Bernard Gorcey (9 January 1886 – 11 September 1955) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

-born American actor. He began in

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

, performed on Broadway, and appeared in multiple shorts and films. He portrayed ice cream shop proprietor Louie Dumbrowski in Monogram Pictures'

The Bowery Boys The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 1 ...

series of B movies.

Career

Stage

Early in his career Gorcey found success in

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

roles. Between 1907 and 1937 he played in several stage productions, including ''Tom Jones'' (1912), ''What Ails You?'' (1918), ''Somebody's Sweetheart'' (1920) (as "A Mysterious Conspirator"), ''Always You'' (1922) (as "Isaac Cohen"), ''

Abie's Irish Rose ''Abie's Irish Rose'' is a popular comedy by Anne Nichols, which premiered in 1922. Initially a Broadway play, it has become familiar through repeated stage productions, films and radio programs. The basic premise involves an Irish Catholic g ...

'' (1923), ''Wildflower'' (1925) (as "Gaston La Roche"), ''

Song of the Flame ''Song of the Flame'' is a 1930 American pre-Code musical film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was produced and distributed by First National Pictures. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence, using a process called ...

'' (1927) (as “Count Boris”), ''Cherry Blossoms'' (1930) (as "George Washington Goto"), ''Pressing Business'' (1931), ''Joy of Living'' (1931), ''Wonder Boy'' (1932) (as "Commodore Cohen"), ''Keeping Expenses Down'' (1935) (as "Kent J. Goldstein"), ''Creeping Fire'' (1935) (as "Mr. Goodman"), and ''Satellite'' (1937) (as "Max Goldblatz"). The most successful show of Gorcey’s theatrical career was ''Abie’s Irish Rose''.

Radio and film

He also performed some

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

work for the '' Popeye Show''. At 42 years old, he began working in movies. From 1928 until 1955, he appeared in 67 movies, with minor roles with both Monogram and

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Forty-four of these were with sons Leo and

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

The East Side Kids The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. Many of them were originally part of The Dead End Kids and The Little Tough Guys, and several of them later became members of The ...

and

film series. Between 1946 and 1955, there were between four and five Bowery Boys movies annually, with Bernard playing the role of Louie Dumbrowski, the owner of a sweet shop where the Bowery Boys would hang out, usually getting free sodas while planning their next escapade, much to Dumbrowski's displeasure. He also appeared as Charlie Chaplin's meek Jewish neighbor Mr. Mann in the film classic ''

The Great Dictator ''The Great Dictator'' is a 1940 American anti-war political satire black comedy film written, directed, produced, scored by, and starring British comedian Charlie Chaplin, following the tradition of many of his other films. Having been the o ...

'' (1940).

Personal life

Gorcey married Josephine Condon (1897-1975) in 1914 and had 3 sons: Leo, David, and Fred. On 31 August 1955, he crashed his car into a bus on 4th & LaBrea Avenue in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. He died from his injuries on 11 September.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorcey, Bernard 1886 births 1955 deaths American male radio actors American male film actors Vaudeville performers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Road incident deaths in California