Jay North’s Cause Of Death Revealed

Den­nis the Men­ace star Jay North has died at the age of 73. He passed peace­ful­ly at his home in Lake But­ler, Flori­da, on Sun­day, April 6^th, after bat­tling health issues. The actor played the role of Den­nis Mitchell in the 1959 series Den­nis the Men­ace as a child actor, and it became a part of his iden­ti­ty.

The news of his pass­ing was shared by his close friend, Lau­rie Jacob­son, in a heart­felt Face­book post. Jacob­son revealed that she learned of North’s death from a co-star from the series Den­nis the Men­ace, Jeanne Rus­sell. A rep­re­sen­ta­tive for North also con­firmed his pass­ing to NBC News via email and con­firmed his cause of death to be due to col­orec­tal can­cer.

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Jay North had a battle with colorectal cancer before his death

DENNIS THE MENACE, Jay North with draw­ing of him by Hank Ketcham, on set, (1960), 1959–63. ph: Richard Hewett / TV Guide / cour­tesy Everett Col­lec­tion

Jay North passed away from Col­orec­tal can­cer, which he had been treat­ing for a very long time. The ill­ness is also known as colon can­cer, and it orig­i­nates in the colon, the largest part of the large intes­tine, pri­mar­i­ly affect­ing peo­ple over the age of 50, although excep­tions have been not­ed in recent times. Jay North began his career as a child actor in 1958, appear­ing in tele­vi­sion shows such as 77 Sun­set Strip and Sug­ar­foot.  

How­ev­er, he gained more recog­ni­tion in 1959 when he played the lead role in Den­nis the Men­ace. North lat­er shared that he was type­cast as Den­nis the Men­ace many years after the series. Over the years, he con­tin­ued to appear in a num­ber of movies and tele­vi­sion shows, includ­ing Zebra in the Kitchen, Maya, and The Lucy Show.  Lat­er in his career, he voiced ani­mat­ed series such as The Peb­bles and Bamm-Bamm Showand The Flint­stone Com­e­dy Hour.

Tribute to Jay North

In the wake of the actor’s death, trib­utes have kept pour­ing in.  Lau­rie Jacob­son, who broke the news of his pass­ing on her Face­book, fond­ly remem­bered Jay North’s gen­er­ous spir­it and how he often end­ed every phone con­ver­sa­tion with, “I love you with all my heart.” Jacob­son acknowl­edged that all oth­er co-stars of Den­nis the Men­ace also loved him dear­ly. She also expressed grat­i­tude for his peace­ful death despite know­ing that they would all miss him.

Beyond his act­ing career, North proud­ly served in the U.S. Navy. In his lat­er years, he also worked in the health food indus­try and sub­se­quent­ly as a cor­rec­tions offi­cer in Flori­da. North will always be remem­bered for his con­tri­bu­tion to Hol­ly­wood and human­i­ty