Bobby Jordan
Acting • Born 1923-04-01 – Died 1965-09-10
Biography
Though he was the youngest, Jordan was the first of the boys who made up the Dead End Kids to work in films with a role in a 1933 Universal short. In 1935, he became one of the original Dead End Kids by winning the role of Angel in Sydney Kingsley's Broadway drama Dead End about life in the slums of the east side of New York City. The play was performed at the Belasco Theatre and ran for three years with over 600 performances. He appeared for the first season and the beginning of the second but left in mid-November 1936. He returned in time to join the others in 1937 in Hollywood, California to make the movie version of the play, starring big names such as Humphrey Bogart, Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney, and Claire Trevor. Following the making of Dead End, Jordan found himself "released" from his contract at Goldwyn, and, subsequently, he appeared at Warner Brothers with the rest of the Dead End Kids. After one year, Warners released most of them, but kept Leo Gorcey and Jordan as solo performers. Jordan appeared (as "Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom") in Warner's Damon Runyon comedy A Slight Case of Murder (1938) and at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Young Tom Edison (1940). In 1940, Jordan appeared in the film Military Academy and accepted an offer from producer Sam Katzman to star in a new tough-kid series called "The East Side Kids." Leo Gorcey soon joined him, then Huntz Hall, and the trio continued to lead the series through 1943, when Jordan entered the United States Army during World War II as a foot soldier in the 97th Infantry Division. He was subsequently involved in an elevator accident, when the elevator fell five floors, that forced him to have surgery to remove his right kneecap.
Filmography
70 credits
High Tor
Movie • 1956
3rd Sailor
Kid Dynamite
Movie • 1943
Danny Lions
Let's Get Tough
Movie • 1942
Danny Connors
Mr. Wise Guy
Movie • 1942
Danny Collins
Pride of the Bowery
Movie • 1940
Danny
They Made Me a Criminal
Movie • 1939
Angel
Dust Be My Destiny
Movie • 1939
Jimmy Glenn
Reformatory
Movie • 1938
Pinkey Leonard
A Slight Case of Murder
Movie • 1938
Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom
Dead End
Movie • 1937
Angel
Angels with Dirty Faces
Movie • 1938
Swing
Spooks Run Wild
Movie • 1941
Danny
Bowery Blitzkrieg
Movie • 1941
Danny Breslin
The Man Is Armed
Movie • 1956
Thorne (as Bob Jordan)
Ghosts on the Loose
Movie • 1943
Danny
Spook Busters
Movie • 1946
Bobby
Crime School
Movie • 1938
Lester 'Squirt' Smith
Boys of the City
Movie • 1940
Danny Dolan
Flying Wild
Movie • 1941
Danny Graham
Bowery Bombshell
Movie • 1946
Bobby
Bowery Buckaroos
Movie • 1947
Bobby
Angels Wash Their Faces
Movie • 1939
Bernie Smith
Smart Alecks
Movie • 1942
Danny Stevens
Treasure of Monte Cristo
Movie • 1949
Tony Torecelli
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Movie • 1991
Danny (archive footage)
Swingtime in the Movies
Movie • 1938
Crime School Kid (uncredited)
Hell's Kitchen
Movie • 1939
Joel "Joey" Richards
In Fast Company
Movie • 1946
Bobby
On Dress Parade
Movie • 1939
Cadet Ronny Morgan
Off the Record
Movie • 1939
Mickey Fallon
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4
Movie • 1942
Self
'Neath Brooklyn Bridge
Movie • 1942
Danny Lyons
Adventures of the Flying Cadets
Movie • 1943
Jinx Roberts
Give Us Wings
Movie • 1940
Rap
Mr. Hex
Movie • 1946
Bobby
My Bill
Movie • 1938
Reginald Colbrook
The Matchmaking Marshal
Movie • 1955
Steven 'Steve' Manson
You're Not So Tough
Movie • 1940
Rap
Kid Millions
Movie • 1934
Tourist (uncredited)
Young Tom Edison
Movie • 1940
Joe 'Joey' Dingle
That Gang of Mine
Movie • 1940
Danny Dolan
Clancy Street Boys
Movie • 1943
Danny
Junior Army
Movie • 1942
Jockey
Bowery Champs
Movie • 1944
Bobby Jordan
Live Wires
Movie • 1946
Bobby
News Hounds
Movie • 1947
Bobby
Keep 'Em Slugging
Movie • 1943
Tommy
Secret of Outlaw Flats
Movie • 1953
Sandy Smith
Destroyer
Movie • 1943
Sobbing Sailor
Hard Boiled Mahoney
Movie • 1947
Bobby
The Eddie Cantor Story
Movie • 1953
Customer
Military Academy
Movie • 1940
Dick Hill
The Beginning or the End
Movie • 1947
Radioman on Tinian Receiving A-Bomb Message
Classic Comedy Teams
Movie • 1986
The East Side Kids (archive footage)
Dragnet
TV • 1951
Rawhide
TV • 1959
The Millionaire
TV • 1955
Press Agent
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Boy at Piano
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
TV • 1957
Connie Thorpe
M Squad
TV • 1957
Car Lot Employee
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
TV • 1951
Casey Jones
TV • 1957
Billy Mapes
Maverick
TV • 1957
Willy
Route 66
TV • 1960
Garage Attendant (uncredited)
Maverick
TV • 1957
Bank Teller (uncredited)
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Auto Mechanic (uncredited)
Bonanza
TV • 1959
Thug #2
The Odd Couple
TV • 1970
Doris Atkins
Boston Blackie
TV • 1951
Waiter (uncredited)
Highway Patrol
TV • 1955
Ed