Jay North, TV’s Dennis the Menace, died of cancer on April 6. He was 73. North began playing small roles on TV at the age of 7, and was already a rising child star when cast as Dennis in 1959 (the show ran through 1963). He continued working thereafter but, as he noted, “I had to fight the ghost of Dennis the Menace, and I was typecast. I still had the face, and that's what casting directors, producers and directors saw when I would go in to read for a role.” North appeared in movies and TV shows through the ’70s (he was particularly proud of his work in Maya) but “I became very serious, very morbid, and very withdrawn from the world. I was the antithesis of the little kid that I played on the television show.” After years of bitterness, he settled happily (and financially secure) with his wife and three kids in Lake Butler, Florida. Continuing to play the occasional cameo role, North said, "I am so happy that I was able to have such a positive impact on people's lives. I'm just going to live a contented, happy life here in Lake Butler with the people I love, and kind of just vanish into the mists of time.”
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