Full Name Eugene Lee Name Eugene Lee | Years active 1935–1939 Occupation Child actor | |
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Cause of death Lung cancerBrain cancer Other names Gordon LeeEugene Gordon Lee Movies Bored of Education, Our Gang Follies of 1938, The Awful Tooth, Spooky Hooky, Our Gang Follies of 1936 Similar People Billie Thomas, Sidney Kibrick, Hal Roach, Billy Laughlin, Gordon Douglas | ||
Eugene Gordon Lee (October 25, 1933 – October 16, 2005) was an American child actor, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang (Little Rascals) comedies as Porky from 1935 to 1939. During his tenure in Our Gang, Porky originated the catchphrase "O-tay!", though it is commonly attributed to Buckwheat.
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Biography
Lee was born in Fort Worth, Texas as Eugene Lee, and was adopted.
Our Gang
Lee got his break in motion pictures in 1935, after producer Hal Roach noted how much the eighteen-month-old toddler looked like Our Gang star Spanky McFarland, also from Texas. The Lee family traveled from Texas to Culver City, California, and Eugene Lee, nicknamed "Porky" by the studio, joined the cast as Spanky's little brother.
Porky appeared in forty-two Our Gang comedies over four years. Lee, McFarland, and Our Gang co-stars Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, and Darla Hood constituted what is today the most familiar incarnation of Our Gang.
This group moved from Hal Roach Studios to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938 after Roach sold the series. When Lee grew several inches in height during early 1939 (to the point that the five-year-old was the same height as ten-year-old McFarland), MGM replaced him with Mickey Gubitosi, later better known by the stage name of Robert Blake.
Later years
After leaving the series, Lee retired from motion pictures, and entered public school. As an adult, he became an alternative school educator at Broomfield High School in Colorado. Lee changed his name and began going by Gordon Lee (naming himself after his favorite Our Gang director, Gordon Douglas) to avoid any correlation with his former acting career.
After retiring, Lee moved to Minnesota to be closer to his son Douglas. In the early 1980s, Lee began appearing at Little Rascals reunions and began a business selling "Porky"-related merchandise. Finally embracing his past, Lee was known to tell Our Gang fans "we are relics of history."
Death
On October 16, 2005 after battling lung cancer and brain cancer, he died at the age of 71, nine days before his 72nd birthday.