Posted on 10/21/2005 1:45:02 PM PDT by Borges
MINNEAPOLIS Oct 21, 2005 — Gordon Lee, the chubby child actor who played Spanky McFarland's little brother Porky in the "Little Rascals" comedies, has died. He was 71.
Lee died Sunday in a Minneapolis nursing home after battling lung and brain cancer, said Janice McClain, his partner of 13 years.
Lee played one of the younger members in the "Our Gang" shorts in the 1930s, appearing in more than 40 of them from 1935 to 1939. The comedies, produced by Hal Roach, became known as "The Little Rascals" when shown on TV in the 1950s.
Among the films Lee appeared in were "Bored of Education," which won the Oscar for best one-reel short subject in 1937; "Our Gang Follies of 1936"; "The Awful Tooth"; and "Roamin' Holiday."
In a 1998 interview with the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, the Texas-born Lee said he was 2 years old when his mother sent his picture to studio executives who were seeking an actor to play McFarland's brother.
"We were on the next train to L.A. and I had a contract within a few days," Lee said. "Fat kid got lucky."
"My memories are not about making movies. We played with our toys and the adults played with theirs (the cameras)," he said.
He and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas teamed up against older boys Spanky and Alfalfa in many of the comedies. The Porky character is credited with originating the catchphrase "otay."
In the interview, Lee recalled a warm friendship with his black costar when they were kids and praised their interracial relationship on screen, saying, "Buckwheat played an absolute equal part in the Gang."
Lee told friends his career ended when a growth spurt made him thinner. "They wanted Porky to be a chunky fellow, so they looked for someone else," McClain said.
He was born Eugene Lee in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1933. His adoptive parents began calling him Gordon after Gordon Douglas, who directed many of the films Lee appeared in. He kept the first name as an adult.
Lee was a schoolteacher, living in Colorado for a time. He moved to Minnesota after he retired to be closer to his only son, Douglas, said a friend, Tracy Tolzmann. In recent years, Lee sold autographed photos of himself as Porky, Tolzmann and McClain said.
bump
RIP
(Meanwhile, Little Rascal Mickey stalks the streets still, free to kill again...)
We lost Butch not too long ago, now Porky.
http://www.cyranos.ch/ourgstar.htm
Mickey still has his "eye on the sparrow as the going gets narrow."
RIP Porky......I loved to watch the Little Rascals when I got home from school....
so sad, that is 2 "Our Gang" members in a month?
Aaaaaaaaaand how!
Bye, bye Porky.
Wookin fo Wuv in all da wong pwayces...
ROFL
Robert F. "Wheezer" Hutchins
Birth: Mar. 29, 1925
Death: May. 17, 1945
Actor. He played "Wheezer" on Our Gang for more than five years. Killed during the last thirty minutes of his basic training at Merced Army Air Corps Field when he crashed when coming in for a landing.
Cause of death: Plane accident
(In search of minutiae). Whatever became of the kid who "croaked" (spoke like he literally had a frog in his throat). His name in the series was ??? In real life?
In the series it was Froggy.
R.I.P. Thanks for the great childhood memories. It was like I was part of "Their Gang".
Carl Dean Switzer ("Alfalfa"): Appeared in 61 installments. Worked at playing bit parts in film and television, tending bar, and serving as a hunting guide. Shot to death at age 31 in a dispute over a $50 debt.
Who would think that Alfalfa would grow up to be such a bad ass? The last film I remember seeing him in was "Its a Wonderful Life."
Stymie was the greatest!
ummmm... froggy???
But perhaps the biggest reason for the series' sharp decline after Roach sold it to MGM was the performances of the actors who populated it. The main carryovers from the Roach era were getting older: Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Porky, Buckwheat, Butch, and Waldo. Much of their appeal faded as they crept towards adolescence—Even our hero Alfalfa, the oldest of the group, began to effect a sort of shrill, over-the-top manner in many of his performances. To make matters worse, the younger actors introduced to the series— the "new breed" who were anointed as the next generation of Rascals stars— simply weren't very appealing. One of these characters was named "Froggy" for his weird, raspy, Popeye-like voice (which was not, by the way, the result of any special sound effects: it was really the young man's voice) Froggy was played by an actor named William Laughlin. Under more skillful direction and better stories, Froggy coulda been a contender, but it was not to be. The character of Froggy is, to us, the MGM years' main archetype, and it is Froggy after whom this section is named.
He was a badass as a kid as well. Directors of those old shorts have said that if given permission by his parents at the time they would have whipped the tar out of him.
I saw a documentary on him; he became a violent bully.
When Our Gang stopped production in 1944, Laughlin voluntarily moved away from show business and enjoyed relatively peaceful teenage years until he was hit and killed by a truck in La Puente, California while riding a motor-scooter at the age of 16.
Porky wasn't Spanky's little brother as far as I recall.
Dickie was Spanky's older brother.
Lee's replacement in the Little Rascals films: Robert Blake.
That was due to all the bullying by Butch.
Why does your link say "Faults" when you can read what happened to them and see that it was true?
I agree 100%
His trademark bowler was actually a gift from comedian Stan Laurel, which accounts for its oversize.
No, that was my PE Class...
I knew it somehow had the be. . .
Butch's Fault!
Left to right: Alfalfa, Darla, Spanky, Buckwheat (or is that Farina?), Porky. Is this the one where Alfalfa tries to sing a sone w/ a frog in his throat/pocket...Love in Bloom?
BUMP
I grew up watching these films every Sunday after getting home from Sunday School.
Hey, thanks. We live about 45 minutes away from what is now called Castle AFB and love going there to look over their Plane collection (SR71 is a favorite). Had no idea that "Wheezer" met his end there. We'll have to remember his service next time we go. Thanks again.
“oh tay Stymiey, oh tay Spankey, oh tay Buckwheat”!
He also had a part as the copilot in the Coast Guard plane in "The High and the Mighty'.
I loved the Little Rascals when I was a child...and my hubby has recently ordered a lot of Little Rascals DVDs to enjoy in our retirement years...its sad to realize that most of those little kids are now gone...
LOL!
Wasn't expecting to read it on this thread, but just have to accept that it applies everywhere:)
Fonce
Tice
Fee Times a Maby.....
And funny enough, my PE teacher in HS that we could have sworn was, well, not the marrying type, up and married and had a buncha rugrats.
Heck, I like to watch them now.
Always out smarting the others.
I can make ham and eggs talk to each other!
Stymie you can't have any candy, I knows it. Stymie gets all the the candy.
...To that big club house in the sky....
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