Dan Gordon (; born ) is an

Israeli-American Israeli Americans () are Americans who are of full or partial Israeli descent. The Israeli-American community, while predominantly Jewish, also includes various ethnic and religious minorities reflective of Israel's diverse demographics. This c ...

writer, producer and director. As a

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, he has written films including ''

Wyatt Earp Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp (March 19, 1848 – January 13, 1929) was an American lawman in the American West, including Dodge City, Kansas, Dodge City, Wichita, Kansas, Wichita, and Tombstone, Arizona, Tombstone. Earp was involved in the gunfight ...

'', ''

Passenger 57 ''Passenger 57'' is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Kevin Hooks. The film stars Wesley Snipes and Bruce Payne, with Snipes portraying a security consultant who finds himself forced to foil a plot to free a captive terrorist durin ...

'', '' Murder in the First'', and '' The Hurricane'', and developed the story for '' Rambo: Last Blood''. He has been the producer, screenwriter and story editor for over 200 hours of television, including '' Highway to Heaven, Highlander,'' and '' Soldier of Fortune, Inc.'' He has also written stage adaptations of ''

Terms of Endearment ''Terms of Endearment'' is a 1983 American family tragicomedy film directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks, adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1975 novel. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff D ...

'' and ''

Rain Man ''Rain Man'' is a 1988 American road movie, road comedy-Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Barry Levinson and written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. It tells the story of abrasive and selfish wikt:wheeler-dealer, wheeler-dea ...

'', and novels based on his screenplays as well as his own experiences fighting in the

Gaza War The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

.A Hollywood Screenwriter Experiences the Real Gaza War
''The Hollywood Reporter'', October 3, 2014.

Early life

Dan Gordon was born in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

, to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. He grew up in Bell Gardens, CA, and at 16 went to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

where he attended high school at the Ginegar

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

.'Gaza Wars Veteran, 17-Old Documentarian Among Guests For Temple of the Arts Yom Kippur Services', ''The Beverly Hills Courier'', October 03, 2014, Vol. XXXXVIIII, No. 39, p. 13 After high school he returned to Southern California and studied at East LA Junior College for a year, before transferring to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

as a film and television major.Harris, Blake
HDTGM: The Sketchiest Movie Ever (Kinda) Made: A Tale of Mobsters, Money-Laundering & Movie-Making
''Slashfilm.com'', March 1, 2017.

Military career

Gordon joined the Israeli Army in the early 1970s. He served for almost a decade, including during the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

of 1973. He served as an escort officer in the Military Spokesperson's Unit during the

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...

. He is a captain in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

Reserves.

Film and television career

While at UCLA, Dan pitched a one-act play he had written, ''Once I Was'', as a film to

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

, and they hired him as a writer. But he was fired by Studio Chair

Lew Wasserman Lewis Robert Wasserman (March 22, 1913 – June 3, 2002) was an American businessman and talent agent, described as "the last of the legendary movie moguls" and "arguably the most powerful and influential Hollywood titan in the four decades afte ...

for stealing office supplies. In 1971, Gordon began directing the film ''Potluck'', based on a screenplay he had written. They shot the film guerrilla style in New York, without obtaining film permits. As Gordon soon discovered, the film's independent financiers were

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

-connected. Although the film was coming in under its $100,000 budget, they claimed the financing had dried up. Gordon and his collaborators tried to raise the funds to finish the film, but the Mafia needed the film to fail, as part of a money laundering scheme. The film was never finished. Fearing the Mafia, due to the fallout from trying to make ''Potluck'', Gordon fled to Israel, where he served in the Israeli Army. While there, he wrote the screenplay for '' Train Ride to Hollywood'', the 1975 pop musical starring the Kansas City R&B band Bloodstone, though he would return briefly to the United States to rewrite it prior to filming. After more than a decade, Gordon returned to Hollywood to continue his screenwriting career in the early 1980s. Gordon was hired to be the head writer for the TV show '' Highway to Heaven'' (1984–88), for which he also directed three episodes. He wanted to write for both film and television, which was uncommon at the time. Gordon went on to write numerous screenplays including ''

'' (1992), ''

'' (1994), '' Murder in the First'' (1995), '' The Assignment'' (1997) and '' The Hurricane'' (1999). Gordon's most recent work includes a "story by" credit for '' Rambo: Last Blood'' (2019). His play, '' Irena's Vow'', premiered at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, New York, in September 2008. Starring Tovah Feldshuh, it is the true story of Irena Gut, who hid twelve Jews in a cellar during World War II. The play opened on Broadway at the

Walter Kerr Theatre The Walter Kerr Theatre, previously the Ritz Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 219 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructe ...

in previews starting March 10, 2009, officially March 29, 2009, with the same cast from off-Broadway. His stage adaptation of Barry Morrow's ''

'' premiered at the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in London's West End in 2009, and was subsequently performed in Prague (Czech Republic), Stuttgart (Germany), Brussels (Belgium) and Utrecht (The Netherlands).

The Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI)

Gordon is the co-founder of the Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI), a film school in

Sedona, Arizona Sedona ( ) is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino and Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...

. The institute is named for his eldest son, Zaki Gordon, who died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22 years. Gordon taught part-time at the institute. He also teaches at

Columbia University School of the Arts The Columbia University School of the Arts (also known as School of the Arts or SoA) is the fine arts graduate school of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, New York (state), New York. It offers Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Film, ...

USC School of Cinematic Arts The USC School of Cinematic Arts is an academic unit of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles. With a history that dates to the first years of Sound film, talkies, the school descends from America's first ...

and UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television, to which he donates an annual $5,000 prize to screenwriting students in honor of his son. In 2012, he left the Zaki Gordon Institute after founding the Zaki Gordon Center for Cinematic Arts at

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

in 2011. After Gordon left, The Zaki Gordon Institute, in Arizona, changed its name to the Sedona Film School. Gordon was also a close friend of

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. He began his career based in folk rock, but subsequently experimented with genres such as psychedelia, jazz, the avant-garde, and funk paired with his ...

, collaborating with him on an unfilmed movie script called "Fully Air-conditioned Inside." He also played the role of a homeless man in the independent film. '' Waiting for Mo'' (1996), which he produced with his son, Zaki, who wrote and directed the film. He has been a member of the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of Film director, film and Television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dir ...

since 1985.

Personal life

Gordon married his wife Jo-Ann while he was in Israel (and they divorced in 1995). They have three sons Zaki, Yoni and Adam. Zaki, his eldest, died in a traffic accident in 1998 at the age of 22. During the summer of 2019, Gordon married Leah Denmark in Rome in a small private ceremony. Gordon is Jewish, and has acted as a

keynote speaker A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

at Jewish and Christian religious conferences.

Filmography

Film

* ''Train Ride to Hollywood'' (1975) * ''

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

'' (1984) * '' Gotcha!'' (1985) * ''

'' (1992) * '' Surf Ninjas'' (1993) (also executive producer) * ''

'' (1994) (also executive producer) * '' Murder in the First'' (1995) * '' The Assignment'' (1997) * '' The Hurricane'' (1999) * '' The Celestine Prophecy'' (2006) * '' Expecting Mary'' (2010) (also director) * ''

Let There Be Light "Let there be light" is an English translation of the Hebrew (''yehi 'or'') found in Genesis 1:3 of the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible. In Old Testament translations of the phrase, translations include the Greek phrase (''genēt ...

'' (2017) (co-written with

Sam Sorbo Sandra Lynn "Sam" Sorbo (née Jenkins; born October 18, 1964) is an American actress. She played Serena in the television series '' Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' and hosts the weekday, syndicated radio program, ''The Sam Sorbo Show''. Ca ...

) *'' Rambo: Last Blood'' (2019) (story by) * '' Heart of a Lion'' (2023) * '' Irena's Vow'' (2023) * '' Warrior Strong'' (2023)

Television

* '' Highway to Heaven'' (1984) (also director) * ''

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

'' (1985) (also executive producer) * ''Sidekicks'' (1987) * ''

Zorro Zorro ( or , Spanish for "fox") is a fictional character created in 1919 by American Pulp magazine, pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo de Los Ángeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashin ...

'' (1989) * '' Highlander: The Series'' (1992) * '' Taking the Heat'' (1993) * '' Nowhere to Hide'' (1994) * ''New Eden'' (1994) * '' Soldier of Fortune, Inc.'' (1997) (creator) * '' Terror in the Mall'' (1998) (story) * '' Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles'' (1999) * '' October 7, 2023'' (2024)

Novels

* ''Wyatt Earp'' (1994) * ''Murder in the First'' (1994) * ''The Assignment'' (1997) * ''Davin'' (with Zaki Gordon) (1997) * ''Postcards from Heaven'' (2010) * ''Day of the Dead: Book One - Gaza'' (2015) * ''Day of the Dead: Book Two - America'' (2016)

Plays

* ''

'' (2007) * '' Irena's Vow'' (2008) * ''Rain Man'' (2009) * ''Murder in the First'' (2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Dan 1947 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American people of Israeli descent American male novelists American male screenwriters American male television writers American television writers Columbia University faculty Israeli Air Force personnel Jewish Israeli writers Jewish American screenwriters Novelists from New York (state) Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriting instructors UCLA Film School alumni 21st-century American Jews