Jay North of “Dennis the Menace” fame has died on the age of 73.
North, who performed the sitcom’s titular troublemaker from 1959 to 1963, died surrounded by his spouse and household at his Lake Butler, Florida, house on Sunday following years of contending with colon most cancers, in accordance with a social media put up from longtime pal Laurie Jacobson.
The actor was 8 years outdated when he made his debut as Dennis, the meddlesome however well-meaning boy first imagined by caricature artist Hank Ketcham.
North led the CBS basic for all of its 4 seasons, the place he pestered his getting older neighbor Mr. George Wilson and others in his neighborhood for 146 episodes.
After “Dennis the Menace” was canceled, North had a collection of one-off tv roles and did voice work for animated collection like “Arabian Knights” and “The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show.”
Silver Display Assortment through Getty Photographs
Discovering it more and more troublesome to land jobs as he grew into his teenagers and 20s, North stop leisure and joined the U.S. Navy in 1977.
Because the years handed, North didn’t keep in mind his time in Hollywood fondly.
“In this business as a child performer, you’re so brainwashed and so geared to pleasing the adults around you. They program you. They tell you you’re famous. And you don’t realize it’s all going to end,” he informed Spokane, Washington, outlet The Spokesman-Overview in 1988.
He additionally detailed abuse by the hands of his aunt in a 1993 interview with the Pittsburgh Publish-Gazette.
Bobby Financial institution through Getty Photographs
Jacobson alluded to her pal’s wrestle with present enterprise in her tribute, writing, “As many of his fans know, he had a difficult journey in Hollywood and after… but he did not let it define his life.”
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“He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply,” her put up went on. “He called us frequently and ended every conversation with ‘I love you with all my heart.’ And we loved him with all of ours.”
“He is out of pain now,” Jacobson concluded. “His suffering is over. At last he is at peace.”
North is survived by spouse Cindy Hackney and his stepdaughters.
