David Gorcey

David Gorcey (February 6, 1921 – October 23, 1984) was an American actor born in Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York, the son of Josephine (née Condon) and Bernard Gorcey. His father was a Russian Jewish immigrant and his mother was an Irish Catholic immigrant. He was the younger brother of actor Leo Gorcey.

Gorcey entered the entertainment business during childhood, appearing in vaudeville before transitioning to stage and screen. At age ten, he was signed by Vitaphone studio in New York to co-star in its Penrod and Sam series of short subjects, based on the Booth Tarkington stories, playing Sam Williams opposite Billy Hayes as Penrod Schofield under the name "Dave Gorcey."

His Broadway career spanned 1931 to 1935 and included appearances in Miracle at Verdun and Sidney Kingsley's Dead End. Though not typically counted among the original Dead End Kids, Gorcey held a small role in the 1935 production of Dead End, and it was during this engagement that he helped secure a role for his older brother Leo, who went on to become a star while David remained in supporting parts.

As Dead End became a successful motion picture and its street gang cast became known as the Dead End Kids, other studios sought to produce their own tough-kid films. Because Leo Gorcey was unavailable and costly, David became a more affordable alternative, appearing in films including Juvenile Court (1938), Sergeant Madden (1939), and Carolina Moon (1940). Universal Pictures cast him in its Dead End Kids knockoff series The Little Tough Guys, and he later joined Leo in Monogram Pictures' East Side Kids series, portraying the character "Pee Wee."

His film work was interrupted by service in the U.S. Army during World War II. After returning to civilian life, he was recruited by Leo for Monogram's subsequent series, The Bowery Boys, in which he portrayed "Chuck Anderson." Beginning in 1952, Gorcey performed under the screen name "David Condon," his mother's maiden name, to avoid accusations of nepotism, reverting to his birth name in 1957. Outside the gang series, he appeared in The Babe Ruth Story (1948) and Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950).

In 1956, following the death of their father Bernard Gorcey, David visited Leo's home and encountered Leo in a drunken rampage during which Leo threatened him with a gun. The incident led to an estrangement between the brothers. Later in life, Gorcey became a minister known as "Father David" and founded a halfway house serving recovering alcoholics and people with substance abuse problems. He was married to Dorothea Jocker (Aaron), with whom he had a son, David Jr. Gorcey died on October 23, 1984, in Van Nuys, California, of complications from diabetes.