Born a century ago, Gabriel Marcel Dell Vecchio (1919-1988), known professionally as Gabriel or Gabe Dell.
Dell was a principal cast member of the Dead End Kids/ Little Tough Guys/ East Side Kids/ Bowery Boys from the time of the original Broadway show all the way up until 1950...with time out for World War Two. He was not as prominent in the series as Leo Gorcey or Huntz Hall, however, he stands out, along with Billy Halop, as one of the members of the ensemble who had a much BETTER career than those two stars after the Bowery Boys ended.
In the '50s Dell formed a nightclub act with Huntz Hall for a time, and returned to Broadway in Ankles Aweigh (1955). He then studied at the Actors Studio, a brave thing for him to have done, but it made perfect sense. He appeared in several more plays on Broadway and earned the respect of his peers. He was in June Havoc's Marathon '33 (1963), Sondheim and Laurents' Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Lorraine Hansberry's The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window (1964, in the lead role, and replaced Alan Arkin in Murray Schisgal's Luv (1965), followed by Carl Reiner's Something Different (1967). Later he replaced Peter Falk toward the end of the original run of Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1973). He was on TV, in episodes of Columbo, McCloud, Barney Miller, etc. And has in movies like Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), Earthquake (1974), and The Escape Artist (1982).
Speaking of centuries, it took me one, to put together the guy from Earthquake with the Bowery Boys! That's him, behind Victoria Principal's, um, attributes:
His son, Gabe Dell Jr (b. 1967) is also an actor; he studied at the Actor's Studio, as well.
For more on show biz please see No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, and for more on classic comedy see Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube.
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