Actor Jay North, famous for playing the title role in Dennis the Menace on CBS from 1959 to 1963, died yesterday (April 6) at the age of 73. Although best known as Dennis, North also starred opposite Sajid Khan in a short-lived television adaptation of the 1966 movie Maya, which the two also starred in. Maya ran for 18 episodes on NBC during the 1967-1968 TV season. Here are the opening credits:
Gold Key published a single comic book based on Maya, which I reviewed for my Bookshelf column back in April 2019.
Obituaries can be found at Deadline Hollywood, Variety, and The New York Times.
I first learned of Jay North’s death through A Minor Consideration Facebook post. Former child star Paul Peterson started the organization after a couple of former child stars committed suicide, and Jay North was one of the first people they reached out to, to let Jay know that if he ever needed help there were people who understood what he was going through, and were ready and willing to be there for him 24/7. Since Jay’s mother worked an aunt was on set during the filming of Dennis the Menace, and that aunt was physically and mentally abusive. Jay never told anyone about the abuse at the time for fear things would get worse.
I was a little too young to have watched Dennis the Menace (except in later re-runs) so I first saw Jay North in Maya. Growing up on a dirt-road farm that wasn’t being farmed I was fascinated by the exotic locations of India – plus I had a major school girl crush on Sajid Khan.
As a young adult Jay North had a lot of anger towards his early acting years, but I’m glad he later found peace, and came to embrace the fact that so many people loved him as his Dennis the Menace character.