The origin of this phrase (AFAIK) lies in the 1949 juvenile delinquent movie Knock on Any Door, starring Humphrey Bogart as Andrew Morton, the conscience-striken lawyer, and John Derek as Pretty Boy Romano, the young punk. As a thug in a street gang and eventually as a career criminal, Romano lived by the motto,
"I wanna live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful corpse!"
While representing Romano during his murder trial, Morton decides that given the terrible conditions in the slums, it was inevitable that Romano would turn to a life of crime. "Knock on any door," Morton argues to the jury, "and you'll find another potential Pretty Boy Romano."