Cast & creator
Bobby Jordan
Best known for Bonanza, Maverick, Maverick
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.
Also known as: Bob Jordan, Robert Jordon, Robert G. Jordan
54
film credits
17
television credits
71
1934–1991 · acting roles
6.5
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (71)
Showing 71 of 71 credits
Bonanza
Thug #2
1959
Maverick
Willy
1957Maverick
Bank Teller (uncredited)
1957
Dragnet
1951
Rawhide
1959
Route 66
Garage Attendant (uncredited)
1960
The Odd Couple
Doris Atkins
1970
77 Sunset Strip
Auto Mechanic (uncredited)
1958
Highway Patrol
Ed
1955
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Connie Thorpe
1957
M Squad
Car Lot Employee
1957
The Millionaire
Press Agent
1955
The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
1951The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok
Conductor
1951Lux Video Theatre
Boy at Piano
1950
Boston Blackie
Waiter (uncredited)
1951
Casey Jones
Billy Mapes
1957
Angels with Dirty Faces
Swing
1938
Dead End
Angel
1937
A Slight Case of Murder
Douglas Fairbanks Rosenbloom
1938
They Made Me a Criminal
Angel
1939
Young Tom Edison
Joe 'Joey' Dingle
1940
The Beginning or the End
Radioman on Tinian Receiving A-Bomb Message
1947
Reformatory
Pinkey Leonard
1938
Live Wires
Bobby
1946
Angels Wash Their Faces
Bernie Smith
1939
Junior Army
Jockey
1942
Swingtime in the Movies
Crime School Kid (uncredited)
1938
Dust Be My Destiny
Jimmy Glenn
1939
Treasure of Monte Cristo
Tony Torecelli
1949
Destroyer
Sobbing Sailor
1943
Spooks Run Wild
Danny
1941
Crime School
Lester 'Squirt' Smith
1938
The Man Is Armed
Thorne (as Bob Jordan)
1956
Hell's Kitchen
Joel "Joey" Richards
1939
The Eddie Cantor Story
Customer
1953
Adventures of the Flying Cadets
Jinx Roberts
1943
Mr. Wise Guy
Danny Collins
1942
Ghosts on the Loose
Danny
1943
Secret of Outlaw Flats
Sandy Smith
1953
Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook
Danny (archive footage)
1991
Let's Get Tough
Danny Connors
1942
Give Us Wings
Rap
1940
That Gang of Mine
Danny Dolan
1940
Boys of the City
Danny Dolan
1940
You're Not So Tough
Rap
1940
Classic Comedy Teams
The East Side Kids (archive footage)
1986
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 4
Self
1942
My Bill
Reginald Colbrook
1938
Off the Record
Mickey Fallon
1939
The Matchmaking Marshal
Steven 'Steve' Manson
1955
Pride of the Bowery
Danny
1940
On Dress Parade
Cadet Ronny Morgan
1939
Kid Millions
Tourist (uncredited)
1934
Kid Dynamite
Danny Lions
1943
Mr. Hex
Bobby
1946
Keep 'Em Slugging
Tommy
1943
In Fast Company
Bobby
1946
Hard Boiled Mahoney
Bobby
1947
Flying Wild
Danny Graham
1941
Bowery Blitzkrieg
Danny Breslin
1941
High Tor
3rd Sailor
1956
Bowery Buckaroos
Bobby
1947
Clancy Street Boys
Danny
1943
News Hounds
Bobby
1947
Spook Busters
Bobby
1946
Bowery Bombshell
Bobby
1946
Military Academy
Dick Hill
1940
Smart Alecks
Danny Stevens
1942
'Neath Brooklyn Bridge
Danny Lyons
1942
Bowery Champs
Bobby Jordan
1944