Jay North, who played Dennis Mitchell in the 1959 “Dennis the threat” television series, died Sunday after a battle against cancer, confirmed her longtime friend Laurie Jacobson in an article on social networks. He was 73 years old.
“Our dear friend Jay North has been fighting cancer for several years and this morning at noon, Jay went peacefully at home,” wrote Jacobson. “As many of his fans know, he had a difficult trip to Hollywood and after … but he did not let him define his life. He had a heart as large as a mountain, deeply loved his friends. He called us frequently and put an end to each conversation with “I love you with all my heart”. And we liked it with all ours.
“Dennis the threat”, based on comics of the same name of Hank Ketcham, lasted 146 episodes through Four Seasons. The show followed Dennis de Dennis de North “threat” Mitchell, a young troublemaker who terrorizes his aging neighbor Mr. George Wilson (Joseph Kearns) through an endless series of playful acts. The other distribution members include Herbert Anderson, Gloria Henry, Billy Booth, Sylvia Field and Gale Gordon.
After the end of the series in 1963, North continued to appear in several punctual roles in television shows like “The Man From Uncle”, “The Lucy Show”, “My Three Sons” and “Jericho”. He also worked on series like “Arabian Knights”, “Here Comes The Grumps”, “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour” and “The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show”. Its latest main role was in the 1974 erotic thriller “The Teacher”.
North, from Hollywood, was born on August 3, 1951 and was a fan of television from an early age. He began his career to play in advertisements and appear in small roles on varieties’ programs like “The Eddie Fisher Show” and “The Milton Berle Show”. At the age of six, he won the main role in “Dennis the threat”. He later declared that his experiences as a star child had been abusive and pleaded for the rights of young actors.
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