Beaver who?

Teenage dream Tony Dow is now 67 and a far cry from his days as a sidekick on Leave It to Beaver—he's an abstract artist with quite a following. (I'm sure he was followed in the past, too, considering his shirtless glory.)

Dow now

On the eve of a new exhibition of his work, Dow recalls the moment that led to his retirement from acting:

"It was 12 years ago that art took front and center in his life. Dow laughs when he remembers the day when he decided it was time to take the leap from acting to sculpting. He was up for a role in a TV show and a 28-year-old executive asked, 'Have you ever done comedy before,' recalls Dow, co-star of one of the most classic TV comedies in history.

"'Well, I sort of looked at him and I thought, "Hmmm, maybe it is time for me to retire. Maybe it is time to take the art seriously."'"

More of this human work of art after the jump...