Jay North, child actor who played ‘Dennis the Me

Quote:

---

Jay North, who starred as the blond, mischievous troublemaker Dennis Mitchell on the popular CBS comedy “Dennis the Menace,” has died. He was 73.

North died at his home in Lake Butler, Fla., on Sunday after a long fight with cancer, according to a Facebook post by his friend Laurie Jacobson, who said his “Dennis the Menace” co-star Jeannie Russell called her with the “terribly sad, but not unexpected news.”

“As many of his fans know, he had a difficult journey in Hollywood and after ... but he did not let it define his life. He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply. He called us frequently and ended every conversation with ‘I love you with all my heart.’ And we loved him with all of ours.”

North shot to fame playing Dennis, an impish child who wore baggy overalls with a slingshot in his back pocket and who often made a mess of things for his neighbor George Wilson. The TV series that ran from 1959 to 1963 was based on the Hank Ketcham comic strip. Both North and his character became TV pop culture icons.

Before auditioning for the series at age 6, North appeared in commercials and worked as a child model. He then pivoted to acting, landing appearances on the game show “Queen for a Day,” as well as small parts on variety shows including “The “Eddie Fisher Show” and “The Milton Berle Show.”

After his star-making turn on “Dennis the Menace,” North made feature films including “Zebra in the Kitchen” in 1965 and “Maya” the following year, both for MGM.

However, he found himself typecast as Dennis, the cow-licked mischief maker. “I still had the face, and that’s what casting directors, producers and directors saw when I would go in to read for a role,” he told E! network in 1999.

He later found work as a voice actor on such children’s shows as “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour” and “The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show,” performed in dinner theater in Chicago and appeared in some R-rated films including “The Teacher.”

By the mid-1970s however, North became disillusioned with Hollywood and joined the Navy.

The following decade North returned to acting. His final screen role was in 2003’s “Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.”

North later worked with Paul Petersen, another former child actor, who starred in “The Donna Reed Show.” He formed A Minor Consideration, an organization to help former childhood entertainers cope with the pressures and difficulties of working in Hollywood.

“A flickering light has gone out. ‘Dennis the Menace’ has shed his mortal coil. Goodbye, my friend. You left a mark as our first formal rescue,” wrote Petersen and his wife, Rana, on Facebook.

Born Aug. 3, 1951, in Los Angeles, North was an only child. His alcoholic father abandoned him when he was a toddler, and his mother, who worked full-time, turned his on-set supervision over to an aunt and uncle, whom North later claimed emotionally and physically abused him.

Through the years, North talked about his experiences as a child actor, saying producers were most interested in obtaining a performance out of him while his schooling was neglected, despite California laws requiring three hours of instruction a day for child actors. In 2000, North told the Florida Times-Union that he never learned simple math.

North is survived by his third wife, Cindy, and three stepdaughters.

---