Jeannie Russell (born Jeanne K. Russell; October 22, 1950) is an American actress best known for playing Dennis's playmate, Margaret Wade, in the television series '' Dennis the Menace'', which was based on the

Hank Ketcham Henry King Ketcham (March 14, 1920 – June 1, 2001) was an American cartoonist who created the '' Dennis the Menace'' comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily cartoon and took up painting ...

comic strip of the same name and aired from 1959 to 1963 on

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

. Russell was chosen at the suggestion of

Jay North Jay North (born August 3, 1951) is an American actor. His career as a child actor began in the late 1950s with roles in eight TV series, two variety shows and three feature films. At age 7 he became a household name for his role as the well-mean ...

, who starred in the role of Dennis, to play his nemesis playmate. She appeared in 31 of the series' 146 episodes over the four-year run of the show.

Career

Russell also appeared in other popular TV shows of the era, including ''

The Deputy ''The Deputy, a Christian tragedy'' (German: ''Der Stellvertreter. Ein christliches Trauerspiel''), also published in English as ''The Representative '', is a controversial 1963 play by Rolf Hochhuth which portrayed Pope Pius XII as having failed ...

'' (1959), '' Assignment: Underwater'' (1961),, ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American old-time radio and television anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program ...

'' (1961), and ''

The Dinah Shore Show ''The Dinah Shore Show'' is an American variety show which was broadcast by NBC from November 1951 to July 1957, sponsored by General Motors' Chevrolet division. For most of the program's run, it aired from 7:30 to 7:45 Eastern Time on Tuesday an ...

''. Russell provided a singing voice in the 1961 Disney movie '' Babes in Toyland'' and made an uncredited appearance in the 1963 popular suspense horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, '' The Birds'', in which she played a school child. In 1993, she made a cameo appearance in the film version of '' Dennis the Menace'' playing one of the Mitchells' neighbors. In 1971, She moved to St. Louis to filmed the longest running children’s tv show in KETC’s Where will my feet take me today? with Buster Fronto before

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 1975 where

Mel Winkler Mel Winkler (October 23, 1941 – June 11, 2020) was an American actor, perhaps best known as the voice of Aku Aku in the ''Crash Bandicoot'' video games, from '' Crash Bandicoot: Warped'' to '' Crash Twinsanity''. Early life Winkler was bor ...

is in New York when they’d filming the longest running tv series “ Unique New York” together and her last appearance in 1978’s The Letter People - Meet Mister J (1978). She has done live theater and sound track work, as well as performing as a singer. In the 1990s, Russell was active on the national talk-show and news-feature circuit.

Personal life

Since 1978, Russell has been practicing

chiropractic Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the spine. It has esoteric origins and is based on several pseudosci ...

medicine in the

North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...

Toluca Lake Toluca Lake is an affluent neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley northwest of downtown. The name is also given to a private natural lake fed by wells and maintained by neighboring property owner ...

(

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

) area. She also counsels and coaches patients, assisting them with "intuitive eating" skills to embrace a healthy lifestyle. Russell had developed a powerful posture building series of movement and strengthening exercises, which draw from her career in show business. She is also trained in

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and

jazz dance Jazz dance is a performance dance and style that arose in the United States in the mid 20th century. Jazz dance may allude to vernacular jazz about to Broadway or dramatic jazz. The two types expand on African American vernacular styles of danc ...

. North and she occasionally appear together at celebrity events. Russell co-chaired the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

Young Performers' Committee for several years. Russell is the sister of Bryan Russell, who was also a child actor from 1959 to 1967. She currently resides in the

Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

section of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, California.

Filmography

Film

* Babes in Toyland (1961) * The Birds (1963) * Dennis the Menace (1993)

Television

The Deputy (TV series) ''The Deputy'' is an American Western series starring Henry Fonda that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1961. Fonda portrayed Chief Marshal Simon Fry of the Arizona Territory and Allen Case played Deputy Clay McCord, a storekeeper who tried to avo ...

* Assignment: Underwater *

* Dennis the Menace (1959–1963) * Where will my feet take me today? (1972–1975) * Unique New York (1976–1978)

References

External sources

*
"Tinseltown Talks: Dennis the Menace’s ‘pain in the neck’ now cures them," by Nick Thomas For The Daily Item, Aug 27, 2015
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Jeannie 1950 births Living people American child actresses People from Pasco, Washington American television actresses American chiropractors Actresses from Washington (state) 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American women