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.
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