'Little Rascals' Actor Gordon Lee Dies 1 hour, 22 minutes ago http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051021...xw0i_Cs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY- 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. "Before that he felt like he was forgotten," McClain said. "It really made him feel good about himself."
the only episode I really remember was porky and buckwheat puttting firecrackers in alpha's back pocket. the they lit them with a magnifying glass and the sunlight while alpha was reciting "Charge of the Light Brigade" and when he got to "cannon to the left of them", they started popping.
pgabriel, it's Alfalfa! I loved the little rascals. It would be weird seeing several of them all grown up in various comedies. I saw Spanky make a cameo appearance as himself on Cheers once. Stymie appeared on Sanford and Son a few times. I know a few of them died fairly young. I think Darla died in her 40's or 50's. Stymie died in his late 50's I think.
Alfalfa died in the late 50's over 50 dollars. I remeber coming home from school in the late 70's and early 80's and watching them on tv, I loved that show and the Three Stooges.
Heck yeah. I don't know what it is about those old shows. No sexual inuendo, no swearing, no big plotlines, no big controversial episodes to speak of, but they're still fun as hell to watch. I could watch Three Stooges all day long... but then I'm a guy - I think that's a pre-requisite.
Remember this Little Rascals episode? Alfalfa sings (with frog in pocket): "Just an echo... yoo hoo!" ribbit! ribbit! "?!?!...... in the twilight... yoo hoo!" ribbit! ribbit! "?!?!?!?... and it brings back sweet memories of you." I wonder if my kids will have fond memories of today's kid shows as much as I have fond memories of the Little Rascals, The Three Stooges, and the cartoons/shows that I grew up with.
