After fainting at his home in Beverly Hills, American director Bert I. Gordon, who created low-budget monster movies that were shown in drive-in theaters in the middle of the 20th century, passed suddenly on Wednesday at the age of 100 in Los Angeles.
Patricia, Gordon’s daughter, informed the New York Times that her father had passed away. In America’s Atomic Age, Gordon created science-fiction B movies that brilliantly detailed the end of the planet.
Gordon worked under tight schedules of only a few weeks on over 25 features during the course of his six-decade career, including titles like “Village of the Giants” (1965), “How to Succeed with Sex” (1970), and “Empire of the Ants” (1977).
Necromancy (1972) and The Food of the Gods (1976) featured Orson Welles and Ida Lupino, respectively.
In the beginning, Gordon’s films garnered bad reviews and only average economic success, but in the years that followed, they received more extensive critical recognition. Gordon is one of the most well-known cult directors. Gordon, a well-known visual effects artist, used rear projection to create enormous creatures including rodents, beetles, chickens, and even teenagers.
Who was Bert I. Gordon?
Bert I. Gordon was given a 16-millimeter movie camera as a gift when he was a little boy. Gordon was born on September 24, 1922, in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Gordon graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, left to join the Army Air Forces during World War II, and later married Flora Lang, who would go on to work with him on several of his projects. Before being divorced in 1979, they had three daughters: Patricia, Susan, and Carol.
Before taking on the roles of producer, cinematographer, and supervising editor on the program “Serpent Island,” Gordon served as a production assistant on the CBS series “Racket Squad” during the 1950s.
Gordon and Eva Marie Marklstorfer have a daughter named Christina after their 1980 marriage. The Incredible Colossal Worlds of Mr. B.I.G.: An Autobiographical Journey, Gordon’s memoir, was released in 2010.
Eva Marie, Gordon’s wife, Christina, their daughter, Christina, and Patricia and Carol, his children, survive him. Susan, his daughter, passed away in 2011.