‘Dennis The Menace’ Star Jay North Dead At 73

North, who brought the sitcom’s titular troublemaker to life from 1959 to 1963, later revealed the painful reality of his childhood in the spotlight.

Jay North of “Dennis the Menace” fame has died at the age of 73.

North, who played the sitcom’s titular troublemaker from 1959 to 1963, died surrounded by his wife and family at his Lake Butler, Florida, home on Sunday following years of contending with colon cancer, according to a social media post from longtime friend Laurie Jacobson.

The actor was eight-years-old when he made his debut as Dennis, the meddlesome but well-meaning boy first imagined by comic strip artist Hank Ketcham.

North led the CBS classic for all of its four seasons, where he pestered his aging neighbor Mr. George Wilson and others in his community for 146 episodes.

After “Dennis the Menace” was cancelled, North had a series of one-off television roles and did voice work for animated series like “Arabian Knights” and “The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show.”

Jay North, here in publicity photos for “Dennis the Menace” taken circa 1960, died at the age of 73 on Sunday.SILVER SCREEN COLLECTION VIA GETTY IMAGES

Finding it increasingly difficult to land jobs as he grew into his teens and 20s, North quit entertainment and joined the U.S. Navy in 1977.

As the years passed, North did not remember his time in Hollywood fondly.

“In this business as a child performer, you’re so brainwashed and so geared to pleasing the adults around you. They program you. They tell you you’re famous. And you don’t realize it’s all going to end,” he told Spokane, Washington, outlet The Spokesman-Review in 1988.

He also detailed abuse at the hands of his aunt in a 1993 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Jay North his “Dennis the Menace” co-star Jeannie Russell attend the Chiller Theatre Expo in Parsippany, New Jersey, on April 26, 2013.BOBBY BANK VIA GETTY IMAGES

Jacobson alluded to her friend’s struggle with show business in her tribute, writing, “As many of his fans know, he had a difficult journey in Hollywood and after… but he did not let it define his life.”

“He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply,” her post went on. “He called us frequently and ended every conversation with ‘I love you with all my heart.’ And we loved him with all of ours.”

“He is out of pain now,” Jacobson concluded. “His suffering is over. At last he is at peace.”

North is survived by wife Cindy Hackney and his stepdaughters.