Vale: Gloria Henry

US actress Gloria Henry, best known for Dennis the Menace, has died, aged 98.

She died Saturday, one day after her birthday, at her home in Los Angeles.

She played loving mother Alice Mitchell for 4 seasons from 1959 alongside Herbert Anderson and Jay North, in the sitcom based on Hank Ketcham’s comic book character.

Henry worked in radio and signed a contract with Columbia Pictures, where in 1947 she starred in Sport of Kings, Keeper of the Bees and Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back. She starred opposite the Singing Cowboy Autry in The Strawberry Roan and Riders in the Sky  with other film credits including Miss Grant Takes Richmond, Johnny Allegro, and Fritz Lang’s Notorious.

TV credits included The Abbott and Costello Show, My Little Margie, Father Knows Best, Perry Mason and The Life of Riley. She returned to television for Simon & Simon, Newhart, Dallas, Doogie Howser, and Parks and Recreation.

“Many of the fans say, ‘Oh, I always wished you were my mom’ and ‘My mom was jealous of you, because I wanted you for a mom,'” she said in a 2011 interview. “Which is pretty funny, because I don’t think my own children felt that way.”

Source: Hollywood Reporter