Jay North, who was best known for playing the title role in the iconic sitcom Dennis The Menace, died on Sunday. He was 73 years-old.
North Passes Away
North’s death was confirmed on Facebook by his friend, the producer and writer Laurie Jacobson. She explained that he had been “fighting cancer” for several years.
“[North’s Dennis the Menace costar] Jeanne Russell just called us with terribly sad, but not unexpected news,” Jacobson wrote. “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.”
“As many of his fans know, he had a difficult journey in Hollywood and after…but he did not let it define his life,” she continued. “He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply.”
Jacobson went on to say of North, “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’s History
North was best known for playing Dennis Mitchell in Dennis the Menace. The sitcom ran from 1959 until 1963, and is still part of our lexicon to this day. North later starred in the movies Zebra in the Kitchen and Maya.
Sadly, North suffered extreme abuse during his time as a child star. During a 1991 talk show appearance, North revealed that his aunt, who was his guardian on set, “would hit me, physically abuse me.”
“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,'” he recalled. “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.”
Thankfully, North found solace in the love that he got from Dennis The Menace fans.
“I get a very warm feeling that I still have fans from all over the world,” North revealed during a fan convention in 2017. “Fans that remember and have warm memories of our show. It makes me feel good inside that people still love us and remember us.”
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North Was ‘Typecast’
North went on to say that he felt shutout by Hollywood in his 20s because he was “typecast as Dennis the Menace.” After leaving the entertainment industry, North live a very normal life.
“I was in the military,” North said. “I worked in the health food industry for a number of years. For the past 20 years I’ve worked as a correctional officer for the Florida department of corrections.”
North is survived by his wife Cindy Hackney and their three stepdaughters. Please join us in saying a prayer for them during this tragic time.
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