Gordon Lee, Our Gang's ‘Porky,’ dies at 71

Actor scored his role as a chubby 2-year-old, then got thin and lost it

Roger Gillette / AP	Gordon Lee, who earned his fame as "Porky" in more than three dozen "Little Rascals" comedies, is seen in a 2004 photo. He died Sunday in a Minneapolis nursing home after battling lung and brain cancer, according to Janice McClain, his partner of 13 years.

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updated 4:25 p.m. ET Oct. 21, 2005

MINNEAPOLIS - The former child actor who played Spanky McFarland’s chubby little brother “Porky” in “Little Rascals” comedies has died.

Gordon Lee was 71.

Lee died Sunday in a Minneapolis nursing home after battling lung and brain cancer, according to Janice McClain, his partner of 13 years.

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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 became known as “The Little Rascals” when shown on TV.

In a 1998 interview with the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, the Texas-born Lee said he was two years old when his mother sent his picture to studio executives who were seeking an actor to play McFarland’s brother.

Said Lee: “Fat kid got lucky.”

He said he lost the part when he got too skinny.