of the ABC and CBS lineups in the 1960s. With 380 episodes produced, My Three Sons is second only to The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet as TV’s longest running live-action sitcom. Livingston and MacMurray were the only two actors in the cast who appeared throughout the entire series.

While spending many hours at a time cooped up on a studio lot, Livingston made good use of his time at work, keeping busy between segments he was involved with, by using crayons, oil paints, even growing as an artist with charcoal pencils. Twelve years on a sound stage gives actors, kids included, opportunities to explore hobbies outside of their “day job”. Guitar picking was another favorite pastime for Livingston, when he wasn’t “on” as Chip Douglas. For Livingston, the electric guitar was his choice of another avenue of relaxation.

For Livingston, his start to Hollywood fame came about by chance, while at a swimming pool. Working steadily in TV and movies from a young age, it was in 1959, a year before the launch of My Three Sons in 1960, that the show’s cast began to be assembled. For Livingston, being cast as Chip Douglas took him from being a child actor to reaching 22 -years-old. “I’m a gadget guy. When I was on the set, I’d be doing puzzles, asking cameramen “how does this work”, and asking lighting people questions,” Livingston recalls. “I could have been outside the set, throwing a ball against the wall. All the (My Three Sons) crew were great to me. When it came to editing, I learned a few tricks. I wanted to learn everything that I could; be a sponge. In looking back at his career, particularly the My Three Sons years, Livingston sums up his experience simply – “It was an honor to do that.”