'Dennis The Menace' Actor, Jay North, Has Passed Away At The Age Of 73
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Jay North, child actor of the 1950s passed away at his home in home in Lake Butler, Florida after a long battle with colon cancer. He was seventy-three. An only child, North was born in Los Angeles on Aug. 3, 1951. He was four when his alcoholic left the family home. Jay North never saw him again.
North started in showbiz at just six years old. His mother, Dorothy worked as a secretary for American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and arranged for him to appear on his favorite show. The bubbly child was spotted by a talent scout on the set, the rest is history.
His first paid job was on Jack Bailey’s gameshow Queen for a Day, but more substantial acting roles followed, including Wanted Dead or Alive (with Steve McQueen) and The Eddie Fisher Show.
Then in 1959, CBS were looking for a new star for their adaption of the popular comic strip, Dennis the Menace. Jay North was a red head, but he dyed his hair platinum blonde for the audition and signed for the duration. The show ran for a hundred and forty-six episodes.
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North was supervised on set by his aunt and uncle (Marie & Hal Hopper), while his mother worked. Although North speaks warmly of his mother, he has spoken out in interviews how harshly he suffered physically and mentally at their hands.
“Even if a delay wasn’t my fault, she would find a way to blame me and punish me. She was also very possessive and isolated me from the rest of the cast. I couldn’t even eat lunch with everybody else. She made me eat it in the dressing room by myself.” – Jay North.
After the end of Dennis the Menace, North became uncomfortably typecast and turned down several similar parts. Until Maya came along. Set in India, the series was based around two boys protecting a rare white elephant. Warner Bros decided to make it into a feature film, and North reprised his role. Maya was a hit at the box office, and North found himself on the front of teen magazines. But Hollywood didn’t bite again, and despite putting in a stellar performance, majority of his work came as voice actor after that.
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He was cast as Bam-Bam in various Flintstones projects in 1970s and did nine episodes of The Banana Splits. However, he struggled to find meaningful acting roles (aside from the occasional Dennis cameo), especially after his risqué project, The Teacher was universally panned.
In 1990, North became involved with Paul Petersen’s fledging group A Minor Consideration. The aim of the not-for-profit was to protect and support current and former child actors within the industry after several impactful suicides that year. North provided invaluable advice to the next generation. In 1997, he gave up on Hollywood and began working with Florida’s troubled youth as a corrections officer, where he stayed until his retirement in 2011.
Jay North is survived by wife Cindy, and three stepdaughters.
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Source(s): Hollywood Reporter, IMDb, Wiki, New York Times
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