Hollywood actor Jay North who is famous for playing Dennis The Menace, died at the age of 73 at his home in Florida. 

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Jay North was extremely popular as child actor

The actor was best known for playing the young mischief maker on the 1959-63 CBS comedy Dennis the Menace. The show was based on the comic strip created by Hank Ketcham. He played the only child of Henry  (Herbert Anderson) and Alice (Gloria Henry). On the show, he often created chaos for his retired next-door neighbor George Wilson and then his brother, John Wilson (Gale Gordon).

He was only six when he first auditioned for Dennis. His character was eight when the show went on air in October 1959. He was 12 by the time the series was cancelled after four seasons of running on air. The show became extremely popular worldwide and had several reruns for many years. 

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He then went on to star in MGM movie Zebra in the Kitchen (1965), directed by Ivan Tors, and played opposite Clint Walker in the India-set adventure Maya (1966). He returned for a 1967-68 Maya series for NBC. 

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Jay North's death

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Jay North died at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, after years of battling colon cancer, told Jeannie Russell, who played Margaret Wade on his show. 

North was born in Los Angeles on Aug. 3, 1951. He was 4 when his father, also Jay, left the family, and he never saw him again. He was raised by his mother Dorothy.