Gloria Henry

Early life

Henry lived and grew up on the edge of the Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana. She was educated at the Worcester Art Museum School. She 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. 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). She had featured roles in the romantic comedy Miss Grant Takes Richmond that starred Lucille Ball and the western Rancho Notorious with Marlene Dietrich. Henry also appeared in three sports-themed stories, the football film Triple Threat, the horse-race tale Racing Luck and the William Bendix baseball comedy Kill the Umpire.

The 1950s were an uneventful mixture of more "B" films and episodic TV guest parts such as My Little Margie (1952) and the premiere episode of Perry Mason, "The Case of the Restless Redhead" (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. She also appeared on the Abbott and Costello TV show 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 "Alice Mitchell" on the CBS 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.

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 she played a small role as an art-collecting society matron in the prime time soap opera, Dallas.

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 2012, she guest starred on the Parks and Recreation episode "Campaign Shake-Up", playing the role of Mary-Elizabeth Clinch.

Personal life

Henry wed architect Craig Ellwood in 1949; they divorced in 1977. The couple had three children, Jeffrey, Adam, and Erin Ellwood.