Jay North was born on August 3,1951 and is an American actor.
32 Facts About Jay North
2.
Jay North began working with fellow former child star Paul Petersen and the organization A Minor Consideration, using his own experiences as a child performer to counsel other children working in the entertainment industry.
3.
Jay North's father was an alcoholic, and his parents' marriage was stormy.
4.
When he was 4, his parents separated, and Jay North never saw his father again.
5.
Jay North's mother worked as the secretary to the West Coast director of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
6.
Jay North's mother was aware of the stories of troubled former child stars, and had reservations but eventually gave her approval.
7.
Jay North's first professional acting job was a live appearance on the gameshow Queen for a Day, hosted by Jack Bailey.
8.
Jay North continued to work as a child model and actor in commercials, and landed small parts on a number of popular NBC variety shows of the 1950s, such as The George Gobel Show, The Eddie Fisher Show, and The Milton Berle Show, before auditioning for the role that made him a star.
9.
Jay North's mother continued to work at AFTRA full-time, and hired business managers to invest his earnings.
10.
Jay North made crossover guest appearances as Dennis on such television shows as The Donna Reed Show and The Red Skelton Hour, and in the feature film Pepe.
11.
Jay North was not allowed to socialize with other cast members on the set and missed being around children his own age.
12.
Many years later, Jay North revealed that his aunt physically and verbally abused him when he made mistakes on the set or did not perform to her standards.
13.
Jay North said if he failed a line, she would take him behind the set and beat him.
14.
In late 1963, Jay North's mother enrolled him in prep school, but due to his part-time education while filming Dennis The Menace, combined with not having been allowed to socialize with other children, he struggled to keep up with his studies at his new school and was nervous interacting with the other students.
15.
Jay North continued to audition, and in 1964, he appeared in an episode of Wagon Train, but found himself typecast as the impish Dennis Mitchell and had trouble finding steady work.
16.
In 1966, Jay North landed the starring role in another MGM family adventure film, Maya.
17.
Jay North has appeared in small guest-starring roles on television shows such as My Three Sons and Jericho, and in 1967, NBC decided to make a television series adaptation of Maya.
18.
Jay North agreed to reprise his role and was back filming on location in India.
19.
Jay North narrated the surf film, The Fantastic Plastic Machine, in 1969.
20.
In January 1972, while appearing in Butterflies Are Free, 20-year-old Jay North met actress Kathleen Brucher, who had a four-year-old son from a previous marriage.
21.
In 1974, Jay North appeared in his last starring role in the R-rated coming-of-age suspense thriller The Teacher, opposite Angel Tompkins.
22.
Jay North received good evaluations for his work, but was unprepared for the harsh treatment he received from his shipmates and superiors for being a former child star.
23.
In January 1986, Jay North landed a small role in the Yugoslavian feature film Divlji Vetar.
24.
Still interested in stories about serial killers, Jay North decided to try his hand at screenwriting.
25.
Jay North's mother received the news that he had died in a doctor's office that morning.
26.
The article quoted an alleged doctor, Robert Tobias, whom Jay North had actually never met.
27.
On January 18,1990, Jay North received a phone call from Paul Petersen telling him that former child star Rusty Hamer from The Danny Thomas Show had died by suicide.
28.
Jay North later joined Petersen's organization, A Minor Consideration, using his experiences to counsel child stars dealing with the same pressures and difficulties he had faced growing up.
29.
On March 2,1991, Jay North married his second wife, Rositia.
30.
On March 3,1993, they were married, and three months later, still financially well-off as a result of his mother's investments of his earnings as a child star, Jay North left Los Angeles and moved to Hackney's hometown of Lake Butler, Florida, becoming stepfather to her three daughters.
31.
In May 1997, having come to terms with the physical and emotional abuse he had suffered at the hands of his aunt and uncle, Jay North began attending memorabilia shows to meet with fans.
32.
Since the early 1990s, Jay North has made occasional appearances on talk shows, documentaries, cameo appearances as "himself" on The Simpsons, and in the comedy feature film Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.