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Jay North, the former child star who became a household name in the 1950s, has died at age 73. North is best known for portraying Dennis Mitchell in the 1959 sitcom Dennis the Menace. His co-star, Jeannie Russell, who played Margaret Wade, confirmed the news of his passing to The Hollywood Reporter. The former actor died in Lake Butler, Florida, on April 6, 2025, following a battle with colon cancer. According to TV Line, North's character, Dennis, might've had heart eyes for Russell's character, Margaret, but off-screen, to Russell, he was her "otherwordly brother." His last on-screen appearance came in a 2003 production called Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, as himself.

North got the role of Dennis Mitchell after auditioning during CBS's nationwide search for the perfect boy to play the part. He was only six years old and initially didn't impress the studio. His agent pressed for a second audition, and North...

Jay North, who played the title character in CBS’ Dennis the Menace, has died. He was 73.

The news of North’s death was confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by Jeannie Russell, who played Dennis the Menace’s Margaret Wade. Russell said North died in Lake Butler, Fla., after a years-long battle with colon cancer, and called him her “otherworldly brother.”

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Jay North, who starred as the young mischief maker with the characteristic blond cowlick on the 1959-63 CBS comedy Dennis the Menace, has died. He was 73.

North died Sunday at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, after years of battling colon cancer, Jeannie Russell, who played Margaret Wade on his show, told The Hollywood Reporter. She called him her “otherworldly brother.”

On Screen Gems’ Dennis the Menace, based on the comic strip created by Hank Ketcham, North starred as the well-intentioned but troublesome Dennis Mitchell, the only child of Henry (Herbert Anderson) and Alice (Gloria Henry). He often created chaos for his retired next-door neighbor George Wilson and then his brother, John Wilson (Gale Gordon).

(Joseph Kearns had played George, and after his death in 1962, Gordon was brought on to replace him).

North was 6 when he first auditioned for Dennis, 8 when the show went on the air in October 1959 and...

In the mid-1970s when the horn sounded for a Delta State University Lady Statesmen’s basketball game, center Lusia “Lucy” Harris could not be stopped.

“The pass comes into No. 45 in the lane, she spins to the basket, elevates. Score!”

That scene was repeated over and over again as she led her team to three straight college national championships, earning tournament Mvp each time. Not only that, when the Olympics finally added women’s basketball in 1976, she scored the first points in competition history, and led the U.S. women to the silver medal at the Montreal games.

Harris “held the distinction of being the [Olympic] team’s leading scorer and leading rebounder,” notes the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where she is enshrined. “Lusia Harris-Stewart was big, relentless, and dominated the painted area like no woman before her.”

Despite earning her place in the hoops hall, Harris’s...