Barbara Gordon (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Loeb) is an American documentary filmmaker and author. She worked on the PBS Emmy Award-winning series

The Great American Dream Machine ''The Great American Dream Machine'' was a weekly satirical variety television series, produced in New York City by WNET and broadcast on PBS from 1971 to 1972. The program was hosted by humorist and commentator Marshall Efron. Other notable cast ...

, where she filmed segments on

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1985 for ''The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral histor ...

Dalton Trumbo James Dalton Trumbo (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter who scripted many award-winning films, including ''Roman Holiday'' (1953), '' Exodus'', ''Spartacus'' (both 1960), and '' Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo'' (194 ...

, and

Jane Fonda Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress and activist. Recognized as a film icon, Jane Fonda filmography, Fonda's work spans several genres and over six decades of film and television. She is the recipient of List of a ...

. After graduating from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

, she worked for almost 20 years in television as a writer and producer. In 1979, Gordon released her autobiography ''I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can'', which follows her addiction to

Valium Diazepam, sold under the brand name Valium among others, is a medicine of the benzodiazepine family that acts as an anxiolytic. It is used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety, seizures, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, muscle spas ...

and battle toward recovery. A film adaptation, directed by

Jack Hofsiss John Bernard Hofsiss (September 28, 1950 – September 13, 2016) was an American theatre, film, and television director. He received a Tony Award for his direction of ''The Elephant Man'' on Broadway, the youngest director to have ever receive ...

and starring

Jill Clayburgh Jill Clayburgh (April 30, 1944 – November 5, 2010) was an American actress known for her work in theater, television, and cinema. She received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actr ...

as Gordon, was released in 1982."I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can"
Imdb.com. Retrieved 2012-10-22.

Career

After graduating from Barnard College in 1956, Gordon got a job as a secretary in the public relations department at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. She worked her way up through the company, eventually becoming a researcher, then a production assistant. Gordon worked on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'' until the late 1960s when she left and went to work for National Educational Television, where she co-produced documentaries. Gordon worked for a CBS affiliate, WCBS, in New York and won two Emmys for her work on the Channel 2 series ''Eye On.'' She produced documentaries on topics spanning from retirement fraud in the volunteer army to the rights of mental health patients to live in communities where they weren't welcome.

Personal life

During 1976, Gordon suffered from an addiction to

. She later wrote about her experiences and recovery in her memoir ''I'm dancing as fast as I can'', released in 1979.

Publications

* ''I’m dancing as fast as I can'' - Memoir (1979) * ''Defects of the Heart.'' Mass Market Paperback (1983) * ''Jennifer Fever.'' Harper Collins (1988)

References

External links

Barbara Gordon - Chicago TribuneBarbara Gordon
''Huffington Post''.
">Breaking News - Hallmark Movie Channel Embarks on TV's Newest Holiday Destination "The Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas" with the Network's First-Ever Original Holiday Movie...
''The Futon Critic'', 24 July 2013.
Nyemmys.org - 18th EmmysNyemmys.org - 20th Emmys
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Barbara Living people American documentary filmmakers American television producers American women television producers American television writers Barnard College alumni American women documentary filmmakers American women television writers 21st-century American women 1935 births