Leo Gorcey's parents were actor Bernard Gorcey (born 1888) who stood 4' 10", and Josephine Condon (born 1901), who stood 4' 11" and weighed 95 pounds; they worked in vaudeville in New York. In 1915, 14-year-old Josephine gave birth to Fred. In 1917, Leo was born, a large baby at 12 lb. 3 oz.; as an adult he would be 5' 6". In 1921 his brother David Gorcey was born. In 1935, Leo and David appeared in the stage play "Dead End." In 1937, this was made into a movie, and Leo became one of the busiest actors for the next 20 years -- from 1937-1939 he starred in seven Dead End Kids movies, from 1940-1945 in 21 East Side Kids films, from 1946-1956 in 41 Bowery Boys movies. In 1939, Leo married 17-year-old dancer Kay Marvis , who appeared in four of his movies. They divorced in 1944 after five years of marriage; she went on to marry Groucho Marx . In 1945, Leo married Evalene Bankston ; they divorced in 1948. Leo was to have paid her $50,000 in a divorce settlement; however, when two detectives she hired broke into his home, he retaliated by firing his gun at them. They sued, and Leo countersued for illegal entry and won $35,000 back. In 1949, Leo married Amelita Ward , whom he met while filming Smugglers' Cove (1948). Their marriage produced Leo Gorcey Jr. in 1949, and a baby girl they named Jan (after Leo's producer and manager, Jan Grippo ) in 1951. They divorced in 1956. That year Leo married his young nanny, Brandy, who was taking care of his two kids. They had a baby girl, Brandy Jo, in 1958. The couple divorced in 1962. Leo went to the altar one last time in February, 1968, marrying Mary Gannon. He stayed married to her until his death on June 2, 1969.
Removed from the final cover of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album because he requested a fee.Son of actor Bernard Gorcey . Older brother of David Gorcey . Father of Leo Gorcey Jr. .Interred at Molinos Cemetery, Los Molinos, California, USA.Older brother of David Gorcey .When Gorcey was making one of his few non-Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys films, 1941's Out of the Fog (1941), he repeatedly blew a simple line of dialog. Fed up, director Anatole Litvak stormed over to him and shouted, "Gorcey, as an actor, you stink!" Stung by this rebuke, Gorcey let fly with a burst of retaliatory fireworks of his own - "Don't you ever, ever scream at me like that again!," Gorcey shouted back, and stormed off the set. A few hours later, he was back, did the scene again ... and blew the line again. This time, Litvak walked over to him quietly, calmly and whispered in his ear, "Gorcey, as an actor, you still stink. And notice that, this time, I'm not shouting.".He was president of his high school drama club.After being fired from his plumbing job, he accompanied his brother David on an acting job. When one of the other actors fainted, David got Leo to take the role.Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 188-189. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387He left the Bowery Boys after his father, Bernard, also a frequent co-star in the series, was killed in an auto accident in 1955.His first wife left him for the same man he went into business on a radio program - Groucho Marx . From there, Groucho became Leo's first "husband-in-law" and one of his best friends.Claimed he and the Dead End Kids used to be friends with Humphrey Bogart , until one day, while Bogart was taking a nap after a hard day of acting and the boys threw a pack of lit firecrackers in through his window.
The Dead End Kids are introduced in their intricate East Side slum, overlooked by the apartments of the rich. Their antics, some funny, some vicious, alternate with subplots: unemployed architect Dave is torn between Drina, sweet but equally poor, and Kay, a rich man's mistress; gangster Baby Face Martin returns to his old neighborhood and finds that nobody is glad to see him. Then violent crime, both juvenile and adult, impacts the neighborhood and its people.
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The boys are sent to a mountain camp. Stranded in a small rural town, they hear about a "monster killer" roaming the countryside. At night, they sneak out. Peewee is shot by a grave-digger, and they are forced to seek aid at an old mansion. The owner of the mansion (Lugosi), insists that the boys spend the night. After seeing PeeWee walk around the house in a trance, the boys decide that the man turned him into a zombie. They gang up on him and tie him up. The nurse at the boys camp (Dorothy Short) sets out to find the missing boys with Von Grosch (Dennis Moore), who has come to rid the town of the killer- or has he?