Jay North, TV's original Dennis the Menace, dies aged 73

Independent

07-04-2025

Jay North, a former child actor who starred as the towheaded mischief maker on Dennis the Menace, has died. He was 73.
North died at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, on Sunday after battling colon cancer, according to his booking agent Bonnie Vent and longtime friend Laurie Jacobson.
'Our dear friend Jay North has been fighting cancer for a number of years and this morning at noon EST, Jay passed peacefully at home,' Jacobson wrote in a tribute on Facebook after speaking to his Dennis the Menace co-star Jeannie Russell.
'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.
'A life-long friend of Jon's, a brother to Jeanne and a dear friend to me, we will miss him terribly. He is out of pain now. His suffering is over. At last, he is at peace.'
North was 6 when he was cast as the smiling troublemaker in the CBS sitcom adaptation of Hank Ketcham's popular comic strip that took place in an idyllic American suburb.
He starred in four seasons from 1959.
Often wearing a striped shirt and overalls, Dennis' mischievous antics frequently frustrated his retired next-door neighbor George Wilson, played by Joseph Kearns.
Dennis' patient parents were played by Herbert Anderson and Gloria Henry.
The show ran on Sunday nights until it was canceled in 1963. After that, it was a fixture for decades in syndication.
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, and in movies like Maya (1966), The Teacher (1974) and Dickie Robert: Former Child Star (2003).
North is survived by his third wife, Cindy, and three stepdaughters.