Leo's parents were actor Bernard Gorcey (born 1888) who stood 4'10", and Josephine Condon (born 1901) who stood 4'11" and weighed 95 pounds; they worked in Vaudeville in New York. In 1915, 14-year-old Josephine gave birth to Fred. In 1917, Leo was born, a large baby at 12 lbs, 3 oz; as an adult he would be 5'6". In 1921, David was born.
In 1935, Leo and David starred in the stage play "Dead End." In 1937 this was made into a movie, and Leo would be one of the busiest actors for the next 20 years: from 1937-1939 he starred in 7 Dead End Kids movies, from 1940-1945 in 21 East
… More Side Kids films, from 1946-1956 in 41 Bowery Boys movies. A staple in all these Bowery Boys movies was Leo's father, Bernard Gorcey, who portrayed Louie the Sweet Shop owner. When Bernard died in September 1955, Leo decided to quit the Bowery Boys series in 1956; his movie career was over at age 39.
Wives:
On May 16, 1939*, Leo married 17-year-old dancer Kay Marvis, who would appear in 4 of his movies. They divorced in 1944 after 5 years of marriage; Kay would go on to marry Groucho Marx. (Leo had worked with Groucho on the radio program "Pabst Blue Ribbon Town." As for Groucho taking his lady, Leo quipped, "I have always figured that if a guy could take your wife away, he was automatically your best friend." However, when Leo had to keep paying community property settlement checks, even though Groucho was making more money than he, Leo visited Groucho in person. But then Groucho quipped that he refused to become involved in his wife's personal affairs. Kay Marvis divorced Groucho in 1951.)
On October 24, 1945, Leo married 26-year-old Evalene "Penny" Bankston. On February 29, 1948, Penny filed for divorce. (In those days, a contested divorce could take 6-10 months to be finalized; and they were still legally married until the divorce became final.) Leo was to have paid her $50,000 in a divorce settlement. However, Penny figured that if she got proof that Leo was fooling around, she could increase her divorce settlement. In the late summer, one night around 2 a.m., Penny and 3 armed private detectives broke into Leo's home. (In his autobiography many years later, Leo admitted he was fooling around with Amelita that night.) Leo grabbed a pistol and fired 6 shots at the intruders-- fortunately, since he'd never used a pistol before, he missed everybody; he hit the ceiling and a lamp. (Amelita climbed out the back window.) Leo countersued for illegal entry and won $35,000 back.
In December 1948*, urban legend has it Leo Gorcey eloped with Amelita Ward, whom he met during filming of the Bowery Boys movie "Smugglers' Cove" (released in October 1948); tagging along was Huntz Hall, who was eloping with showgirl Leslie Wright-- they all went to Mexico City. Both of the Bowery Boys had more formal weddings later: Leo had a formal wedding with Amelita in Ensenada, Mexico, on February 12, 1949; and Huntz had a more formal wedding with Leslie in Las Vegas in February 1949. Leo Gorcey's first son, Leo, Jr., was born around September 7, 1949. Leo and Amelita had a baby girl they named Jan (after Leo's producer, Mr. Jan Grippo) in 1951. They divorced in 1956.
In 1956, Leo married the young nanny, Brandy, who was taking care of his two kids. They had a baby girl, Brandy Jo, in 1960. 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.
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*[Leo B. Gorcey had a belt buckle made, in which his initials, L.B.G., spelled out "Love Broke Gorcey." It had his wives names and their marriage dates on it: Kay-38, Penny-45, Lita-48, Brandy-56. This indicates he had eloped with Kay in 1938 before their formal marriage in 1939; and with Amelita in 1948 before their formal marriage in 1949.]
[some of this information came from Leo Gorcey's autobiography, "An Original Dead End Kid Presents: Dead End Yells, Wedding Bells, Cockle Shells and Dizzy Spells" (1967).]
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