Michael Gordon (born Irving Kunin Gordon; September 6, 1909 – April 29, 1993) was an American stage actor and stage and film director.
Life and career
Gordon was born in
Baltimore, Maryland
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
to Jewish parents: Paul Luis Gordon (1876-1957), who was born in Lithuania, and Eva "Rachel" Kuhen (1885-1940), who was born in Russia.
Michael was the second of three boys born to the Gordon family; first born was Bertram Ira Gordon (1914-1985), who was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, and the third born was Leo Allenby Gordon (1919-2005).
Michael Gordon was a member of the
Group Theatre (1935–1940), and was
blacklist
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, t ...
ed as a
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 ...
in the
McCarthy era
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
.
He later joined the faculty of the UCLA Theater Department. Gordon summered at
Pine Brook Country Club
Pine Brook Country Club is a private lake association in Nichols, Connecticut, a village within the Town of Trumbull. It began when Benjamin Plotkin purchased Pinewood Lake and the surrounding countryside on Mischa Hill. Plotkin built an audito ...
in Nichols, Connecticut. Pinebrook is best known for becoming the summer home of the Group Theatre.
As a result of being blacklisted, Gordon's Hollywood career fell into two phases. In 1940, he started as a dialogue director and directed
B-movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...
s. In the late 1940s, he distinguished himself by directing action movies, melodramas, and
films noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American '' ...
. He also directed the 1950 film ''
Cyrano de Bergerac
Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist.
A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...
'', for which
José Ferrer
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors during his lifetime, w ...
won a
Best Actor Academy Award.
After being blacklisted, he was forced to stop directing films temporarily, but was called back to Hollywood at the end of the 1950s by producer
Ross Hunter, who wanted him to direct ''
Pillow Talk
Pillow talk is the relaxed, intimate conversation that often occurs between two sexual partners, sometimes after sexual activity, usually accompanied by cuddling, caresses, kissing, and other physical intimacy. It is associated with honesty, se ...
'', a vehicle for
Doris Day
Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...
and
Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golde ...
. Gordon's second creative phase was concerned with light-hearted, comedy films.
Gordon and his wife Elizabeth Cohn had three children: Jonathan, Jane (mother of actor
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt (; born February 17, 1981) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his leading performances ...
), and Susannah.
Filmography
(Per
AFI
AFI may refer to:
* ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol
* Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer
* AFI (band), an American rock band
** ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective album by AFI rele ...
database)
* ''
Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood
''Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood'' is a 1942 American crime film, fourth of the fourteen Boston Blackie films of the 1940s Columbia's series of B pictures based on Jack Boyle's pulp-fiction character.
Plot summary
Boston Blackie (Chester Morris ...
'' (1942)
* ''
Underground Agent
''Underground Agent'' is a 1942 American drama film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Bruce Bennett, Leslie Brooks, Frank Albertson, and Julian Rivero. The film was released by Columbia Pictures.
Plot
Two U.S. government agents (Bruce Ben ...
'' (1942)
* ''
Crime Doctor'' (1943)
* ''
One Dangerous Night
''One Dangerous Night'' (1943) (also known as ''The Lone Wolf Goes to a Party'') is the tenth Lone Wolf film produced by Columbia Pictures. It features Warren William in his seventh and second-to-last performance as the protagonist jewel thief tu ...
(1943)
* ''
Crime Doctor (1943)
* ''
The Web
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
'' (1947)
* ''
Another Part of the Forest
''Another Part of the Forest'' is a 1946 play by Lillian Hellman, a prequel to her 1939 drama ''The Little Foxes''.
Plot synopsis
Set in the fictional town of Bowden, Alabama, in June 1880, the plot focuses on the wealthy, ruthless, and innatel ...
'' (1948)
* ''
An Act of Murder
''An Act of Murder'' (also known as ''Live Today for Tomorrow'' and ''I Stand Accused'') is a 1948 American film noir directed by Michael Gordon and starring Fredric March, Edmond O'Brien, Florence Eldridge, and Geraldine Brooks. It was ent ...
'' (1948)
* ''
The Lady Gambles
''The Lady Gambles'' is a 1949 American film noir drama film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Preston and Stephen McNally.
Plot
When his estranged wife Joan is found badly beaten after using loaded dice in a ba ...
'' (1949)
* ''
Once More, My Darling
''Once More, My Darling'' is a 1949 American comedy film directed by and starring Robert Montgomery and Ann Blyth. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Recording ( Leslie I. Carey).
Plot
Collier "Collie" Laing, a confirm ...
'' (1949)
* ''
Woman in Hiding
''Woman in Hiding'' is a 1950 American film noir crime film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Ida Lupino, Stephen McNally and Howard Duff.
Plot
Deborah Chandler Clark watches police drag a North Carolina river for her body. She recounts ...
'' (1949)
* ''
Cyrano de Bergerac
Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist.
A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...
'' (1950)
* ''
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
''I Can Get It for You Wholesale'' is a musical, produced by David Merrick, music and lyrics by Harold Rome, and book by Jerome Weidman, based on his 1937 novel of the same title. It marked the Broadway debut of 19-year-old Barbra Streisand ...
'' (1951)
* ''
The Secret of Convict Lake
''The Secret of Convict Lake'' is a 1951 American Western film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore and Zachary Scott. The film was a critical and commercial success. The story is fiction, based on ...
'' (1951)
* ''
Pillow Talk
Pillow talk is the relaxed, intimate conversation that often occurs between two sexual partners, sometimes after sexual activity, usually accompanied by cuddling, caresses, kissing, and other physical intimacy. It is associated with honesty, se ...
'' (1959)
* ''
Portrait in Black
''Portrait in Black'' is a 1960 American neo-noir melodrama film directed by Michael Gordon, and starring Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn. Produced by Ross Hunter, the film was based on the play of the same by name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, w ...
'' (1960)
* ''
Boys' Night Out'' (1962)
* ''
Move Over, Darling
''Move Over, Darling'' is a 1963 American comedy film starring Doris Day, James Garner, and Polly Bergen and directed by Michael Gordon filmed in DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope released by 20th Century Fox.
The film is a remake of a 1940 screw ...
'' (1963)
* ''
For Love or Money'' (1963)
* ''
A Very Special Favor
''A Very Special Favor'' is a 1965 romantic comedy film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Rock Hudson and Leslie Caron.
Plot
Paul Chadwick (Hudson) is a wealthy American oilman who is in a Parisian court, where he is up against the oppo ...
'' (1965)
* ''
Texas Across the River
Texas Across The River is a 1966 American Techniscope comedy western film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Dean Martin, Alain Delon, Rosemary Forsyth and Joey Bishop.
Plot
Phoebe Ann Naylor is about to be wed to Don Andrea Baldazar, ...
'' (1966)
* ''
The Impossible Years
''The Impossible Years'' is a 1965 comedy play written by Robert Fisher and Arthur Marx, son of comedian Groucho Marx. After two previews, the Broadway production, directed by Arthur Storch, opened on October 13, 1965, at the Playhouse Theatre, w ...
'' (1968)
* ''
How Do I Love Thee?'' (1970)
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Michael
1909 births
1993 deaths
American male stage actors
American theatre directors
Jewish American male actors
Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery
Hollywood blacklist
Artists from Baltimore
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television faculty
Film directors from Maryland
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American Jews