Biography
Leo Gorcey was an actor who spent most of his 30 on-screen years as the leader of the fictional gangs The Dead End Kids, The East End Kids, and The Bowery Boys. His father, Bernard Gorcey, was a vaudeville veteran and character actor, instigating Leo's acting career by recommending that he audition for the play "Dead End," which led to a small part (and subsequently a bigger one) when it was turned into a 1937 Samuel Goldwyn film starring Humphrey Bogart. Gorcey and his fellow street cronies, including Bobby Jordan and Huntz Hall, became the Dead End Kids, and together, they made several more films through the end of the decade, peaking with the 1938 film-noir "Angels with Dirty Faces," starring James Cagney and Bogart. By 1940, the Dead End Kids became The East End Kids, with Gorcey's Muggs McGinnis and crew often appearing as the stars of the film--though they had traded greater visibility for B-movie quality, usually romance comedies. The 1946 crime comedy "Live Wires" marked yet another turn, with Gorcey becoming Terence "Slip" Mahoney, head of The Bowery Boys. Working with long-time collaborator Hall, and often with his dad Bernard in supporting parts, Gorcey made roughly 40 more films. His father's death in '55 took the wind out of Gorcey's sails, and The Bowery Boys came to an end with the production of the action comedy "Crashing Las Vegas" in 1956. Gorcey passed away from liver failure at age 51.
