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Leo Gorcey

American actor (1917–1969) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leo Gorcey

Leo Bernard Gorcey (June 3, 1917[1]– June 2, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, famous for portraying the leader of a group of hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids, and as adults, The Bowery Boys. Gorcey was famous for his use of malapropisms, such as "I depreciate it!" instead of "I appreciate it!"[2]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...
Leo Gorcey
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Gorcey in 1945
Born
Leo Bernard Gorcey

(1917-06-03)June 3, 1917
New York City, United States
DiedJune 2, 1969(1969-06-02) (aged 51)
Oakland, California, United States
OccupationActor
Years active1935–1969
Spouses
Kay Marvis
(m. 1939; div. 1944)
Evalene Bankston
(m. 1945; div. 1948)
(m. 1949; div. 1956)
Brandy Davis
(m. 1956; div. 1962)
Mary Gannon
(m. 1968)
Children3
Parent(s)Bernard Gorcey
Josephine Condon
RelativesDavid Gorcey (brother)
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Early years

Gorcey was born in New York City on June 3, 1917, the son of Josephine (née Condon), an Irish Catholic immigrant, and Bernard Gorcey, a Russian Jewish immigrant. Both were vaudevillian actors of short stature. Bernard Gorcey was 4 ft 10 in (1.47 m) and his wife was 4 ft 11 in (1.50 m). Their son reached 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) in adulthood.

Film career

Summarize
Perspective

In the 1930s, Gorcey's father lived apart from the family while working in theater and film. When he returned in 1935, Leo's younger brother David Gorcey and he persuaded Leo to audition for a small part in the play Dead End. Leo had just lost a job as a plumber's apprentice and wished to emulate his father's modest success. The Gorcey boys were cast in small roles as two members of the East 53rd Place Gang (originally dubbed the "2nd Avenue Boys") in the play Dead End by Sidney Kingsley. Charles Duncan, originally cast as Spit, left the play, and Gorcey, his understudy, was promoted. Gorcey created the stage persona of a quarrelsome guttersnipe whose greatest joy was to make trouble.

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Gorcey in the film Gallant Sons (1940)

In 1937, Samuel Goldwyn made the popular play into a film of the same name, and transported the six rowdy young men to Hollywood. Gorcey became one of the busiest actors in Hollywood during the following 20 years, starring in seven Dead End Kids films between 1937 and 1939, 21 East Side Kids films between 1940 and 1945, and 41 The Bowery Boys films between 1946 and 1955.

The earlier films presented Gorcey in variations of his Dead End character Spit, a sneering tough guy meeting anyone's challenge with a wisecracking remark. In the early 1940s, as the dramatic films shifted to roughneck comedy, Gorcey embellished his dialogue with malapropisms, always delivered in a thick Brooklyn accent. "A clever deduction" would be mangled by Gorcey as "a clever seduction"; "I reiterate" became "I regurgitate"; "optical illusion" came across as "optical delusion"; and "I should see an optometrist" was rendered as "I should see an ichthyologist." A studio press release reported that Gorcey spent 30 minutes a day studying a dictionary: "He has made something of a career for himself as an actor by the use of words no one else has ever heard of, and by the misuse or mispronunciation of others."[3]

In 1944, Gorcey took a recurring role on the Pabst Blue Ribbon Town radio show, starring Groucho Marx. He also had a small role in a 1948 film, the comedy So This Is New York, starring radio comedians Henry Morgan and Arnold Stang, which was Gorcey's last appearance as a straight character actor.

In 1945, Sam Katzman, producer of the East Side Kids series, flatly refused to meet Gorcey's demand of double his usual salary. Gorcey walked out on Katzman, and Katzman discontinued the series. Gorcey turned to Dead End teammate Bobby Jordan, who suggested a meeting with Jordan's agent, Jan Grippo. The series became The Bowery Boys, with Gorcey holding a 40% financial share, and Grippo as producer. Gorcey brought aboard his father, Bernard Gorcey, to appear as Louie Dumbrowski, the panicky owner of a sweet shop where the boys gathered, as well as his brother David to play one of the gang members.

The series was immediately successful, and Gorcey starred in four Bowery Boys films per year through 1955. That year, his father died as a result of injuries from an automobile accident. Gorcey, devastated, began abusing alcohol and lost a great deal of weight. When he allegedly trashed a film set in an intoxicated rage (an occurrence which was later vehemently denied in the 1980s by both Huntz Hall and David Gorcey),[4] the studio refused to grant him a pay raise that he had demanded, so he parted ways with the Bowery Boys and was replaced in the last seven films by Stanley Clements. However, Gorcey's brother David remained with the series until it ended in late 1957.

During the 1960s, Gorcey did very little acting. He had a bit part in the 1963 comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and he appeared with old sidekick Huntz Hall in a pair of low-budget films, Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar in 1966 and The Phynx, released in 1970 after his death. Gorcey also made an appearance in a television commercial for a 1969 Pontiac model.

Autobiography

In 1967, Gorcey self-published an autobiography, An Original Dead-End Kid Presents: Dead End Yells, Wedding Bells, Cockle Shells, and Dizzy Spells, which was limited to 1,000 copies. It was reprinted in 2004.

Personal life

In May 1939, Gorcey married 15-year-old dancer Kay Marvis, who appeared in four of his Monogram movies. They divorced in 1944, and the following year, Marvis became the second wife of Groucho Marx.

Gorcey married actress Evalene Bankston in October 1945, but they divorced two years later. He was arrested for firing a gun at his wife when she entered his home in Van Nuys, California, but was acquitted of the charge in 1948.[5]

In February 1949, Gorcey married actress Amelita Ward, with whom he had appeared in Clancy Street Boys and Smugglers' Cove. The marriage produced two children, including Leo Gorcey, Jr., but the couple were divorced in February 1956. Later that year, Gorcey married Brandy Davis. They had a daughter, Brandy Gorcey Ziesemer, but divorced in 1962. Gorcey was married to Mary Gannon on July 12, 1968,[5] until his death, nearly one year later.

Death

Gorcey, a lifelong alcoholic, died of liver failure on June 2, 1969, one day short of his 52nd birthday.[6] He is buried at Molinos Cemetery in Los Molinos, California.

Legacy

In 1967, Gorcey's image was to appear in the crowd of celebrities on the cover of the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, but because he requested a fee, he was removed.

Me and the Dead End Kid, a book about Gorcey written by his son Leo, Jr., was published in 2003. In 2017, a third book on his life appeared, Leo Gorcey's Fractured World by Jim Manago, which included an examination of Gorcey's use of malapropisms in the Bowery Boys films. Also in 2017, Richard Roat, known for having the largest collection of Dead End Kids/Little Tough Guys/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys memorabilia in the United States, published the book, Hollywood's Made-to-Order Punks: The Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys , complete with photographs, behind-the-scenes trivia, and interviews with the surviving Dead End Kids/Little Tough Guys/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys that he had collected since the 1980s.[4]

Filmography

Film

More information Year, Film ...
YearFilmRoleNotes
1937Dead EndSpitDead End Kids film
1937Portia on TrialJoe Gannow
1937Headin' EastBoy boxer in gymUncredited
1937MannequinClifford
1938The Beloved BratSpike Matz
1938Crime SchoolSpikeDead End Kids film
1938Angels with Dirty FacesBimDead End Kids film
1938Swingtime in the MoviesHimselfDead End Kids film / Short / Uncredited
1939They Made Me a CriminalSpitDead End Kids film
1939Hell's KitchenGyp HallerDead End Kids film
1939The Angels Wash Their FacesLeo FinneganDead End Kids film
1939On Dress ParadeSlip DuncanDead End Kids film
1939Private DetectiveNewsboyUncredited
1939Invisible StripesJimmy
1940Boys of the CityMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1940That Gang of MineMuggs MaloneEast Side Kids film
1940HullabalooApartment house bellhopUncredited
1940Gallant Sons"Doc" Reardon
1940Pride of the BoweryMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1941Road to ZanzibarBoy[7]
1941Flying WildMuggsEast Side Kids film
1941Angels with Broken WingsPunchy Dorsey
1941Out of the FogEddie
1941Bowery BlitzkriegMuggsEast Side Kids film
1941Down in San DiegoSnap Collins
1942Spooks Run WildMuggsEast Side Kids film
1942Born to SingSnap Collins
1942Mr. Wise GuyMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1942Sunday PunchBiff
1942Let's Get Tough!Muggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1942Maisie Gets Her ManCecil
1942Smart AlecksMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1942'Neath Brooklyn BridgeMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1943Kid DynamiteMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1943Clancy Street BoysMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1943Ghosts on the LooseMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1943DestroyerSarecky
1943Mr. Muggs Steps OutMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1944Million Dollar KidMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1944Follow the LeaderMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1944Block BustersMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1944Bowery ChampsMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1945Docks of New YorkMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1945Mr. Muggs Rides AgainMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1945Midnight ManhuntClutch Tracy
1945Come Out FightingMuggs McGinnisEast Side Kids film
1946Live WiresSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1946In Fast CompanySlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1946Bowery BombshellSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1946Spook BustersSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1946Mr. HexSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1947Hard Boiled MahoneySlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1947News HoundsSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1947Bowery BuckaroosSlip Mahoney (aka:"Dead-Eye" Dan McGurk)Bowery Boys film
1948Angels' AlleySlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1948So This Is New YorkSid Mercer
1948Jinx MoneySlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1948Smugglers' CoveSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1948Trouble MakersSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1949Fighting FoolsSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1949Hold That Baby!Slip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1949Angels in DisguiseSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1949Master MindsSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1950Blonde DynamiteSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1950Lucky LosersSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1950Triple TroubleSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1950Blues BustersSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1951Bowery BattalionSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1951Ghost ChasersSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1951Let's Go Navy!Slip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1951Crazy Over HorsesSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1952Hold That LineSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1952Here Come the MarinesSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1952Feudin' FoolsSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1952No Holds BarredSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1953JalopySlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1953Loose in LondonSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1953Clipped WingsSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1953Private EyesSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1954Paris PlayboysSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1954The Bowery Boys Meet the MonstersSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1954Jungle GentsSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1955Bowery to BagdadSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1955High SocietySlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1955Spy ChasersSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1955Jail BustersSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1955Dig That UraniumSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1956Crashing Las VegasSlip MahoneyBowery Boys film
1963It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad WorldFirst cab driverCameo
1965Second Fiddle to a Steel GuitarLeo
1970The PhynxHimselfFinal film role
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Television

More information Year, Series ...
YearSeriesRoleNotes
1962The Dick Powell TheatreBilly ValeEpisode: "No Strings Attached"
1962Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonWindyEpisode: "...But What Are You Doing for Your Country?"
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References

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