Gloria Henry, an actress known for her role as a mother in the legendary 1960s sitcom ‘Dennis the Menace’, has passed away at the age of 98. Henry died Saturday, the day after his birthday, at his home in Los Angeles, his daughter Erin confirmed to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’.
Gloria Eileen McEniry, the real name of the actress, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on April 2, 1923. She moved to Los Angeles when she was just a teenager and worked on radio shows, commercials and various theater groups.
He made his screen debut in 1947 in the sports drama ‘Sport of Kings’ and later appeared in such films as’ Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back’ (1947), ‘Miss Grant Takes Richmond’ (1949) alongside Lucille Ball, and in the western from ‘Encubridora. (1952) starring Marlene Dietrich. Other of his most notable film titles were ‘The Strawberry Roan’ (1948), ‘Triple Threat’ (1948), ‘Racing Luck’ (1948), ‘Riders in the Sky’ (1949) and ‘Kill the Umpire’ (1950).
Henry also appeared in small roles on such television series as ‘My Little Margie’, ‘The Abbott and Costello Show’, ‘Dad Knows Everything’ or ‘Perry Mason’ until he rose to fame in 1959 with the role of Alice Mitchell, the mother of the iconic CBS comedy “Dennis the Menace”, based on the comic book character Hank Ketcham. The series also starred Herbert Anderson as her husband and the young Jay North in the title role. She played Alice for 146 episodes until the comedy was canceled in 1963.
In his last active years he had roles on popular series such as ‘Dallas’ or ‘A precocious doctor’ and his last work in front of the cameras was an appearance in the hit comedy ‘Parks and Recreation’ in 2012.