
Obituary: Jay North, actor
Jay North appeared in many TV shows but it was his first, as a 6-year-old, which made his name. A Hollywood native, North's photogenic looks and his mother's connections secured him a brief appearance on his favourite programme. Spotted by an agent, North was signed up the next day. After a handful of small parts North auditioned for the part of mischief maker Dennis in a planned TV adaptation of Hank Ketcham's cartoon strip Dennis the Menace. It did not go well but his agent negotiated a call back, which he aced. North played Dennis for four seasons starting in 1959, but as an adult revealed it was not always a pleasant experience: he had to work long hours and his aunt, who was minding him, was harsh on him. Later North appeared on TV in shows including The Man from U.N.C.L.E. The Lucy Show, My Three Sons, Lassie and The Simpsons, as well as movie credits, but was never re-discovered. Jay North died on April 6 aged 73. — APL/agencies
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Otago Daily Times
23-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Murder on stage in Mosgiel
The Fire Station Theatre in Mosgiel will complete a trio of murder mystery spoofs by Peter Gordon with a production of Death by Fatal Murder, staged over the next two weekends. Directed by Alison Ayers and featuring Matt Brennan as Inspector Pratt, the play continues the chaotic story of the hapless detective as he struggles with another mystery. Pratt's record of crime detection at Bagshot House is not enviable. In his two previous visits the body count mounted disastrously as he looked on, helpless and hopeless. Now he's back and, as usual, chaos reigns supreme. The follow-up to Gordon's plays Murdered to Death, and Secondary Cause of Death, Death by Fatal Murder promises plenty of laughs. The show is staged from July 25-27, and August 1-3, with performances at 7pm, and 2pm Sunday matinees. — APL


Otago Daily Times
20-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Scheffler voices doubts
Scottie Scheffler. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES One would imagine three-time major champion Scottie Scheffler would be desperate to continue American domination of the British Open and lift the Claret Jug for the first time this week at Royal Portrush. The 29-year-old is the bookmakers' favourite after a stunningly consistent season including winning the PGA Championship and during his pre-tournament press conference yesterday he spoke of his growing love for links golf. But when asked how long he celebrates his victories, an introspective Scheffler veered off into questioning what was even the point of being the best golfer in the world. "It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes," he said. "It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling." Scheffler has been world No1 for 112 consecutive weeks and has earned more than $US87 million ($NZ146.2 million) in prize money on the PGA Tour and says he loves living out his dreams. But he admits he has a daily wrestle for what it all means. "Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about. "That kind of sense of accomplishment is a pretty cool feeling. But at the end of the day, I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. Scheffler has a 14-month-old son Bennett with his wife Meredith and said they remained more important than any golf accolades. • New Zealand No 1 Ryan Fox has been paired with 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama. Fox, who has two PGA Tour wins this year, is playing in his 25th major tournament. Fellow Kiwi golfer Daniel Hillier will join former Masters champion Zach Johnson and Englishman Daniel Brown when the Open tees off tonight. - Reuters/APL


Otago Daily Times
15-07-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Artist's story takes flight
Three special screenings of the 2022 film, Geoff Dixon: Portraits of Us, are being shown at the St James Theatre in Gore this weekend and next Tuesday . Glenis Giles and Clare O'Leary's documentary invites us into Dixon's cluttered studio as he prepares works for his next exhibition, transforming children's toys and hard enamel paint into surreal collages of spacecraft and birdlife. The Bluff-born Dixon, who lives in Cairns, has long held a fascination with endangered birds. Southland's own takahē often feature prominently in his work alongside many other threatened species as a metaphor for the destruction of the natural world. The documentary, which debuted at the 2022 NZ International Film Festival, features a series of portraits of Dixon which were shown at the Eastern Southland Gallery as part of Euan Macleod's recent exhibition "Flux". That exhibition, which finished on Sunday, featured a series of more than 400 portraits of his friend Dixon, created almost daily over FaceTime since 2021. The film unravels Dixon's past — growing up in Nelson and his formative years at art school in Christchurch where he met Macleod — dissecting his seemingly contradictory obsessions with science fiction, space travel, nature and extinction which have shaped his unique artistic style and vision. His work is both confronting and celebratory, revelling in the marvellous splendour of the natural world while also mourning its seemingly inevitable loss. As he describes them, the works are a "portrait of us" and an unnerving look into the future. Dixon said he just started wanting to paint endangered birds, and yet they were hard to find in the nineties. "You'd look them up and they're not endangered ... but now, so much is in a critical situation environmentally, I can paint them all. "That's how it all happened. That's why I became a bird person." — APL