Jay North in 1959. He played the well-meaning but high jinks-prone Dennis Mitchell in the television series “Dennis the Menace.”Credit...Gabi Rona/MPTV Images
By
Alexandra E. Petri and
Daniel E. Slotnik
April 6, 2025Updated 9:12 p.m. ET
Jay North, who played the well-meaning, trouble-causing protagonist of the popular CBS sitcom “Dennis the Menace” from 1959 to 1963, died on Sunday at his home in Lake Butler, Fla. He was 73.
His death was confirmed by Laurie Jacobson, a friend of Mr. North’s for 30 years. The cause was colorectal cancer, Ms. Jacobson said.
Mr. North played the towheaded Dennis Mitchell, who roamed his neighborhood, usually clad in a striped shirt and overalls, with his friends, and often exasperated his neighbor, a retiree named George Wilson, who was played by
Joseph Kearns. Herbert Anderson played Dennis’s father, and
Gloria Henry played his mother.
