Bernard Gordon (October 29, 1918 – May 11, 2007) was an American writer and
producer
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
. For much of his 27-year career he was prevented from taking screen credit by the Hollywood Blacklist. Among his best-known works are screenplays for ''
Flesh and Fury
''Flesh and Fury'' is a 1952 American film noir drama sport film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Tony Curtis, Jan Sterling and Mona Freeman.Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
''Earth vs. the Flying Saucers'' (a.k.a. ''Invasion of the Flying Saucers'' and ''Flying Saucers from Outer Space'') is a 1956 American science fiction film from Columbia Pictures. It was produced by Charles H. Schneer, directed by Fred F. Sears, ...
'' (1956), and ''
55 Days at Peking
''55 Days at Peking'' is a 1963 American epic historical war film dramatizing the siege of the foreign legations' compounds in Peking (now known as Beijing) during the Boxer Rebellion, which took place in China from 1899 to 1901. It was produc ...
'' (1963).
Biography
Early life
Gordon was born in
New Britain, Connecticut
New Britain is a city in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is located approximately southwest of Hartford. According to 2020 Census, the population of the city is 74,135.
Among the southernmost of the communities encompassed wit ...
to Kitty and William Gordon, Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father managed a hardware store and Gordon grew up in New York City, where he attended the City College.
Professional work
Beginning as a writer for print, Gordon moved to California and got a production job as a script reader, providing written "coverage" of screenplays submitted to studios. A political activist and, briefly in the 1940s, a member of the Communist Party, Gordon helped found the Screen Readers Guild. He married fellow activist Jean Lewin in 1946, one of the organizers of the Hollywood Canteen during the war.
His first produced screenplay was ''
Flesh and Fury
''Flesh and Fury'' is a 1952 American film noir drama sport film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Tony Curtis, Jan Sterling and Mona Freeman.Tony Curtis. A western with Rock Hudson ('' The Lawless Breed'') followed, but Gordon was subpoenaed to testify to the
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...
(HUAC) investigating ''
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
'' influence in Hollywood. Although subpoenaed, Gordon was never called to testify, and thus remained in a legal limbo. His producer, William Alland, had named Gordon in his own testimony to HUAC. A former left-wing sympathizer himself, Alland regularly informed the government about the political leanings of writers with whom he dealt at Universal Pictures.
Pseudonymous work
In 1954, Gordon received an under-the-table assignment from producer Charles Schneer, who worked with Columbia Pictures' low-budget maven Sam Katzman. Gordon adapted a play written by two friends, which became the film '' The Law vs. Billy the Kid''. Schneer employed Gordon many times during the 1950s, memorably as screenwriter of
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
''Earth vs. the Flying Saucers'' (a.k.a. ''Invasion of the Flying Saucers'' and ''Flying Saucers from Outer Space'') is a 1956 American science fiction film from Columbia Pictures. It was produced by Charles H. Schneer, directed by Fred F. Sears, ...
, a low-budget alien-invasion film with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. Gordon worked under the pen name Raymond T. Marcus, a friend who was not in the film business. These low-paying assignments were generally B-level potboilers. Notably, one of the Schneer films was the only feature film to co-star
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
and his wife Nancy Davis, '' Hellcats of the Navy''. Reagan's political views were diametrically opposed to the then-blacklisted Gordon, though after Reagan was elected president he denied blacklisting had occurred despite evidence proving this inaccuracy. Gordon took ironic satisfaction in having written an introduction for the esteemed Admiral Chester Nimitz and having Reagan give voice to his words on film that was broadcast on television during his two terms as president. Another film for which Gordon wrote pseudonymously due to the Black List was '' Zombies of Mora Tau'' (1957).
Success in exile
Through his friendship with writer/entrepreneur Philip Yordan, Gordon found regular work as a writer and producer in Madrid for the Samuel Bronston Productions. At first, however, he was still denied screen credit, with Yordan frequently listing himself as sole author of films like '' Circus World'', '' Battle of the Bulge'', ''
Custer of the West
''Custer of the West'' is a 1967 American Western film directed by Robert Siodmak that presents a highly fictionalised version of the life and death of George Armstrong Custer, starring Robert Shaw as Custer, Robert Ryan, Ty Hardin, Jeffrey Hu ...
55 Days at Peking
''55 Days at Peking'' is a 1963 American epic historical war film dramatizing the siege of the foreign legations' compounds in Peking (now known as Beijing) during the Boxer Rebellion, which took place in China from 1899 to 1901. It was produc ...
'', and the first screen adaptation of '' The Thin Red Line''. As a producer, he made a number of westerns in Spain and the well-received sci-fi thriller '' Horror Express'', co-starring Peter Cushing and
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
. Another film he wrote, ''
Cry of Battle
''Cry of Battle'' is a 1963 American coming-of-age war film based on the 1951 novel '' Fortress in the Rice'' by Benjamin Appel, who was a journalist and special assistant to the U.S. commissioner for the Philippines from 1945-46. The film stars ...
'', was playing at the theater in which Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested by Dallas police on 22 November 1963.
''55 Days at Peking'' contains the first known occurrence of the phrase “Let China sleep. For when she wakes, the world will tremble”, which are often mistakenly attributed to
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
. There, the actress Elizabeth Sellars asks David Niven (who plays the British ambassador in China during the Boxer Rebellion (1900)) if he remembers what Napoleon said about China. Niven then quotes the now-famous phrase that when China rouses from its slumber, all hell will break loose. The quotation is specific to the screenplay by principal scriptwriter, Bernard Gordon, since the remark and attribution do not appear in either the English or French versions of the 1963 book by Noel Gerson (written under the pseudonym Samuel Edwards). It is likely that Bernard Gordon invented the phrase “Let China sleep. For when she wakes, the world will tremble”.
Resurfacing and Retroactive Credits
Returning to the US, Gordon had trouble finding work until his former production secretary in Madrid, Lisa Doty, found him a job in Canada adapting
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...
Beryl Fox
Beryl Fox (born December 10, 1931) is a Canadian documentary film director and film producer.
Biography
Fox was born in 1931 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After graduating from the University of Toronto she was hired by the CBC and worked there from ...
a film
A. Film Production A/S (previously A. Film A/S, A. Film ApS and A. Film I/S) is a Denmark, Danish animation studio currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Affiliated to the Copenhagen studio are A. Film Estonia located in Estonia and A. Film L ...
in 1981.
Gordon's blacklist-era work remained relatively anonymous until journalist Ted Newsom happened upon the man behind the assumed name ''Raymond T. Marcus'' (a name under which Gordon wrote or co-wrote). When the Writers Guild of America took up the task of correctly crediting pseudonymous screenwriters from the 1950s and 1960s, awarding retroactive screen credits to them, Gordon received more after-the-fact credits than any other blacklisted writer. His first film to receive posthumous credit was '' The Day of the Triffids''.
Gordon subsequently wrote two autobiographical books detailing the 20-year surveillance of him by the FBI, and often spoke publicly about his experiences. He helped lead the unsuccessful fight against the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award to
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...
, who cooperated with HUAC during the blacklist era.
Gordon died on May 11, 2007 in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
*''Hollywood Exile, or How I Learned to Love the Blacklist'' (University of Texas Press, 1999)
*The Gordon File: A Screenwriter Recalls Twenty Years of FBI Surveillance (University of Texas Press, 2004)