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Author Topic: Tommy Bond has passed away Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 09-27-2005 07:43 AM                     I've seen several topics on different forums this morning on the passing of Tommy Bond, 'Butch' from the Little Rascals, and Our Gang series of shorts. Can anyone prove this? Did Tommy sing the song in the Warners cartoon, "I Love To Sing-a?"  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-27-2005 10:58 AM                        CNN: Butch of 'Little Rascals' dead  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 09-27-2005 08:23 PM                  quote: Bruce McGee Can anyone prove this? Gosh Bruce, short of viewing the body or digging him up after the funeral, I REALLY don't know how to do that... Ummm I guess I'll have to take the word of the media. He did a lot of VO work in his latter years as well as a ton of bit parts in many films over the years. I always thought he was a QT3.1416 with his pug-nose! RIP Tommy!  |  IP: Logged Bruce McGee Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1776 From: Asheville, NC USA... Nowhere in Particular. Registered: Aug 1999 posted 09-28-2005 06:47 AM                     After seeing some comments about his death elsewhere, and coming to F-T and finding nothing, Thats why I worded it that way. I always liked him better than Alfalfa. I always figured that his charactor would end up in prison one day. The Warners cartoon, I Love To Sing-a, was made in the early 1940's, I believe. People have told me for years that he did the singing voice of Owl Jolson in this one. RIP Tommy Bond  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 09-29-2005 01:06 AM                       My brother told me about Mr. Bond's passing this week. Wasn't he the last living "Our Gang" cast member? He played such a great character as a youngster. Although, in reality, I hear Carl Switzer was the real bad ass. quote: Phil Hill QT3.1416 Good one, Phil!  |  IP: Logged Bill Carter Expert Film Handler Posts: 162 From: Minneapolis, Minnesota Registered: Sep 1999 posted 09-29-2005 10:09 AM                     Gordon "Porky" Lee is still around and fairly active at fan conventions and such.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 09-29-2005 05:20 PM                   |  IP: Logged Erick Akers Arse Kicker Posts: 201 From: Dallas, TX, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 10-02-2005 09:37 PM                     We all remember Butch, but what about Mickey? Robert Blake, wasn't he Mickey? Alive as well!  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 10-06-2005 07:29 AM                       Eh, he was only in that crappy MGM version, so he doesn't count as an "original" Our Gang member.  |  IP: Logged Erick Akers Arse Kicker Posts: 201 From: Dallas, TX, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 10-19-2005 04:17 AM                      |  IP: Logged Bill Carter Expert Film Handler Posts: 162 From: Minneapolis, Minnesota Registered: Sep 1999 posted 10-21-2005 07:45 PM                     Well... no sooner than I post to say he's alive and well, this crossed the news wires today: http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/21/obit.lee.ap/index.html MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (AP) -- Gordon Lee, the chubby child actor who played Spanky McFarland's little brother, "Porky," in "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."  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 10-21-2005 08:33 PM                       Sadly, how ironic. Btw, I just realized Shirley Jean Rickert is alive. She was the little flapper girl, who made eyes at the boys so they'd give her their candy from Mrs. Mack's store, in Helping Grandma. She has a website.  |  IP: Logged Daniel Fuentz Expert Film Handler Posts: 230 From: Fresno, CA, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 10-30-2005 10:29 PM                     I'm a bit late in posting to this, but we did have a very nice piece about him on our newscasts that evening. Tommy worked as a floor director at the station I currently work at for many years after leaving the L.A. area. He was well liked by all who knew him and will be missed.  |  IP: Logged

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