On March 8, 2023, at the age of 100, American director and special effects creator Bert Ira Gordon passed away. He is well recognized for his work in science fiction and horror B movies, such as King Dinosaur (1955), The Incredible Colossal Man (1957), Earth vs. the Spider (1958), Village of the Giants (1965), and Empire of the Ants (1968).
Gordon usually used rear projection to produce the special effects for his movie’ enormous creatures. Forrest J. Ackerman gave him the moniker “Mr. B.I.G.” because of his initials and his propensity for depicting gigantic animals.
Gordon, who was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 1922, started making 16mm home movies when he turned 13 and got a camera from his aunt. During World War II, he dropped out of college to join the Army Air Forces.
He got married after the war, and he and his wife began creating TV ads. Subsequently, he worked as a production assistant on Racket Squad and a cameraman on Serpent Island, editing British feature films to fit half-hour time slots (1954).
Bert I. Gordon Children: Susan Gordon
Susan Lynn Gordon, an American actress who was born on July 27, 1949, first rose to prominence as a child performer in films and television programs. She appeared in a number of well-known TV shows, including The Donna Reed Show, My Three Sons, and The Twilight Zone. Her mother was Flora, and her father, Bert I. Gordon, was a well-known film director (Lang).
Susan began her acting career at the age of eight when she filled in for another young actor in her father’s 1958 film Attack of the Puppet People. She appeared in three further films under the direction of Bert I. Gordon: Picture Mama Dead (1966), The Boy and the Pirates (1960), and Tormented (1960).
She portrayed the daughter of Red Nichols, a well-known musician, songwriter, and bandleader, who was portrayed by Danny Kaye in the 1959 semi-biographical film The Five Pennies. She also sang in the film.
Susan was a familiar figure on TV shows in addition to movies, and her most well-known role was as Jenny in The Twilight Zone episode “The Fugitive,” in which she portrayed a young woman wearing a leg brace who befriends an alien.
She also appeared in a number of other well-known TV shows, including 77 Sunset Strip, The Donna Reed Show, Route 66, Ben Casey, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. She had an appearance in a live NBC Television broadcast of Miracle on 34th Street on November 27, 1959.
Bert I. Gordon Children: Patricia Gordon, Carol Gordon, and Christina Gordon
From 1945 to 1979, Gordon was married to Flora Gordon (1925-2016), who afterward went by the name Flora Lang in the workplace; the two got divorced in 1979. Their three daughters were Susan (who died before her parents), Carol, and Patricia. Gordon and Christina Marklstorfer, his second wife, welcomed their fourth child in 1988. Unlike Susan, Patricia, Carol, and Christina are not well-known.