No cause was given, but Dow had been in hospice care and announced in May that he had been diagnosed with prostate and gall bladder cancer. The news came a day after a post on Dow's Facebook page prematurely reported that he had died, but his wife and management team later took down the post and explained that it was announced in error.
On Tuesday, his family said the 77-year-old actor was near death after his management team initially said he had passed. His son has since confirmed Dow died Wednesday morning.