Jeannie Russell

Jeannie Russell 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 comic strip of the same name and aired from 1959 to 1963 on CBS.

Jeannie Russell
Russell as Margaret Wade on Dennis the Menace in 1963
Born	Pasco, Washington, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actress, voice actress, chiropractor
Years active	1959–1993

Russell was chosen at the suggestion of Jay North, 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

Besides Dennis the Menace, Russell appeared in several other popular TV shows of the era, including The Deputy (1959), Assignment: Underwater (1961), Death Valley Days (1961), and The Dinah Shore Show. 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. She later appeared with Mel Winkler in Unique New York.

She has done live theater and soundtrack work, as well as performing as a singer. In the 1990s, Russell was active on the national talk-show and news-feature circuit. In 1993, she made a cameo appearance in the film version of Dennis the Menace playing one of the Mitchells' neighbors.

Personal life

Since 1978, Russell has been practicing chiropractic medicine in the North Hollywood/Toluca Lake (California) 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 and jazz dance. North and she occasionally appear together at celebrity events.

Russell co-chaired the Screen Actors Guild 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 section of Los Angeles, California.

Filmography

Film

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

Television

• The Deputy (TV series)
• Assignment: Underwater
• Death Valley Days
• Dennis the Menace (1959–1963)

Further reading

• Goldrup, Tom and Jim (2002). Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Film and Television. McFarland & Co. pp. 259–268. ISBN 1476613702.

External sources

• Jeannie Russell at IMDb
• "Tinseltown Talks: Dennis the Menace’s ‘pain in the neck’ now cures them," by Nick Thomas For The Daily Item, Aug 27, 2015