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 most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

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, ...

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, ...

in the McCarthy era. 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 feat ...

s. In the late 1940s, he distinguished himself by directing action movies, melodramas, and films noir. He also directed the 1950 film '' Cyrano de Bergerac'', for which José Ferrer won a

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

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 Ross Hunter (born Martin Terry Fuss; May 6, 1916 or 1920 – March 10, 1996) was an American film and television producer and actor. He is best known for producing light comedies such as '' Pillow Talk'' (1959), and the glamorous melodramas '' ...

, who wanted him to direct '' Pillow Talk'', 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 Gold ...

. 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 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 Mor ...

'' (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 Be ...

'' (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 Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24 ...

(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 we ...

'' (1947) * '' Another Part of the Forest'' (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 back ...

'' (1949) * '' Once More, My Darling'' (1949) * '' Woman in Hiding'' (1949) * '' Cyrano de Bergerac'' (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 l ...

'' (1951) * '' Pillow Talk'' (1959) * '' Portrait in Black'' (1960) * '' Boys' Night Out'' (1962) * '' Move Over, Darling'' (1963) * '' For Love or Money'' (1963) * '' A Very Special Favor'' (1965) * '' Texas Across the River'' (1966) * '' The Impossible Years'' (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