Leo Bernard Gorcey on June 3,
1917, in
Washington Heights, New York, to the
Vaudeville actors
Bernard Gorcey and Josephine Condon. He was their second child, the first being Fred, born in
1915 when his Mother was 14 years old, and the third being
David in
1921. There is a story that Leo, who weighed 12 pounds, three ounces at birth, was born on the kitchen table because the family was too poor to afford Josephine going to the hospital for his birth.
Leo and his brothers were young teen-aged boys at the beginning of the Depression. At that time just finding work was a miracle and everyone in a family needed to be working just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Bernard got work with the WPA’s acting project and was frequently gone. Leo was working in his uncle’s plumbing business as an apprentice when Bernard encouraged Leo to audition as one of the kids in Sidney Kingsley’s play Dead End in 1935. When Leo lost his job in the plumbing business he took a small part in the play, eventually working his way to the important role of Spit, the stool pigeon.
Samuel Goldwyn liked the play and decided to make it into a film in 1937 and, amoungst others, he hired Leo, Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsley and Bobby Jordan. He would go on to work with this core group of men until 1955, when he left the Bowery Boys series after the death of his father.
Leo married five times: first to Kay Marvis, an actress, in May of 1939. They divorced in 1944 and had no children. His second wife was also an actress, Evalene Bankston. They married in October of 1945 and were divorced in February 1948. A year later he married the actress Amelita Ward, on February 12, 1949. They had a son, Leo Jr., September 7, 1949 and a daughter Jan in 1951. Leo and Amelita divorced in 1956 and later that year he married his children’s nanny, Brandy. Leo and Brandy had a daughter, Brandy Jo, in 1960. They were divorced in 1962. In February of 1968 Leo married Mary Gannon and they remained married until his death from liver failure on June 2, 1969, the day before his 52 birthday.
Filmography
Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar (1966), Stagehand
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), First cab driver
Crashing Las Vegas (1956), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Dig That Uranium (1956), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Jail Busters (1955), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Spy Chasers (1955), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
High Society (1955), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Bowery to Bagdad (1955), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Jungle Gents (1954), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters (1954), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Paris Playboys (1954), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Private Eyes (1953), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Clipped Wings (1953), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Loose in London (1953), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Jalopy (1953), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
No Holds Barred (1952), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Feudin’ Fools (1952), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Here Come the Marines (1952), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
(also known as Tell It to the Marines)
Hold That Line (1952), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Crazy Over Horses (1951), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
(also known as Win, Place and Show)
Let’s Go Navy! (1951), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Ghost Chasers (1951), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Bowery Battalion (1951), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Blues Busters (1950), Slip Mahoney
Triple Trouble (1950), Slip Mahoney
Lucky Losers (1950), Terence Aloysius 'Slip'/'Slippery' Mahoney
Blonde Dynamite (1950), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Master Minds (1949), Slip Mahoney
Angels in Disguise (1949), Mr. Slip Mahoney
Hold That Baby! (1949), Slip Mahoney
Fighting Fools (1949), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Trouble Makers (1948), Slip Mahoney
Smugglers’ Cove (1948), Terrence 'Slip' Mahoney
Jinx Money (1948), Terrence 'Slip' Mahoney
Angels’ Alley (1948), Terrence 'Slip' Mahoney
So This Is New York (1948), Sid Mercer
Bowery Buckaroos (1947), Slip Mahoney, aka Dead-Eye Dan McGurke
News Hounds (1947), Terence J. Montgomery 'Slip' Mahoney
Hard Boiled Mahoney (1947), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Mr. Hex (1946), Slip Mahoney
Spook Busters (1946), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Bowery Bombshell (1946), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
In Fast Company (1946), Terence Aloysius 'Slip' Mahoney
Live Wires (1946), Terrence 'Slip' Mahoney
Come Out Fighting (1945), Mugs McGinnis
Midnight Manhunt (1945), Clutch Tracy
Mr. Muggs Rides Again (1945), Ethelbert Aloysius 'Muggs' McGinnis
Docks of New York (1945), Mugs
Bowery Champs (1945), Ethelbert 'Muggs' McGinnis
(also known as Mr. Muggs Meets a Deadline)
Block Busters (1944), Ethelbert 'Muggs' McGinnis
Follow the Leader (1944), Mugs McGinnis
(also known as East of the Bowery)
Million Dollar Kid (1944), Muggs McGinnis
Mr. Muggs Steps Out (1943), Muggs McGinnis
Destroyer (1943), Sarecky
Ghosts on the Loose (1943), Mugs
(also known as Ghosts in the Night (United Kingdom) or The East Side Kids Meet Bela Lugosi)
Clancy Street Boys (1943), Ethelbert 'Muggs' McGinnis
Kid Dynamite (1943), Mugs
(also known as Queen of Broadway)
‘Neath Brooklyn Bridge (1942), Mugs/Baby
Smart Alecks (1942), Mugs
Maisie Gets Her Man (1942), Cecil
(also known as She Got Her Man in the United Kingdom)
Let’s Get Tough! (1942), Ethelbert 'Muggs' McGinnis
Sunday Punch (1942), Biff
Mr. Wise Guy (1942), Ethelbert 'Muggs' McGinnis
Born to Sing (1942), 'Snap' Collins
Spooks Run Wild (1941) Muggs
Bowery Blitzkrieg (1941), Muggs McGinnin
(also known as Stand and Deliver in the United Kingdom)
Out of the Fog (1941), Eddie
Angels with Broken Wings (1941), Punchy Dorsey
Road to Zanzibar (1941), Boy
Flying Wild (1941), Muggs
Down in San Diego (1941), 'Snap' Collins
Pride of the Bowery (1940), Muggs Maloney
(also known as Here We Go Again)
Gallant Sons (1940), 'Doc' Rearden
Hullabaloo (1940), Apartment house bellhop
That Gang of Mine (1940), Muggs Maloney
Boys of the City (1940), Muggs McGinnis
(also known as The Ghost Creeps)
Invisible Stripes (1939), Jimmy
Private Detective (1939), Newsboy
On Dress Parade (1939), Shirley 'Slip' Duncan
(alternately known as Dead End Kids at Military School or The 'Dead End' Kids 'On Dress Parade')
The Angels Wash Their Faces (1939), Leo 'Mousy' Finnegan
Hell’s Kitchen (1939), Gyp Haller
They Made Me a Criminal (1939), Spit
(also known as I Became a Criminal; They Made Me a Fugitive)
Swingtime in the Movies (1939), 'Crime School' Kid
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Bim
Crime School (1938), Charles 'Spike' Hawkins
The Beloved Brat (1938), Spike Matz
(also known as A Dangerous Affair and A Dangerous Age in the United Kingdom)
Mannequin (1937), Clifford Cassidy
Headin’ East (1937), Boy in gym
Portia on Trial (1937), Joe Gannow
(also known as The Trial of Portia Merriman in the United Kingdom)
Dead End (1937), Spit
Theatre
Dead End (1935), Spit
Sources: http://www.imdb.com
http://www.tv.com