Child Actor Who Played Dennis the Menace Dies at 73

Jay North, best known for playing Dennis the Menace in the 1960s live-action TV sitcom based on the iconic comic strip, died Sunday at age 73. A longtime friend says he died of colorectal cancer, the New York Times reports. She wrote in a Facebook post that North died "peacefully" at his Florida home, People reports. "As many of his fans know, he had a difficult journey in Hollywood and after ... but he did not let it define his life," she wrote. "He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply." He is survived by his third wife as well as three stepdaughters.

When he was about five, North asked his mother to get him on the popular children's TV program The Engineer Bill Show, and his acting career began. After his time on Dennis the Menace from 1959 to 1963, he also appeared on shows including Wagon Train, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Lucy Show, and My Three Sons, and in the feature film Maya. However, in later years, he said his Hollywood childhood had been an unhappy one. With his single mother often working, his aunt and uncle looked after him on set, and he said they abused him physically and emotionally. He went on to serve in the Navy, mentor child actors, and serve as a corrections officer in Florida for decades. (More obituary stories.)