Leo Gorcey

Leo Gorcey was the son of actor Bernard Gorcey, born in 1888 and standing 4' 10", and Josephine Condon, born in 1901, who was 4' 11" tall and weighed 95 pounds. Both parents performed in vaudeville in New York. In 1915, when Josephine was 14 years old, she gave birth to a son named Fred. Leo was born in 1917 and was a large baby, weighing 12 lb. 3 oz. As an adult, he stood 5' 6" tall. In 1921, his brother David Gorcey was born. In 1935, Leo and David appeared in the stage play "Dead End." The following year, the play was adapted into a film, and Leo became one of the busiest actors in the industry for the next two decades. From 1937 to 1939, he starred in seven "Dead End Kids" films, from 1940 to 1945 in 21 "East Side Kids" films, and from 1946 to 1956 in 41 "Bowery Boys" movies.

In 1939, Leo married 17-year-old dancer Kay Marvis, who appeared in four of his films. The couple divorced in 1944 after five years of marriage; Kay later married Groucho Marx. In 1945, Leo married Evalene Bankston, and 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 responded by firing his gun at them. She sued, and Leo countersued for illegal entry and won $35,000 in damages. In 1949, Leo married Amelita Ward, whom he met while filming *Smugglers' Cove* (1948). The couple had a son, Leo Gorcey Jr., in 1949, and a daughter named Jan in 1951, after Leo's producer and manager, Jan Grippo. They divorced in 1956. That same year, Leo married his young nanny, Brandy, who was caring for his two children. The couple had a daughter, Brandy Jo, in 1958 and divorced in 1962. Leo married for the final time in February 1968, to Mary Gannon. He remained married to her until his death from liver failure on June 2, 1969, in Oakland, California.