Gloria Henry (born Gloria Eileen McEniry; April 2, 1923 – April 3, 2021) was an American actress, best known for her role as Alice Mitchell, Dennis' mother, from 1959 to 1963 on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

family

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' Dennis the Menace''.

Early life

Henry was born Gloria Eileen McEniry on April 2, 1923. She lived and grew up on the edge of the Garden District of

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. She was educated at the Worcester Art Museum School in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Henry moved to Los Angeles in her late teens and worked on a number of radio shows and commercials using the stage name of Gloria Henry. Her topics of discussions were gossip, fashion, and sports. She also performed in little theater groups.

Career

Early career

Signed by an agent, Henry transitioned into film work via

Columbia Studios Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film production and distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures ...

in 1946, and made her debut as the female lead in the

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

film '' Sport of Kings'' (1947). She had featured roles in the romantic comedy ''

Miss Grant Takes Richmond ''Miss Grant Takes Richmond'' is a 1949 American comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring Lucille Ball, William Holden, and Janis Carter, and produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was released under the alternative title ''I ...

'' (1949) that starred

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by ''Time (magazine), Time'' in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for h ...

, and the western '' Rancho Notorious'' (1952) with

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

. Henry also appeared in three sports-themed stories; the football film '' Triple Threat'' (1948), the horse race tale '' Racing Luck'' (1948), and the

William Bendix William Bendix (January 14, 1906 – December 14, 1964) was an American film, radio, and television actor, known for his portrayals of rough, blue-collar characters. He gained significant recognition for his role in ''Wake Island'', for wh ...

baseball comedy '' Kill the Umpire'' (1950). The 1950s were a mixture of B films and episodic TV guest parts such as ''

My Little Margie ''My Little Margie'' is an American television sitcom starring Gale Storm and Charles Farrell 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 Stud ...

'' (1952) and the premiere episode of ''

Perry Mason Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and four short stories, all of which involve a ...

'', " The Case of the Restless Redhead" (1957). She was also a regular on the detective series '' The Files of Jeffrey Jones'' (1954), starring

Don Haggerty Don Haggerty (July 3, 1914 – August 19, 1988) was an American actor of film and television. Early life and education Haggerty was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. Before he began appearing in films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University ...

, but was written out of the show when she became pregnant. She also appeared on ''

The Abbott and Costello Show ''The Abbott and Costello Show'' is an American television sitcom starring the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The program premiered in syndication in the fall of 1952 and ran two seasons to the spring of 1954. Each season ran 26 e ...

'' in an episode entitled "The Pigeon".

''Dennis the Menace''

In 1959, Henry landed the role for which she would become most well-known, that of Dennis' mother "Alice Mitchell" on the

comedy television series ''Dennis the Menace''. The series co-starred Herbert Anderson as her husband, and young

Jay North Jay Waverly North Jr. (August 3, 1951 – April 6, 2025) was an American actor. His career as a child actor began in the late 1950s, and he went on to appear in eight TV series, two variety shows and three feature films. At age 7, he became a h ...

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''. In 1992, she stated that she had become so associated with the role of Alice Mitchell that she had become

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

in mother roles. She appeared occasionally in

TV movies A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrest ...

playing assorted bit-part matrons, and in 1989, she played a small role as an art-collecting society matron in the prime time soap opera ''

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

''. Henry returned to the big screen in a brief role in '' Her Minor Thing'' (2005), a romantic comedy directed by

Charles Matthau Charles Marcus Matthau (born December 10, 1962) is an American director, producer, actor and writer. He is the son of actor Walter Matthau and actress/author Carol Grace. Matthau gained recognition for his directorial work encapsulating humanity ...

Walter Matthau Walter John Matthau ( Matthow; ; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, known for his "hangdog face" and for playing world-weary characters. He starred in 10 films alongside his real-life friend Jack Lemmon, including '' The Od ...

's son. She occasionally attended film festivals and nostalgia conventions. In 2012, she guest-starred on the '' Parks and Recreation'' episode "Campaign Shake-Up", playing the role of Mary-Elizabeth Clinch.

Personal life

Henry was of Scottish and Irish ancestry. She was married to Robert D. Lamb between 1943 and 1948. She wed architect

Craig Ellwood Craig Ellwood (born Jon Nelson Burke; April 22, 1922 – May 30, 1992) was an American architect whose career spanned the early 1950s through the mid-1970s in Los Angeles. Although untrained as an architect, he fashioned an influential person ...

in 1949; they divorced in 1977. The couple had three children, Jeffrey, Adam, and Erin Ellwood. Henry died at her home in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, on April 3, 2021, one day after her 98th birthday.

Filmography

Television appearances

*''

'' – Ruby Norton *'' Mr. & Mrs. North'' – Ruth Spencer (1953) *''

'' – Norma Calkins (1953) *'' The Files of Jeffrey Jones'' (1954) *''

Navy Log ''Navy Log'' is an American television drama anthology series created by Samuel Gallu that presented stories from the history of the United States Navy. This series ran on CBS from September 20, 1955, until September 25, 1956. On October 17, 1 ...

'' – Eileen Murphy (1957) *''

'' – Helene Chaney (1957) *''

The Walter Winchell File ''The Walter Winchell File'' is a television crime drama series 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 columnist ...

'' (1957) *''

Tales of Wells Fargo ''Tales of Wells Fargo'' is an American Westerns on television, Western television series starring Dale Robertson in 201 episodes that aired from 1957 to 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until i ...

'' – Sharon Burns (1957) *''

Father Knows Best ''Father Knows Best'' is an American sitcom starring Robert Young (actor), Robert Young, Jane Wyatt, Elinor Donahue, Billy Gray (actor), Billy Gray and Lauren Chapin. The series, which began on radio in 1949, aired as a television show for six ...

'' – Mildred Harris (1957) *''

The Life of Riley ''The Life of Riley'' is an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, as well as two different television series, and a comic book. Radio series The radio program initially aired on the B ...

'' – Miss Cosgrove (1958) *''

Rescue 8 ''Rescue 8'' is a syndicated American action adventure drama series about Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) Rescue Squad 8. It premiered in 1958 and originally ran for two seasons with syndicated reruns continuing for almost a deca ...

'' – Joan (1958) *''

The Thin Man ''The Thin Man'' (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of '' Redbook''. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main ...

'' (1959) *'' Dennis the Menace'' – Alice Mitchell (1959–63) *''

Hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...

'' (1963) *''

The Snoop Sisters ''The Snoop Sisters'' is an American comedy-mystery television show that aired on NBC during the 1973–1974 season, airing on a monthly rotation (referred to as a "wheel") as part of the '' NBC Tuesday Mystery Movie'', sharing the timeslot with ' ...

'' (1974) *''

The Brady Brides ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired five seasons from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family of six children, with three boys and three girls ...

'' (1981) *''

Falcon Crest ''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera created by Earl Hamner Jr. that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Cha ...

'' (1987) *''

'' (1989) *''

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

'' (1990) *'' Doogie Howser, M.D.'' (1992) *'' Parks and Recreation'' (2012)

References

External links

*
Gloria Henry
at

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Gloria 1923 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Los Angeles Actresses from New Orleans American film actresses American television actresses American people of Scottish descent American people of Irish descent People associated with the Worcester Art Museum