EXCLUSIVE: 'Dennis the Menace' Star's Oddball Career Swap Revealed After His Death Aged 73 — With Child Actor Ending Up Working as Prison Guard
Jay North decided to make his money elsewhere following his gigs in Hollywood.
April 7 2025, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
Jay North, who played the iconic Dennis the Menace from 1959 to 1963, picked up a prison guard stint years after being on the small screen.
News of the actor's career change comes after it was revealed he died following a battle with cancer, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
North – here with co-star Jeannie Russell – died following a battle with cancer.
North said goodbye to Hollywood and went from the glitz and glamor of the movie and TV industry to the dangerous prison world at the Lawtey Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida.
He attempted to land more gigs following Dennis the Menace, but didn't come up with anything as popular as his most well known role – and opted to join the Navy instead. He would then marry his wife, Cindy, as raised three daughters together.
Despite this, North revealed he was happy with the choice he made.
He said: "Hollywood became too liberal for me. The hippies were too much. I'm a private person. I don't wanna talk what I did 40 years ago."
North then touched on his prison work and revealed: "I'm now a correctional facility guard and that's all anyone needs to know."
He added: "I've never had any trouble with the law. That's why I'm working with law enforcement."
Following his time on Dennis the Menace, North appeared on numerous TV shows including one episode stints on The Lucy Show and Lassie. His final acting gig was in the 2003 David Spade film Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, where he played himself.
"I was typecast. I worked for a couple years after ‘Dennis the Menace,’ but into my teen years, early twenties, the industry pretty much shut its doors on me. Because I was typecast as Dennis the Menace. It was what it was," North said in 2017.
After his exit from Hollywood, North did his best to warn parents about putting their kids in showbiz.
North later revealed he was never happy playing the role of Dennis.
“My advice would be for people to just keep their kids out of show business altogether because it just destroys lives,” he once told Katie Couric in an interview.
On Monday, April 7, Laurie Jacobson, a longtime pal of North, announced his passing in an emotional post on Facebook.
It read: "(Fellow Dennis the Menace star Jeannie Russell) just called us with terribly sad, but not unexpected news. Our dear friend Jay North has been fighting cancer for a number of years, and this morning at noon EST, Jay passed peacefully at home.
"As many of his fans know, he had a difficult journey in Hollywood and after...but he did not let it define his life."
I share this news with a heavy, heavy heart. We just lost another original and dear friend, Jay "Dennis the Menace"...
Posted by Jon Provost on Sunday, April 6, 2025
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The statement continued: "He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply. He called us frequently and ended every conversation with 'I love you with all my heart.' And we loved him with all of ours.
"A lifelong friend of Jon's, a brother to Jeanne and a dear friend to me, we will miss him terribly. He is out of pain now. His suffering is over. At last he is at peace."
North's final role was in the 2003 film 'Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.'
