Original ‘Dennis The Menace’ actor Jay North has died

Jay North, star of the original Dennis The Menace series had died, aged 73.

The news was confirmed via his co-star on Dennis The Menace, Jeannie Russell on social media. North reportedly died after “fighting cancer for a number of years”. “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,” author and comedian Laurie Jacobson wrote on Facebook.

After making his TV debut in 1957, Jay North began making more appearances on various NBC variety shows including The Eddie Fisher Show and the Ed Sullivan Show, as well as Westerns like Wanted: Dead or Alive, 77 Sunset Strip, Bronco and Colt. 45.

Then, in 1959 at the age of 6, won the role of Dennis Mitchell in the debut adaptation of the beloved comicstrip Dennis The Menace in a nationwide audition. Between the years of 1959 and 1963, North starred in 146 episodes across four seasons, capturing the hearts of the United States and the world.

After Dennis The Menace, Jay North appeared in episodes of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Flintstones Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Fred Flintstone and Friends, General Hospital and The Simpsons among others. In film, he appeared in Zebra in the Kitchen, Maya, The Teacher and more.

His last appearance came in the form of 2003’s Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.

In 1991, North appeared on a TV talk show, where he revealed that he hated his time on Dennis The Menace – not because of the film’s cast, but because of the exploitative TV industry, mistreatment of young stars, and abuse at the hands of his aunt and uncle – who at the time were his guardians on set due to his single mother being busy at work.

Jay North claimed that his aunt “would hit me, physically abuse me.” He said: “I used to wake up every single morning thinking, ‘My God, do I have to spend another day with this woman?’ Because I would go in and do a scene, I would come off the set and everybody said, ‘Hey, you did a great job.’ And then I would get a slap across the face, or taken into the dressing room and get a spanking or verbal tongue lashing or whatever.”

When asked why he never made a report against his aunt and uncle, the latter of whom he said was also abusive, he shared that he had been threatened by his uncle to keep the abuse a secret or suffer consequences.

Besides speaking out against abuse, North also helped mentor child actors through the advocacy group A Minor Consideration, founded by former child actor Paul Petersen.

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