Gloria Henry
Encyclopedia
Gloria Henry is an American actress, best known for her role as "Alice Mitchell", Dennis’s mother, from 1959-1963 on the CBS
family sitcom, Dennis the Menace.
She moved to Los Angeles in her very late teens and worked on a number of radio shows and commercials using the stage name of Gloria Henry. She also performed in little theater groups.
The 1950s were an uneventful mixture of more "B" films and episodic TV guest parts such as My Little Margie
(1952) and Perry Mason
(1957). She was also a regular on the private eye series The Files of Jeffrey Jones (1954) starring Don Haggerty
, but was written out of the show when she became pregnant.
comedy series Dennis the Menace The series co-starred Herbert Anderson
as her husband and young Jay North
in the title role of Dennis. Henry portrayed sunny domesticity and maternal warmth for four seasons until the series' cancellation in 1963.
. Henry returned to the big screen in a brief role in Her Minor Thing (2005), a romantic comedy directed by Charles Matthau, Walter Matthau
's son. She occasionally attends film festivals and nostalgia conventions.
in 1949; they divorced in 1977. She has three children from that marriage: Jeffrey, Adam and Erin Ellwood.
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
family sitcom, Dennis the Menace.
Early life
Henry lived and grew up on the edge of the Garden District of New Orleans. She was educated at the Worcester Art Museum School.She moved to Los Angeles in her very late teens and worked on a number of radio shows and commercials using the stage name of Gloria Henry. She also performed in little theater groups.
Early career
Signed by an agent, Henry transitioned into film work via Columbia Studios and made her debut as the female lead in the minor horse-racing film Sport of Kings (1947).The 1950s were an uneventful mixture of more "B" films and episodic TV guest parts such as My Little Margie
My Little Margie
My Little Margie is an American situation comedy that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California at Hal Roach Studios by Hal Roach, Jr. and Roland D...
(1952) and Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
(1957). She was also a regular on the private eye series The Files of Jeffrey Jones (1954) starring Don Haggerty
Don Haggerty
Don Haggerty was an American film actor appearing in films in the 1940s and 1950s. Before entering films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the US military...
, but was written out of the show when she became pregnant.
Dennis the Menace
In 1959, Henry landed the role for which she would become most well known, that of "Alice Mitchell" (Dennis’ mother) on the CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
comedy series Dennis the Menace The series co-starred Herbert Anderson
Herbert Anderson
Herbert Anderson was an American character actor from Oakland, California, probably best remembered for his part as Henry Mitchell in the classic television sitcom Dennis The Menace.-Career:...
as her husband and young Jay North
Jay North
Jay North is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor at the age of six, North became a household name during the early 1960s for his role as the well-meaning, but mischievous, Dennis Mitchell on the CBS situation comedy Dennis the Menace, based on the comic strip created...
in the title role of Dennis. Henry portrayed sunny domesticity and maternal warmth for four seasons until the series' cancellation in 1963.
After Dennis the Menace
Henry's career slowed down considerably after Dennis the Menace. She was spotted occasionally in TV-movies playing assorted bit-part matrons, and in 1989 played a small role as an art-collecting society matron in prime time soap DallasDallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
. Henry returned to the big screen in a brief role in Her Minor Thing (2005), a romantic comedy directed by Charles Matthau, Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
's son. She occasionally attends film festivals and nostalgia conventions.
Personal life
Henry wed architect Craig EllwoodCraig Ellwood
Craig Ellwood was an influential Los Angeles-based modernist architect whose career spanned the early 1950s through the mid-1970s. Although untrained as an architect, Ellwood fashioned a persona and career through equal parts of a talent for good design, self-promotion and ambition...
in 1949; they divorced in 1977. She has three children from that marriage: Jeffrey, Adam and Erin Ellwood.
Filmography
- The Brady Brides (1981)
- HazelHazelThe hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
- Gloria King (1963) - Dennis the Menace - Alice Mitchell (1959–1963)
- The Thin ManThe Thin ManThe Thin Man is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in Redbook. Although he never wrote a sequel, the book became the basis for a successful six-part film series which also began in 1934 with The Thin Man and starred William Powell and Myrna Loy...
- Valerie (1959) - Rescue 8Rescue 8Rescue 8 is a syndicated American action drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad Number 8. It premiered in 1958, and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a decade after. It starred Jim Davis as fireman Wes Cameron, and Lang Jeffries...
- Joan (1958) - Gang WarGang WarGang War is a 1928 gangster film, best known for being the main feature attached to Steamboat Willie, the debut of Mickey Mouse in sound. The film starred Jack Pickford in his last major role, as "Clyde", a saxophone player whose love for a dancer named Flowers traps him in the middle of a gang war...
(1958) - Edie Avery - The Life of RileyThe Life of RileyThe Life of Riley, with William Bendix in the title role, is a popular American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a long-run 1950s television series , and a 1958 Dell comic book...
- Miss Cosgrove (1958) - Tales of Wells FargoTales of Wells FargoTales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
- Sharon Burns (1957) - The Walter Winchell FileThe Walter Winchell FileThe Walter Winchell File is the title of a TV crime drama that initially aired from 1957 to 1958, dramatizing cases from the New York City Police Department that were covered in the New York Daily Mirror. The series featured Walter Winchell, John Larch, George Cisar, Robert Anderson, Robert...
(1957) - Perry MasonPerry MasonPerry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
- Helene Chaney (1957) - Navy LogNavy LogNavy Log is an American anthology series that initially aired on CBS. The series featured over 70 regular guests and told about the greatest survival war stories in the history of the United States Navy. This series premiered on September 20, 1955. The following year, it was moved to ABC, where it...
- Eileen Murphy (1957) - Real George (1956) (TV)
- The Files of Jeffrey Jones (1954) TV Series - Michele 'Mike' Malone
- My Little MargieMy Little MargieMy Little Margie is an American situation comedy that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California at Hal Roach Studios by Hal Roach, Jr. and Roland D...
- Norma Calkins (1953) - Hot News (1953) - Kerry Barker
- Mr. & Mrs. North - Ruth Spencer (1953)
- Rancho NotoriousRancho NotoriousRancho Notorious is a 1952 Western shot in Technicolor, directed by Fritz Lang and starring Marlene Dietrich as the matron of a criminal hideout called Chuck-a-Luck...
(1952) - Beth Forbes - The Abbott and Costello ShowThe Abbott and Costello ShowThe Abbott and Costello Show is an American television sitcom starring the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello that premiered in syndication in the fall of 1952 and ran until May 1954....
- Ruby Norton (1 episode) - Yellow Fin (1951) - Nina Torres
- Al Jennings of Oklahoma (1951) - Alice Calhoun
- Lightning Guns (1950) - Susan Atkins
- The Tougher They Come (1950) - Rattle Rafferty
- Rookie Fireman (1950) - Peggy Walters
- Kill the UmpireKill the UmpireKill the Umpire is a 1950 comedy starring William Bendix and Una Merkel, directed by Lloyd Bacon and written by Frank Tashlin.-Plot:Bendix plays a former baseball player who continues to be a baseball fanatic whose devotion to the game has cost him several jobs, but who remains steadfast in one...
(1950) - Lucy Johnson - Riders in the Sky (1949) - Anne Lawson
- Feudin' Rhythm (1949) - Valerie Kay
- Miss Grant Takes RichmondMiss Grant Takes RichmondMiss Grant Takes Richmond is a 1949 comedy film starring Lucille Ball and William Holden, directed by Lloyd Bacon and released by Columbia Pictures...
(1949) - Helen White - Air HostessAir Hostess"Air Hostess" is a song by the British pop trio Busted. Composed by the band with Tom Fletcher of McFly, it was released as the third single from their second album A Present for Everyone in June 2004, reaching #2 on the UK Singles Chart.-Background:...
(1949) - Ruth Jackson - Johnny Allegro (1949) - Addie
- Law of the Barbary Coast (1949) - Julie Adams
- Rusty Saves a Life (1949) - Lyddy Hazard
- Racing LuckRacing LuckRacing Luck is a 1941 Australian comedy film directed by Rupert Kathner and starring Joe Valli, George Lloyd and Marshall Crosby. The jockey Darby Munro, who had a cameo as himself, described it as the best Australian film he had ever seen.-Cast:...
(1948) - Phyllis Warren - Triple ThreatTriple ThreatThe Triple Threat was a professional wrestling heel stable that existed in Extreme Championship Wrestling from 1995 to 1998. It was Shane Douglas's answer to Ric Flair's Four Horsemen...
(1948) - Ruth Nolan - The Strawberry Roan (1948) - Connie Bailey
- Arkansas Swing (1948) - Margie MacGregor
- Port SaidPort SaidPort Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
(1948) - Gila Lingallo/Helena Guistano - Adventures in Silverado (1948) - Jeannie Manning
- Bulldog Drummond Strikes BackBulldog Drummond Strikes BackBulldog Drummond Strikes Back is a 1934 American comedy-mystery-adventure film directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film stars Ronald Colman and Loretta Young.-Plot:...
(1947) - Ellen Curtiss - Keeper of the Bees (1947) - Alice
- Sport of KingsSport of KingsSport of Kings is an album by Liverpool based band Pele, released in December 1993.-Track listing:*Beside The Fields*Don't Worship Me*Hey America*Fat Black Heart *The Word Is...*Oh Lord Part II*The Chosen One...
(1947) - Doc Richardson
External links
Gloria Henry at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database
Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...