Leo Gorcey's parents were actor 'Bernard Gorcey' 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 Peppers 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.
When Gorcey was making one of his few non-Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys films, 1941s Out of the Fog , 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 - "Dont 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, Im 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: "Whos Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 188-189. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
He 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 Leos 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.
He and his agent, Jan Grippo, owned "The Bowery Boys" franchise being produced at Monogram. Dispite his b-movie status, this supposedly made him one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. Grippo was credited as producer until he left the series in 1951 following the death of his wife.
During filming of Crashing Las Vegas , Gorcey was so despondent over his fathers death that he was often drank heavily between takes and had to be literally carried off the set by crew members.
[about his father acting in the Bowery Boys movies] I think he was the,best actor of the whole group. Where Papa was concerned, he was great.
[observation, as a five-times-married man] Kids have a habit of marrying,their first date and spending an awful lot of time wondering what the,other dates would have been like. I never made that mistake. I married,them all. .
