Jay North
Jay North
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jay Waverly North (born August 3, 1951) is an American actor. Beginning a career as a child actor at the age of six, he became a household name during the early 1960s for his role as the well-meaning but mischievous Dennis Mitchell on the CBS situation comedy Dennis the Menace, based on the comic strip created by Hank Ketcham. Dennis the Menace premiered on CBS on Sunday, October 4, 1959, and quickly became a hit with audiences. North was paid $500 per episode, his strawberry red hair was bleached platinum blonde for the role, and the eight-year-old was instructed to "shave" a year off his age when speaking with the press. North's mother continued to work at AFTRA full-time to support the two of them, and hired business managers to invest North's earnings for him. In a 1993 interview with Filmfax magazine, North spoke highly of his mother, saying: "I want to make it very clear about one thing. I never supported my mother during (Dennis the Menace). She earned her own money from AFTRA. She never lived off my earnings. I know that sometimes happens with child actors, but it was not true in my situation." While Mrs. North worked, her sister Marie Hopper and brother-in-law Hal Hopper served as North's on-set guardians during filming for Dennis The Menace.
