Leo Gorcey

Acting

Leo Gorcey

Born 1917-06-03 · New York City, New York, USA

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 from liver failure on June 2, 1969, in Oakland, California.

Acting credits

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World poster
7.0

A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

1963

Angels with Dirty Faces poster
7.5

Childhood chums Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly grow up on opposite sides of the fence: Rocky matures into a prominent gangster, while Jerry becomes a priest, tending to the needs of his old tenement neighborhood.

Angels with Dirty Faces

1938

Out of the Fog poster
6.3

A Brooklyn pier racketeer bullies boat-owners into paying protection money but two fed-up fishermen decide to eliminate the gangster themselves rather than complain to the police.

Out of the Fog

1941

Dead End poster
7.0

The lives of a young man and woman, an infamous gangster and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.

Dead End

1937

Jail Busters poster
6.7

Slip and Sach go to prison to help a reporter with a story.

Jail Busters

1955

On Dress Parade poster
6.6

The final feature in the "Dead End Kids" film series finds a youth trying to adjust to life at a military school.

On Dress Parade

1939

Invisible Stripes poster
6.2

A gangster is unable to go straight after returning home from prison.

Invisible Stripes

1939

Live Wires poster
5.6

Slip gets fired from his job at a construction company for decking his boss. His sister, who got him a job at the company, is angry with him. Slip manages to get a job with the District Attorney serving warrants, as does Sach. Through his job, Slip finds out that all is not quite kosher at his old construction company, and that his sister may be in danger.

Live Wires

1946

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage poster
7.0

Out-takes (mostly from Warner Bros.), promotional shorts, movie premieres, public service pleas, wardrobe tests, documentary material, and archival footage make up this star-studded voyeuristic look at the Golden age of Hollywood during the 30s, 40, and 50.

Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage

1983

Jalopy poster
5.3

Slip has entered the Boys' rattletrap car in a souped-up jalopy race, but has no chance of winning until Satch, with the aid of a scientist acquaintance, comes up with a chemical concoction that acts as a super-fuel; but a rival entrant in the race learns of this and tries to get the formula for himself.

Jalopy

1953

Feudin' Fools poster
5.5

Sach learns that he has inherited a farm in rural hillbilly country, and when he and the Boys arrive there, they find themselves mixed up with a hillbilly clan named Smith who'll shoot anybody named Jones, plus a gang of bank robbers.

Feudin' Fools

1952

Destroyer poster
6.8

Flagwaving story of a new American destroyer, the JOHN PAUL JONES, from the day her keel is laid, to what was very nearly her last voyage. Among the crew, is Steve Boleslavski, a shipyard welder that helped build her, who reenlists, with his old rank of Chief bosuns mate. After failing her sea trials, she is assigned to the mail run, until caught up in a disparate battle with a Japanese sub. After getting torpedoed, and on the verge of sinking, the Captain, and crew hatch a plan to try and save the ship, and destroy the sub.

Destroyer

1943

Born to Sing poster
5.4

A group of children put on a show in order to prove that a down and out musician was the real composer of a Broadway show's songs.

Born to Sing

1942

Headin' East poster
10.0

A cattle rancher comes to the aid of farmers by heading to NYC to stop the racketeers hijacking their produce shipments.

Headin' East

1937

They Made Me a Criminal poster
6.3

A boxer flees, believing he has committed a murder while he was drunk.

They Made Me a Criminal

1939

Mannequin poster
6.0

Jessie, a young working class woman, seeks to improve her life by marrying her boyfriend, only to find out that he is no better than what she left behind.

Mannequin

1938

Spooks Run Wild poster
5.1

A group of delinquents on their way to summer camp get stuck in a haunted house.

Spooks Run Wild

1941

Crashing Las Vegas poster
5.7

An electric shock enables Sach to predict numbers, so the Bowery Boys are off to Las Vegas to win enough money at the roulette wheels to let their landlady buy an apartment building. Witnessing his winning streak, some gangsters decide to move in and find out his "system" for beating the odds.

Crashing Las Vegas

1956

The Phynx poster
3.6

A rock band is invented by the government as a cover to find hostages in a remote castle in Albania held by communist enemies of the USA.

The Phynx

1970

Triple Trouble poster
7.0

Slip and Sach take the rap for a robbery they did not commit in order to uncover the real robbers, whom they suspect are led by a convict who gives orders to his gang outside via a short-wave radio stashed somewhere in the prison.

Triple Trouble

1950

News Hounds poster
6.8

Slip and Sach are working for a local newspaper as a reporter and photographer, respectively. Slip wants to get the goods on a local gambling ring that is fixing sporting events, so he and Sach go undercover to expose the ring.

News Hounds

1947

Bowery Buckaroos poster
6.6

The Bowery Boys head west to clear Louie of an old murder charge that he had killed his gold-mine partner. Sach has the map to the gold mine painted on his back, and Blackjack McCoy has him kidnapped by Indian Joe. Gabe poses as a dangerous gunman, the Klondike Kid, while Slip is in charge of all the remaining loose ends.

Bowery Buckaroos

1947

Hell's Kitchen poster
6.8

A paroled convict's efforts to improve conditions at a boys' reform school alarm the school's corrupt warden, who has been embezzling funds from the institution. He hatches a plan to derail the reformed convict's efforts and have him sent back to prison, and part of that scheme involves cracking down hard on the reform school's inmates.

Hell's Kitchen

1939

Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook poster
9.5

A history of the famous vampire of books and movies, using film clips, previews and other methods.

Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook

1991